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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

Scientific American examines efforts to increase influenza virus monitoring in pigs to prevent pandemics in humans

Scientific American examines how, in an attempt to improve early recognition of viruses that could give rise to pandemics in people, such as last year's H1N1 swine flu, scientists are looking to better understand "the viruses that infect the estimated 941 million domesticated pigs around the world." However, as the article notes, "[i]ntensive monitoring of pig viruses is unlikely to come any time soon … Most pork-producing countries do not test their pigs at all, and in some that do - such as the U.S. - the testing is done on behalf of the pork producers.

24 Dec 2010

Report examines infant, child feeding practices in 33 countries

A report (.pdf), released Wednesday, on breastfeeding practices in 33 countries found that out of 78 million infants born each year, about 42 million do not receive an optimal amount of breastfeeding, IANS/Sify News reports (12/22).

24 Dec 2010

9/11 responders health bill gains congressional nod

In one of the last acts of this not-so-lame lame-duck Congress, lawmakers overcame wrangling and cleared legislation that would cover the costs of medical care for 9/11 rescue workers.

24 Dec 2010

Texas doctor arrested in whistle-blowing case; Mass. judge dismisses hospital payment lawsuit against the state

Texas officials have filed criminal charges against a West Texas physician over accusations that they say he orchestrated against two nurses who had filed a complaint against him with the state medical board (Sack, 12/23).

24 Dec 2010

U.N. food official highlights food security challenges in world's most populous nation

U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food Olivier De Schutter said Thursday that recent food price spikes in China, "in the world's most populous nation," underscore the country's food security challenges resulting from decreasing amounts of arable land, Agence France-Presse reports.

24 Dec 2010

Health spending and mandates: What is central to the overhaul's implementation and what is not

CQ looks forward and offer analyses regarding how determinations about mandatory and discretionary spending will impact the health law's implementation. Meanwhile, Modern Healthcare reports on a new study exploring how central the individual insurance mandate is to expanding coverage.

24 Dec 2010

Electronic health records have only limited effect on improving quality of medical care: RAND study

Use of electronic health records by hospitals across the United States has had only a limited effect on improving the quality of medical care, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

24 Dec 2010

Health Care News and Research

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

Scientific American examines efforts to increase influenza virus monitoring in pigs to prevent pandemics in humans

Report examines infant, child feeding practices in 33 countries

9/11 responders health bill gains congressional nod

Texas doctor arrested in whistle-blowing case; Mass. judge dismisses hospital payment lawsuit against the state

U.N. food official highlights food security challenges in world's most populous nation

Health spending and mandates: What is central to the overhaul's implementation and what is not

Electronic health records have only limited effect on improving quality of medical care: RAND study

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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