Health Care News and Research

RSS

LA Times: Exploring the fairness of wellness incentives

Wanna make a fast buck? Quit smoking. According to the National Business Group on Health, which represents large employers including Wal-Mart and Wendy's, about 68% of its members either offer a discount of several hundred dollars on health insurance premiums to employees who quit smoking, or provide other incentives or penalties to make it happen (Borrell, 1/3).

3 Jan 2011

Today's Opinions: End-of-life counseling; Rising costs of boomers; Controlling infections in hospitals

Death panels. Government-sponsored euthanasia. Pulling the plug on grandma. Those were just some of the blatantly false terms conservatives threw around last year to scare Congress into stripping a provision out of the health-reform bill that would have allowed Medicare to reimburse doctors for providing voluntary, end-of-life counseling to their patients. The scare tactics worked (1/2).

3 Jan 2011

MedCath completes sale of TexSan Heart Hospital to Methodist Healthcare System

MedCath Corporation announced today the completion of the sale of substantially all the assets of TexSan Heart Hospital, owned by MedCath and its physician investors, to Methodist Healthcare System of San Antonio. The transaction, which was announced in November, and was subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory requirements, was completed effective December 31, 2010.

3 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 3, 2011

Today's headlines include forward looking reports about the health law's possible impact in 2011 as well as early plans for the new Congress.

3 Jan 2011

Canada’s anti-smoking warnings get larger

Canada will have larger and enhanced warning labels on cigarette packs, it was revealed in a government announcement last Thursday. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said that these new warnings will cover three-quarters of the front and back of cigarette packs, up from one-half.

2 Jan 2011

New women’s health policy inadequate

The Gillard government is being criticized for issuing a women’s health policy without announcing more funding for struggling women’s services. This is the first national women’s health policy in 21 years that claims to ensure women “have access to the right healthcare at the right time”.

30 Dec 2010

URAC releases Patient Centered Health Care Home Program Toolkit

URAC, a leading health care accreditation and education organization, announces the release of its Patient Centered Health Care Home Program Toolkit. This new program provides an educational, step-wise, self-paced approach to guide health care practices, and sponsoring health plans, insurers, and pilot programs, on how practices can transform themselves into a patient centered health care home.

30 Dec 2010

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announces new community partner strategy

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), a locally-based, community-focused health plan, announced its new community partner strategy at a reception earlier this month. To support the Commonwealth, the company will focus on four key areas: healthy child development, education enrichment, healthy environments and family nutrition, and sustainable health care.

30 Dec 2010

LTC declares $0.50 per share quarterly cash dividend on Cumulative Preferred Stock

LTC Properties, Inc. announced today that it had declared the quarterly cash dividend of $0.50 per share on the Company's 8.0% Series F Cumulative Preferred Stock. The dividend is payable on January 14, 2011 to stockholders of record on January 7, 2011.

30 Dec 2010

Epilepsy more common than earlier thought: Study

Epilepsy prevalence and incidence is greater than earlier thought in the United States. The latest study shows that one in every 26 people in the United States will develop epilepsy at some point in their life. Experts believe this new revelation calls for more attention and funding for the disease.

29 Dec 2010

Health Management Associates to sell Riley Hospital to Anderson Regional Medical Center

Health Management Associates, Inc. announced today that a subsidiary has signed a definitive agreement to sell its 140-bed Riley Hospital, located in Meridian, Mississippi to Anderson Regional Medical Center, also located in Meridian.

29 Dec 2010

Epilepsy not getting the public attention and research funding it deserves

Epilepsy, a common and serious neurologic disorder that affects millions of people, is not getting the public attention and funding for research it deserves, according to an editorial on a study published in the January 4, 2011, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Dec 2010

FDA warns against consumption of Tiny Greens brand Alfalfa Sprouts or Spicy Sprouts

The FDA is advising consumers not to eat Alfalfa Sprouts and Spicy Sprouts (which contain alfalfa sprouts mixed with radish and clover sprouts) from Tiny Greens Organic Farm of Urbana, Ill. The sprouts were distributed in 4 oz. and 5 lb. containers to various customers, including farmers' markets, restaurants and groceries, in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and possibly other Midwestern states.

