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Medicare beneficiaries in Idaho are paying the price for Congress' inaction against 21% pay cut: AARP

Older Idahoans on Medicare already have trouble finding doctors, with one in five refusing to accept patients under the program – that problem is about to get much worse. Thanks to Congress' inaction, a 21% Medicare pay cut to doctors is hitting home – meaning even fewer doctors in Idaho will continue to provide care to Medicare beneficiaries, leaving the state's elderly with few options for their health care.

24 Jun 2010

Scientists describe development of special sensor that uses maglev for analyzing food, beverages

Scientists are reporting development of a new use for magnetic levitation, or "maglev," the futuristic technology best known for enabling high-speed passenger trains to float above the tracks. In ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, they describe putting maglev to use in an inexpensive sensor for analyzing food, water, and other beverages.

24 Jun 2010

ACGME task force presents draft standards that revise requirements for better supervision, duty hours

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education task force charged with reassessing resident training program standards today presented a comprehensive set of draft standards that revise requirements for supervision and duty hours to better match residents' levels of experience and emerging competencies, advancing both graduate medical education and quality patient care in the nation's teaching hospitals.

24 Jun 2010

United Seating & Mobility launches new redesigned website, expands e-commerce store

United Seating & Mobility, the nation's largest privately-owned mobility and rehab equipment supplier, has launched a newly redesigned website at www.UnitedSeating.com. The new site features in-depth information for clients and families, providing easy to follow information on today's mobility options, as well as background company information and coverage explanations for healthcare professionals and health care plan employees.

24 Jun 2010

RF Technologies completes installation of Safe Place Infant and Pediatric Security Solution for Baptist Memorial

RF Technologies®, a leading provider of radio frequency identification monitoring systems and healthcare security solutions, announces it has completed installation of its Safe Place® Infant and Pediatric Security Solution for Baptist Memorial Health Care. The health care system, serving locations throughout the Mid-South, delivers approximately 10,000 babies a year at eight affiliate hospitals that provide obstetric care.

24 Jun 2010

Washington personalities: Lobbyist Tauzin shakes it up; More on OMB director's impending departure

Roll Call: Billy Tauzin, the former Louisiana lawmaker, will leave his job as the president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America next Wednesday, and part ways -- for the first time in 18 years -- with his trusty communications director, Ken Johnson. As Roll Call puts it, "The sun is setting on a K Street bromance." Tauzin is likely to start a lobbying firm with his son Tom or practice law in Texas, while Johnson will pursue other work. The two were said to be "attached at the hip" (Murray, 6/23).

24 Jun 2010

CMS proposes new rules for hospitals to protect patients' visitation rights

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today proposed new rules for hospitals that would protect patients' rights to choose their own visitors during a hospital stay, including visitors who are same-sex domestic partners.

24 Jun 2010

New poll illustrates difficult situations cancer patients face in affording needed health care

A new poll illustrates the difficulty that cancer patients, survivors and their families face in affording needed health care and paying for other basic necessities such as food and heat, underscoring the need to strongly implement the Affordable Care Act so that it works for people with cancer.

24 Jun 2010

MSD enters collaboration with Adcock Ingram to co-promote, distribute products in South Africa

Merck (Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada) today announced a strategic collaboration between MSD South Africa and Adcock Ingram, a publicly held South African company, to co-promote and distribute a number of established MSD products in South Africa. The products that will be jointly promoted by MSD and Adcock Ingram include over-the-counter (OTC) products and selected prescription medicines currently registered in South Africa by MSD and Schering-Plough.

24 Jun 2010

U.S. ranks low again on health care quality, efficiency and equality, study finds

"Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday. The United States ranked last when compared to six other countries -- Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, the Commonwealth Fund report found. … Previous reports by the nonprofit Fund ... have been heavily used by policymakers and politicians pressing for healthcare reform."

24 Jun 2010

Florida obstetricians collaborate to lower premature and Cesarean birth rates

Much has been published of late, in medical journals as well as in the general media, concerning the national rise in both the Cesarean section and premature birth rates. While not directly connected, the two medical concerns have many interrelated variables. Nationally, the Cesarean section rate has risen to 32 percent of all births, while the rate of premature birth has climbed to just over 12 percent.

