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Minnesota medical spending reached $17.4 billion in 2010

Health costs per person in Minnesota rose only 2.6 percent in 2010, about half the national average. Key factors in controlling costs were innovations by Minnesota's health plans – for example, more effective management of care for those with chronic diseases – and reduced demand for health care in a slow economy.

2 Apr 2011

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey to launch Accountable Care Forum

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey is launching Accountable Care Forum - From Volume to Value, a blog dedicated to analysis of the emerging accountable care organization landscape. The launch coincides with regulations issued today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

2 Apr 2011

ULURU fourth quarter net loss decreases to $0.3 million

ULURU Inc. today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2010.

1 Apr 2011

The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer, Glaxo detail fees paid to doctors

Pfizer Inc. paid $177 million and GlaxoSmithKline PLC paid $85 million during 2010 to U.S. doctors and institutions for their work on clinical trials, consulting, speaking and other items, the companies disclosed Thursday.

1 Apr 2011

South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland form alliance to fight MDR-TB

Health ministers from Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa said they have formed an alliance to fight drug-resistant tuberculosis, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports.

1 Apr 2011

Thomson Reuters introduces CLEAR for Healthcare Fraud

CLEAR, the powerful public and proprietary records service and investigative suite from Thomson Reuters, is well-regarded among law enforcement and government investigative professionals for helping nab criminals and recover missing children. Today, the business is introducing a new version of the service to aid in the recovery of the $60 billion that the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association estimates is lost each year to fraud.

1 Apr 2011

3M announces acquisition of Zargis Medical assets

3M announced today it has acquired certain assets of Zargis Medical Corp., maker of the only FDA-approved diagnostic software to classify suspected systolic and diastolic heart murmurs.

1 Apr 2011

USAID Administrator testifies before State, Foreign Ops subcommittee about FY12 budget, expresses concerns about FY11 budget cuts

In a hearing regarding the FY12 budget before the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations subcommittee earlier this week, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah highlighted the possible impact of the FY11 budget cuts currently being debated in Congress, Foreign Policy's "The Cable" blog reports.

1 Apr 2011

New Mexico Software annual revenue decreases 5% to $3.48 million

New Mexico Software, Inc. announced today its financial results, reporting annual revenue in 2010 decreased approximately 5% to $3.48 million compared to $3.66 million in 2009.

1 Apr 2011

VA to deploy Open Source version of VistA

The Department of Veterans Affairs today released a draft Request for Proposal aimed at forming an Open Source community around its ground-breaking VistA (Veterans Integrated System Technology Architecture) electronic health record system.

1 Apr 2011

Some local thoughts on ACOs

A Minneapolis hospital and California physician group association react to the ACO regulations.

1 Apr 2011

Viewpoints: The dangers of targeting the AARP; health reform in rural areas; prisoners faring better in Calif. than disabled

In hearings Friday, some of my former congressional colleagues are due to explore the operations of the AARP, the nation's oldest and largest organization representing Americans age 50 and older. Specifically, the hearing is to examine the group's tax status, evaluating it in view of its management structure and funding.

1 Apr 2011

Roundup: Fla. moves closer to Medicaid overhaul; Abortion provisions advance in Va., Kan. and Iowa

The Florida House on Thursday approved a statewide proposal to shift Medicaid beneficiaries into managed-care plans. ... Supporters said the plan would improve care for Medicaid beneficiaries, reduce widespread fraud and control costs in the $20 billion program.

1 Apr 2011

UHS acquires Emergent Group and PRI Medical

Universal Hospital Services, Inc., a leading provider of medical equipment management and service solutions, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Emergent Group Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, PRI Medical Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of mobile medical lasers and surgical equipment.

1 Apr 2011

eGlobalTech receives HRSA contract to support enterprise-wide Call Center Study

eGlobalTech announced today that it has been awarded a prime contract with the Health Resources and Services Administration to support an enterprise-wide Call Center Study.

1 Apr 2011

Pediatric health care experts to meet at Pediatric Nursing annual conference

Pediatric nurses are the frontline health care providers for children and adolescents, many of whom suffer from serious illnesses. Because the specialty calls for high-level critical thinking skills, nurses must constantly stay on top of the latest advances in care.

1 Apr 2011

Research roundup: Patient's income and electronic health records; high deductible plans; raising Medicare age

Healthcare Spending And Preventive Care In High-Deductible And Consumer-Directed Health Plans - Authors analyzed data from more than 800,000 families insured during 2004 and 2005 through one of 53 large employers in U.S., about half offering the high-deductible or consumer-directed plans.

1 Apr 2011

Pfizer, MACHC, NBCH launch AHSP Employer Guide

Approximately 400,000 Kansas City-area employees and their dependents benefitted from access to better health information and services focused on prevention, health risk reduction and earlier treatment of chronic disease as a result of the Kansas City Collaborative.

1 Apr 2011

Baylor, Select announce closing of joint venture transaction

Baylor Health Care System and Select Medical Corporation today announced that they have closed their previously announced joint venture transaction, and that the joint venture will commence operations on April 1, 2011.

1 Apr 2011

Good and bad news about retiree health care

While the AP reports that the outlook is improving for retirees who wonder if they will be able to pay their medical bills, Politico notes that the health law's early retiree health program is about to run out of money.

1 Apr 2011