Health Care News and Research

RSS

Changes for employers, health insurers coming with health reform implementation

Starting in September, changes to health insurance could significantly alter how insurers operate and how employers provide coverage for workers.

13 Jul 2010

Obama administration prepares to announce first national HIV strategy

Kaiser Health News: "Federal officials plan to announce Tuesday a national strategy designed to ramp up and better coordinate the government's attack on the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic." Many HIV/AIDS advocates "say many more resources need to be committed to fight the disease, especially considering it doesn't get the attention it once did.

12 Jul 2010

Hospitals in the news: ICU deaths higher on weekend, continuous improvement pays off in Seattle

"Patients admitted to an intensive care unit over the weekend may be more likely to die than those admitted at other times, perhaps because of reduced staffing, a review of research finds," HealthDay/USA Today reports. "For the review, published in the July issue of the journal Chest, researchers examined the results of 10 studies exploring the link between time of admission to an ICU and death rates.

12 Jul 2010

Administration plans to release new HIV/AIDS strategy this week

Kaiser Health News staff writer Kate Steadman reports: "Federal officials plan to announce Tuesday a national strategy designed to ramp up and better coordinate the government's attack on the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic, an effort to deliver on a Barack Obama campaign promise delayed by the health care overhaul debate and other issues" (Steadman, 7/12).

12 Jul 2010

healthychat.com addresses myriad consumer health care questions

Health care reform will impact every American in some way. The question is how and when? The healthychat.com website was created to address the many questions consumers have about health insurance. Since its launch on May 1, thousands have viewed healthychat.com, creating a community forum addressing myriad health care questions.

12 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: Churchillian Berwick?; Government's obesity fight; WSJ on paying for health reform

In an ideal world, Berwick would be Medicare's Winston Churchill, a prophetic voice who emerges from the wilderness and ends years of appeasement and denial. He tells the truth about federal health care and medicine generally. It's no wonder the Obama administration didn't think the Senate could handle it (Jay Hancock, 7/11).

12 Jul 2010

OICR, CCO announce $6 million in funding for Health Services Research Program projects

Dr. Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), and Dr. Terrence Sullivan, President and CEO of Cancer Care Ontario (CCO), announce $6 million in funding for projects in the Health Services Research Program (HSRP). The HSRP, conducted jointly between the OICR and CCO, will improve the delivery of cancer care throughout the province.

12 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 12, 2010

Today's health policy headlines include previews of the expected release of a national strategy to curb the AIDS epidemic and reviews of a White House official's Sunday talk show defense of the Berwick nomination.

12 Jul 2010

Simple interventions by pediatricians change parent's perspective about child being overweight or obese

Some simple interventions used by pediatricians were enough to change a parent's perspective about a child's being overweight or obese, and change the parent's behaviors at home to reduce those risks.

12 Jul 2010

UHC awards a 3-year single-source agreement to Ascent

The University HealthSystem Consortium today announced that it has awarded a 3-year single-source agreement to Ascent, a leader in health care resource sustainability. The agreement, which has 2 optional 1-year renewal periods, became effective on July 1, 2010. Under the contract, Ascent will offer single-use device reprocessing programs to UHC's 107 academic medical centers and 233 affiliated hospitals.

12 Jul 2010

MDT releases statement questioning AGD's priorities

The dentists who form Millennium Dental Technologies, Inc., and are pioneers of the patented LANAP protocol for the treatment of gum disease and the manufacturer of the PerioLase MVP-7 digital dental laser, today released a statement questioning the Academy of General Dentistry's priorities.

12 Jul 2010

UVA launches first-of-its-kind educational website focusing on Alzheimer's disease, dementia

The University of Virginia School of Medicine is launching Memory Commons, an interactive, first-of-its-kind educational website for physicians and healthcare professionals that focuses specifically on Alzheimer's Disease and dementia.

12 Jul 2010

AOL News reports on challenges of global spread of drug-resistant TB

AOL News examines health officials' concerns about the world-wide spread of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, focusing on the U.S. and Mexico.

12 Jul 2010

GOP questions Berwick's ties to industry

The Hill reports that Republicans are charging the Obama administration with evading questions on Dr. Donald Berwick's ties to the health care industry. President Barack Obama used a recess appointment this week to install Berwick as head of the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid after key Republicans had raised concerns about Berwick's views.

12 Jul 2010

Resident nurses find tough search for jobs post-graduation

Though a national shortage of nurses is taking hold, newly minted resident nurses are having a hard time finding jobs as the economy struggles, "delaying the retirement of experienced nurses," USA Today reports.

12 Jul 2010

Axelrod defends recess appointment of Berwick to head Medicare

"This morning on ABC News' 'This Week,' Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod insisted that President Obama's recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to be the administrator of The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was simply 'too important' to wait for a Congressional hearing" (7/11).

12 Jul 2010

Multimedia talking touchscreens help end health disparities in underserved populations

Multimedia talking touchscreens, housed in computer kiosks at clinics and hospitals, are helping researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and clinicians at local health care centers enhance patient-centered care for patients with diverse language, literacy and computer skills.

12 Jul 2010

Medicaid: Generic drugs save money, dental care not always accessible

"When blockbuster drugs lose their patent protection, state Medicaid programs can save millions of dollars by switching patients to cheaper, generic versions of the medications." But, while some states have policies to shift people quickly to generics, others require permission from patients. "A new study tracking these policies concludes that some states, including Massachusetts, are quicker than others to bring down the costs of prescription drugs once alternatives are available. The difference has implications for expanding Medicaid coverage to more people after the national health care overhaul takes effect" (Cooney, 7/8).

12 Jul 2010

News roundup: NYC program to help poor, elderly with insurance gets cut; Colo. promotes wellness programs for small businesses

A program that for a decade helped New York City's poor and elderly navigate their way through insurance problems — and that became a model for a similar federal program — has become a casualty of city budget cuts, an administrator of the program said on Thursday. The $4 million program sent ombudsmen to 25 social service agencies across the city.

9 Jul 2010

HHS proposes stricter patient privacy rules

New rules have been proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services to stregthen patient privacy protections.

9 Jul 2010

Health Care News and Research

Changes for employers, health insurers coming with health reform implementation

Obama administration prepares to announce first national HIV strategy

Hospitals in the news: ICU deaths higher on weekend, continuous improvement pays off in Seattle

Administration plans to release new HIV/AIDS strategy this week

healthychat.com addresses myriad consumer health care questions

Today's OpEds: Churchillian Berwick?; Government's obesity fight; WSJ on paying for health reform

OICR, CCO announce $6 million in funding for Health Services Research Program projects

First Edition: July 12, 2010

Simple interventions by pediatricians change parent's perspective about child being overweight or obese

UHC awards a 3-year single-source agreement to Ascent

MDT releases statement questioning AGD's priorities

UVA launches first-of-its-kind educational website focusing on Alzheimer's disease, dementia

AOL News reports on challenges of global spread of drug-resistant TB

GOP questions Berwick's ties to industry

Resident nurses find tough search for jobs post-graduation

Axelrod defends recess appointment of Berwick to head Medicare

Multimedia talking touchscreens help end health disparities in underserved populations

Medicaid: Generic drugs save money, dental care not always accessible

News roundup: NYC program to help poor, elderly with insurance gets cut; Colo. promotes wellness programs for small businesses

HHS proposes stricter patient privacy rules

Discover how SciY empowers scientists

Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

Latest News