24 Jun 2010

Minn. Gov. decides to not expand Medicaid early; Ohio wrestles with increased Medicaid costs in overhaul; Kansas officials worry about 25% cut in health policy operating budget

"As expected, Gov. Tim Pawlenty has declined the opportunity for Minnesota to get an early shot at expanding Medicaid eligibility. The federal health plan calls for all states to expand Medicaid eligibility to low-income adults without children in 2014, but Minnesota was among a few states offered a chance to do it earlier." The legislature, however, passed a measure that would allow Pawlenty's successor next year to reverse his ruling (Kimball, 6/22).

24 Jun 2010

Miller-McCune examines debate over redistribution of some foreign aid funds from HIV/AIDS to other diseases

Through the lens of health conditions faced by people in Mbarara, Uganda, Miller-McCune examines the debate over redistributing some foreign aid funds from HIV/AIDS to fight other diseases.

24 Jun 2010

HHS launching health website for consumers next week

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in collaboration with USA Today, writes about the soon-to-be launched federal health care site.

24 Jun 2010

White House unveils consumer protections in health law

New health-law-prompted regulations were released Tuesday, Kaiser Health News reports. The regulations could likely affect a small fraction of the country, but address key insurance concerns.

24 Jun 2010

States face less federal Medicaid money, more demand

The Wall Street Journal reports that state legislatures are grappling "with deficits totalling $127 billion over the next two fiscal years, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. ... Of immediate concern to states is the hit they will take if Congress doesn't approve an additional $24 billion to help defray the cost of Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for the poor. Cost concerns prompted the House to jettison the Medicaid funding this month, and the Senate also is considering stripping out the provision."

24 Jun 2010

BCBSM launches new website to help people understand health care reform requirements, impacts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan today launched a new website, www.bcbsm.com/healthreform, designed to help everyone in Michigan understand how national health care reform will affect them. As Michigan's leading health plan, BCBSM is committed to serving as a trusted source for information on reform and all issues related to health across the state.

24 Jun 2010

Today's OpEds: Extending jobless benefits; Medicare payment cuts; NY Times on premium increases

With critics still scare-mongering about the supposed cost of reform, insurers in several states have been seeking double-digit premium increases that look hard to justify as necessary to keep up with medical inflation.

24 Jun 2010

GOP continues attacks on health law, Boehner issues critical report

"Employers could lose their ability to change health plans or negotiate better rates and benefits under new healthcare reform regulations, the top GOP staffer on the Ways and Means Committee's health panel said Wednesday. Dan Elling, the Republican staff director for the health subcommittee, raised the issue during a CQ-Roll Call policy forum."

24 Jun 2010

Americans spend more on health and get poorer care: Report

According to a Commonwealth Fund report released this Wednesday, Americans spend nearly twice as much as people from other developed countries on healthcare but get lower quality of care, less efficiency and have the least equitable health care system. The comparison was drawn with six other countries, Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, and the United States ranked last. The report collected data from nationally representative patient and physician surveys in these seven countries in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

23 Jun 2010

Health Care News and Research

Medicare beneficiaries in Idaho are paying the price for Congress' inaction against 21% pay cut: AARP

Scientists describe development of special sensor that uses maglev for analyzing food, beverages

ACGME task force presents draft standards that revise requirements for better supervision, duty hours

United Seating & Mobility launches new redesigned website, expands e-commerce store

RF Technologies completes installation of Safe Place Infant and Pediatric Security Solution for Baptist Memorial

Washington personalities: Lobbyist Tauzin shakes it up; More on OMB director's impending departure

CMS proposes new rules for hospitals to protect patients' visitation rights

New poll illustrates difficult situations cancer patients face in affording needed health care

MSD enters collaboration with Adcock Ingram to co-promote, distribute products in South Africa

U.S. ranks low again on health care quality, efficiency and equality, study finds

Florida obstetricians collaborate to lower premature and Cesarean birth rates

Minn. Gov. decides to not expand Medicaid early; Ohio wrestles with increased Medicaid costs in overhaul; Kansas officials worry about 25% cut in health policy operating budget

Miller-McCune examines debate over redistribution of some foreign aid funds from HIV/AIDS to other diseases

HHS launching health website for consumers next week

White House unveils consumer protections in health law

States face less federal Medicaid money, more demand

BCBSM launches new website to help people understand health care reform requirements, impacts

Today's OpEds: Extending jobless benefits; Medicare payment cuts; NY Times on premium increases

GOP continues attacks on health law, Boehner issues critical report

Americans spend more on health and get poorer care: Report

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