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States mull Medicaid cuts, dropout possibilities

"Huge budget shortfalls are prompting a handful of states to begin discussing a once-unthinkable scenario: dropping out of the Medicaid insurance program for the poor," The Wall Street Journal reports. Officials in several states, including Washington, Texas, and South Carolina, have publicly pitched the idea.

22 Nov 2010

Humana to acquire Concentra for $790 million

Humana Inc. today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Concentra Inc., a privately held health care company based in Addison, Texas, for approximately $790 million in cash. Through its affiliated clinicians, Concentra delivers occupational medicine, urgent care, physical therapy and wellness services to workers and the general public from more than 300 medical centers in 42 states.

22 Nov 2010

Medworxx Bed Optimization System goes live across St. Michael's Hospital

Medworxx Inc., provider of healthcare solutions for patient flow, compliance and education, announced today that St. Michael's Hospital is now live on the Medworxx Bed Optimization System (BOS). Medworxx BOS is now live across St. Michael's Hospital, helping to manage 460 beds.

22 Nov 2010

Parental divorce during childhood linked to stroke in adulthood

Children who experience a parental divorce are over twice as likely to suffer a stroke at some point in their lives, according to new research presented in New Orleans at The Gerontological Society of America's (GSA) 63rd Annual Scientific Meeting.

22 Nov 2010

DaVita announces meal planning tool for dialysis patients

DaVita Inc., a leading provider of kidney care services for those diagnosed with end stage renal disease (ESRD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), offers patients with very restricted diets an easy to use meal planning tool and recipes for their favorite Thanksgiving dinners at DaVita.com.

22 Nov 2010

2011 RAC Summit prepares physicians for new audit landscape

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama this past March greatly expands the audit operations for Medicare and Medicaid programs. At the hub of these efforts are the Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs), which are fully operational for the Medicare program, and will expand to include services reimbursed by state Medicaid programs in April of 2011.

22 Nov 2010

TIS wins Brandon Hall silver award for Custom Content category excellence

Tata Interactive Systems, a global leader in innovative learning solutions, won a coveted Brandon Hall silver award for excellence in the Custom Content category.

22 Nov 2010

Epilepsy Foundation Northwest adds Alaska to territory

The Epilepsy Foundation Northwest (EFNW) announced the addition of Alaska to its affiliate, making it the largest territory in the nation for the Epilepsy Foundation organization. Programs and services provided by EFNW for people living with epilepsy and their families will now officially include Alaska.

22 Nov 2010

VYTORIN reduces major vascular events in patients with chronic kidney disease

In a new investigational study of VYTORIN, the cholesterol-lowering medicine from Merck, VYTORIN 10/20 mg reduced the incidence of first major vascular events defined as non-fatal heart attacks or cardiac death, stroke or any revascularization procedure by a highly statistically significant 16.1 percent compared to placebo, Study of Heart and Renal Protection study involved more than 9,000 patients who, on average, had advanced or end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD)

22 Nov 2010

Parties to WHO FCTC strengthen tobacco-control efforts worldwide

Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) unanimously adopted a number of decisions this week strengthening tobacco-control efforts worldwide.

22 Nov 2010

President of Catholics issues statement on Pope's view to prevent HIV transmission

Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, issued the following statement after Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged that condoms have a role to play in preventing the transmission of HIV: We are delighted that the pope has acknowledged that condoms can help reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections including HIV. It is a marvelous victory for common sense and reason and a major step forward towards recognizing that condom use can play a vital role in reducing the future impact of the HIV pandemic.

22 Nov 2010

Researchers develop three-dimensional cancer cell from normal human tissue in culture dish

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have successfully transformed normal human tissue into three-dimensional cancers in a tissue culture dish for the first time. Watching how the cells behave as they divide and invade surrounding tissue will help physicians better understand how human cancers act in the body. The new technique also provides a way to quickly and cheaply test anti-cancer drugs without requiring laboratory animals.

22 Nov 2010

Racial and socioeconomic disparities exist in kidney transplantation

Research shows that people with low incomes are more likely to develop kidney failure and less likely to receive a living donor kidney transplant than people of other socioeconomic classes.

22 Nov 2010

Researchers discover common genetic variants influence early puberty, body fat

Researchers at King's College London's Department of Twin Research have discovered, as part of a large international consortium, 30 new genes that control the age of sexual maturation in women, the Journal Nature Genetics publishes today.

22 Nov 2010

Alexion's Soliris Phase 2 clinical study for aHUS meets primary, secondary endpoints

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that a Phase 2 clinical study investigating Soliris (eculizumab) as a treatment for patients with atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) who are resistant to plasma therapy met primary and key secondary endpoints with high levels of statistical and clinical significance, according to results presented today at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) annual meeting in Denver.

21 Nov 2010

Detroit residents could benefit from transforming vacant urban lots into farms, community gardens

Transforming vacant urban lots into farms and community gardens could provide Detroit residents with a majority of their fruits and vegetables.

20 Nov 2010

Lotsa Helping Hands' new feature connects community members to healthcare nonprofit organizations

Lotsa Helping Hands, the leading provider of a web-based caregiving coordination service, today announces a new feature that connects its community members to trusted resources from many of the nation's leading healthcare nonprofit organizations.

20 Nov 2010

'Vulnerably housed' people have same severe health problems as homeless people

For every one person in Canada who is homeless, another 23 live in unsafe, crowded or unaffordable housing, meaning the country's housing crisis is even worse than previously thought, according to Dr. Stephen Hwang of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.

20 Nov 2010

Assessment by nurse practitioner satisfies patients with back problems: Study

Ninety-six per cent of patients with back problems were satisfied with the assessment carried out by a specially trained nurse practitioner, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

20 Nov 2010

Northeast Ohio receives over $497 million in community benefits from Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic provided more than $497 million in community benefit to the Northeast Ohio community in 2009. Significant increases over 2008 were seen in education, community outreach programming, Medicaid shortfall and charity care.

20 Nov 2010