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Stroke patients treated at hospitals with neurology residency programs benefit from tPA drugs

Stroke patients treated at hospitals with neurology residency programs are significantly more likely to get life-saving clot-busting drugs than those seen at other teaching or non-teaching hospitals, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests.

7 Nov 2013

Tavenner tells Senate panel to expect 800K enrollees by end of Nov., answers security questions

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner said Tuesday that fixes have been made to the federal website to improve users' experiences. She also answered questions about an exchange security breach that she said is fixed. In the meantime, the Obama administration faces growing skepticism from those in its own party on the rollout.

7 Nov 2013

Sebelius faces new round of Capitol Hill questions -- this time from a Senate panel

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will face a new round of questioning as she appears before the Senate Finance Committee to face growing concern and criticism about the healthcare.gov and about recent news surrounding health plan cancellations.

7 Nov 2013

Viewpoints: Obama's 'sin of omission;' Dems' panic grows over health law woes; men should pay for maternity care

"The big lie," as the president's broken Obamacare promise is now known, was that everyone could keep his or her doctor and insurance policy under the ACA. No one, Americans were justified in inferring, would be remotely inconvenienced by Obamacare. Instead, the reality is well-known: Millions are expected to lose their insurance policies, while others will see their premiums skyrocket. It is still jarring to my adult psyche to impugn another, especially the president of the United States, as a liar, so I won't. But it is not possible to pretend that the American people have been told the truth. Nor is it possible to pretend that Barack Obama has been completely honest (Kathleen Parker, 11/5).

7 Nov 2013

Sens. Landrieu, Manchin seek support for bills to amend health law

The Democrats are offering legislation that would seek to stop the cancellations of individual market policies and to delay fines set up by the health law for people who don't secure coverage.

7 Nov 2013

Eye contact during early infancy may be key to early identification of autism

Eye contact during early infancy may be a key to early identification of autism, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health.

6 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 6, 2013

Today's headlines include reports detailing the contents of the health law's "war room" notes as well as scene-setters for today's Senate hearing testimony about healthcare.gov by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

6 Nov 2013

Calif. nonprofit provides grant to get TV shows to include stories about health law

The California Endowment is giving $500,000 to ensure TV episodes add stories about the need to enroll in health coverage under the health law.

6 Nov 2013

Anesthesia Touch V4 now compliant with ONC-ACB 2014 Edition criteria

Plexus Information Systems, a leading anesthesia information management system provider, announced today that Anesthesia Touch V4 is compliant with the ONC-ACB 2014 Edition criteria and was certified as a Complete EHR on October 10, 2013 under the Drummond Group's Electronic Health Records Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Certification Body program.

6 Nov 2013

SRI International awarded NIDA contract to study new treatment therapies for substance abuse

SRI International has been awarded a five-year contract valued up to $9.75 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to conduct preclinical safety studies of potential new medications to treat substance abuse. SRI researchers will study potential drug-drug interactions between new treatment therapies and common drugs of abuse to assess potential adverse reactions.

6 Nov 2013

Obama administration worried over paper applications when healthcare.gov problems persisted

A myriad of issues related to enrolling people in the health law's insurance marketplaces include new revelations that officials worried that allowing people to fill out paper applications for coverage on the federal marketplace would bring its own problems.

6 Nov 2013

Despite some success, state health exchanges continue to get mixed reviews

Though most of the state-run online insurance marketplaces have not been hobbled by the same types of difficulties that marred the federal exchange's launch, some states are successfully enrolling their residents while others still confront hurdles.

5 Nov 2013

First Edition: November 5, 2013

Today's headlines include continuing coverage of the implementation issues that are plaguing the health law, as well as President Barack Obama's pledge to campaign for the overhaul's success.

5 Nov 2013

Janssen Pharmaceuticals to pay over $1.6 billion in drug misbranding case

On behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice today announced a guilty plea agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Titusville, N.J., and a $400 million criminal fine for introducing a misbranded drug, Risperdal (risperidone), into interstate commerce.

5 Nov 2013

Officials give drug companies the OK to help patients with costly drug co-pays in insurance exchanges

Federal officials last week OK'd allowing pharmaceutical companies to help cover patient out-of-pocket costs for costly drugs in the health law's insurance exchanges, a closely watched move by drug companies and patient advocates.

5 Nov 2013

Viewpoints: Website is like 'a patient bleeding from self-inflicted wounds;' remembering patients who never had care and the need for health law

Obamacare is starting to resemble a patient bleeding from self-inflicted wounds. A month after launch, the online health exchanges where individuals are supposed to shop for insurance remain slow or unusable, except in states that opted to run their own marketplaces and did a more competent job than the administration. As if that weren't trouble enough, critics are justifiably mocking President Obama for his repeated, untrue promise that if people liked their health plans, they could keep them. Oops. Hundreds of thousands of people are getting termination notices for plans that don't meet the strict new requirements of the Affordable Care Act. Presumably, not all those people disliked their plans (11/3).

5 Nov 2013

Atrial fibrillation doubles risk of heart attack in women and African Americans

Doctors have known for years that atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat, increases the risk for stroke, but now researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have shown that it also increases the risk for heart attack. In fact, for women and African Americans, it more than doubles the risk.

5 Nov 2013

Consumers losing their health policies could become potent political force

Several news stories examine how this group is adept at generating attention, especially among its elected representatives.

5 Nov 2013

Study examines factors affecting integration of mental, medical services at community health centers

In recent years, there has been growing recognition that mental health status impacts physical health and vice versa. As a result, there is growing interest in the coordination of medical and behavioral health services as part of patient-centered primary health care.

5 Nov 2013

Senate Dems express increasing alarm over website issues

With its first rocky month down, some say the most critical days are beginning for healthcare.gov. Meanwhile, the technical difficulties that have plagued the site are starting to chip away at the Democratic unity that has, so far, surrounded it. Some senators, for instance, are beginning to express concerns about its impact on the upcoming mid-term election and are calling for a delay in the individual mandate penalties if the website is not soon operational.

4 Nov 2013

Health and Human Services News and Research

Stroke patients treated at hospitals with neurology residency programs benefit from tPA drugs

Tavenner tells Senate panel to expect 800K enrollees by end of Nov., answers security questions

Sebelius faces new round of Capitol Hill questions -- this time from a Senate panel

Viewpoints: Obama's 'sin of omission;' Dems' panic grows over health law woes; men should pay for maternity care

Sens. Landrieu, Manchin seek support for bills to amend health law

Eye contact during early infancy may be key to early identification of autism

First Edition: November 6, 2013

Calif. nonprofit provides grant to get TV shows to include stories about health law

Anesthesia Touch V4 now compliant with ONC-ACB 2014 Edition criteria

SRI International awarded NIDA contract to study new treatment therapies for substance abuse

Obama administration worried over paper applications when healthcare.gov problems persisted

Despite some success, state health exchanges continue to get mixed reviews

First Edition: November 5, 2013

Janssen Pharmaceuticals to pay over $1.6 billion in drug misbranding case

Officials give drug companies the OK to help patients with costly drug co-pays in insurance exchanges

Viewpoints: Website is like 'a patient bleeding from self-inflicted wounds;' remembering patients who never had care and the need for health law

Atrial fibrillation doubles risk of heart attack in women and African Americans

Consumers losing their health policies could become potent political force

Study examines factors affecting integration of mental, medical services at community health centers

Senate Dems express increasing alarm over website issues

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