28 Dec 2010

NIIT Technologies forays into US health care segment with acquisition of Preferr EHR

NIIT Technologies Limited, a leading IT solutions organization has acquired an electronic health records and referral management platform to initiate its foray into the lucrative health care segment in the US. The platform called "Preferr" (Patient Referral System)" enables seamless collaboration between all providers namely physicians, hospitals, diagnostic facilities, and laboratories.

28 Dec 2010

Mylan settles lawsuits pertaining to Medicaid reimbursements paid to health care providers

Mylan Inc. today announced that it has settled lawsuits brought against it on behalf of the federal government and the state of Texas pertaining to Medicaid reimbursements paid by the federal government and the state of Texas to pharmacists and other health care providers. In exchange for a release of those claims, Mylan has agreed to pay $65 million.

27 Dec 2010

Obama administration sets regulation for controversial end-of-life benefit

When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over "death panels," Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1. Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment (Pear, 12/25).

27 Dec 2010

HIT interventions promising tools in fight to improve medication adherence, despite paucity of data

A new study that reviews more than four decades of medical journal articles about the impact of health information technology (HIT) and electronic communications on medication adherence concludes that while there is evidence to suggest that simple electronic reminders are an effective and low-cost means to improve adherence, there are few studies that show how HIT can be leveraged to more thoughtfully engage or motivate patients to take medications as prescribed.

24 Dec 2010

New York Times reports on how foreign governments, investors are pushing some African farmers off land

"Across Africa and the developing world, a new global land rush is gobbling up large expanses of arable land. Despite their ageless traditions, stunned villagers are discovering that African governments typically own their land and have been leasing it, often at bargain prices, to private investors and foreign governments for decades to come," the New York Times writes in an article that examines the factors contributing to investors' growing interest in such land.

24 Dec 2010

Research Roundup: Surgery and health costs; ACOs and independent doctors; Stroke's long-term effects; Improving low-income care

Archives of Surgery: Profile Of Inpatient Operating Room Procedures In U.S. Hospitals In 2007 - Understanding operating room (OR) procedures in the hospital "is critical in debates about how to improve the population's health while attempting to constrain growth in health care costs," write the authors of this study that provides an overview of inpatient operating room procedures in the U.S. from 1997 to 2007.

24 Dec 2010

Financial Times examines how Brazil's state-run drug sector is engaging in partnerships at home, abroad

"Dilma Rousseff had barely been confirmed as Brazil's new president in November when she made her first foreign visit, to Mozambique," which "included a symbolic stop-off at a pharmaceutical factory that is under construction in preparation for opening in 2014. … The plant will produce a range of medicines for one of its leading lusophone - Portuguese-speaking - African partners, marking the resurgent power and growing reach of its sponsor, Brazil's own state-led drug sector," the Financial Times writes in an article that examines the partnerships Brazil is establishing at home and abroad.

24 Dec 2010

Health Care News and Research

LA Times: Exploring the fairness of wellness incentives

Today's Opinions: End-of-life counseling; Rising costs of boomers; Controlling infections in hospitals

MedCath completes sale of TexSan Heart Hospital to Methodist Healthcare System

First Edition: January 3, 2011

Canada’s anti-smoking warnings get larger

New women’s health policy inadequate

URAC releases Patient Centered Health Care Home Program Toolkit

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announces new community partner strategy

LTC declares $0.50 per share quarterly cash dividend on Cumulative Preferred Stock

Epilepsy more common than earlier thought: Study

Health Management Associates to sell Riley Hospital to Anderson Regional Medical Center

Epilepsy not getting the public attention and research funding it deserves

FDA warns against consumption of Tiny Greens brand Alfalfa Sprouts or Spicy Sprouts

NIIT Technologies forays into US health care segment with acquisition of Preferr EHR

Mylan settles lawsuits pertaining to Medicaid reimbursements paid to health care providers

Obama administration sets regulation for controversial end-of-life benefit

HIT interventions promising tools in fight to improve medication adherence, despite paucity of data

New York Times reports on how foreign governments, investors are pushing some African farmers off land

Research Roundup: Surgery and health costs; ACOs and independent doctors; Stroke's long-term effects; Improving low-income care

Financial Times examines how Brazil's state-run drug sector is engaging in partnerships at home, abroad

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

Latest News