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N.Y. charges 33 with selling prescriptions to dealers

The Associated Press: Thirty-three people have been charged in Buffalo, N.Y., "in a large-scale investigation that has opened a window into an emerging class of suppliers in the illicit drug trade: medical patients, including many who rely on the publicly funded Medicaid program to pay for their appointments and prescriptions" who sell their prescription drugs.

8 Dec 2010

Conn. addresses insurance rates, Mass. physician groups evaluate controversial payment plan

"House and Senate leaders are eyeing passage of a second midyear spending bill before the start of the next legislative session to address more caseload-driven accounts that are running short on funds five months after Gov. Deval Patrick signed the fiscal 2011 budget. The deficiencies, which follow inaccurate enrollment estimates for MassHealth and other social service programs, threaten to eat into some the revenue surpluses the state has amassed over the first half of fiscal 2011, when tax receipts have exceeded projections" (Murphy, 12/7).

8 Dec 2010

Texas health officials confronting Medicaid costs

"The biggest culprit in Texas' growing debate over escalating Medicaid costs" is "[a] mathematical formula that calculates how much the federal government pays and what's left over for the state," Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with The Texas Tribune, reports. "Already facing a record budget shortfall, Texas' Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) will drop more than 2 percentage points in late 2011, equivalent to a $1.2 billion hit."

8 Dec 2010

Some in health industry raising concerns about Accountable Care Organizations

CQ HealthBeat: "The medical device industry told the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that it's concerned about whether accountable care organizations could give providers financial incentives to hold back on needed patient care, particularly on technology. Meanwhile, insurance plan executives warned CMS officials that the ACOs could give hospitals and doctors new bargaining leverage in negotiations with insurers.

8 Dec 2010

Military health costs skyrocket

CNNMoney: "The cost of health care is blowing the top off the Pentagon's budget. Mirroring the private sector trend, expenses have skyrocketed within the military's health system. The military spent $19 billion on health care in 2001 — and $49 billion in 2010. The Department of Defense forecasts a continued rise of 5% to 7% a year.

8 Dec 2010

Company reaches $28 million settlement for Medicare program

The Tennesseean: "Healthways Inc. will return $28 million to Medicare's overseer under a settlement related to the company's participation in a pilot program to determine the effectiveness of its nurse-based health coaching for chronically ill seniors." The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had paid the company $72 million for the pilot program, which ended two years ago, under the condition that it meet "specific targets for cost savings, health outcomes and patient satisfaction."

7 Dec 2010

Deal for year-long doc fix in the works

Politico: Senators reached a tentative deal Monday that would tap health law funds to avert a scheduled pay cut for physicians. The deal would take back about $19.2 billion in health law subsidies to help people buy health insurance beginning in 2014. It "would change how much money consumers would have to repay if their income status changes mid-year, pushing them out of the eligibility bracket.

7 Dec 2010

Cognitively-impaired human research subjects need better protection

Practices for protecting human research subjects with Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions that make them incapable of giving informed consent are widely variable and in need of more concrete ethical and legal guidance, according to a study in IRB: Ethics & Human Research.

7 Dec 2010

Aetna announces agreement to acquire Medicity

Aetna today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Medicity, a health information exchange technology company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

7 Dec 2010

Mental Health Research Network receives grant to create data resource for mental health researchers

Ask anyone: There must be better ways to treat mental health problems. Treatment hinges on research. But traditional research is slow-and so expensive that it can't even ask many pressing questions in mental health. And findings from academic settings may not apply to patients or clinicians in the real world of health care.

7 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 7, 2010

In today's headlines, Senate leaders appear to be nearing a one-year deal on Medicare's physician pay problem.

7 Dec 2010

Interference with biofilm detachment mechanisms may prevent biofilm-associated infections

Patients in hospitals and healthcare facilities can develop infections as a result of contamination of indwelling medical devices such as catheters with bacteria that are normal inhabitants of the skin of the patient or health care personnel. The bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis is a major cause of such infections.

7 Dec 2010

32% of UAE residents could have diabetes or prediabetes by 2020

One in three United Arab Emirates (UAE) residents could have diabetes or prediabetes by the end of the decade, according to a new analysis from international health and well-being company UnitedHealth Group, released today at the World Health Care Congress Middle East meeting in Abu Dhabi.

7 Dec 2010

WHO to create an evidence base for traditional medicine

WHO will develop, for the first time, a classification of traditional medicine, paving the way for the objective evaluation of its benefits.

7 Dec 2010

New bio-coating technology could enhance long-term performance of medical implant devices

The long-term performance of medical implant devices, like heart valves and cardiac stents, could be enhanced substantially by new bio-coating technology recently licensed to University of Alabama at Birmingham spin-out company Endomimetics LLC through the UAB Research Foundation.

7 Dec 2010

Smoking is common among young adults and children with diabetes, raises risk of heart disease

Cigarette smoking is widespread among children and young adults with diabetes yet few health care providers are counseling children and young adults with diabetes to not smoke or stop smoking, according to a new report from the SEARCH Study Group, published online in the Journal of Pediatrics.

7 Dec 2010

Major depression reduces success rate of quitting smoking

Depressed smokers want to quit the nicotine habit just as much as non-depressed smokers, but a new study suggests that depression can put a kink in their success.

7 Dec 2010

Third Edition of Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines released

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) has released the Third Edition of Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines to subscribers of the guideline development and content publishing platform, APG-I. The proprietary, evidence-based system provides full access to ACOEM's complete guidelines, featuring thousands of pages of the most current evidence medical treatment recommendations.

7 Dec 2010

Early physical therapy associated with fewer subsequent injections, surgery, physician visits: Study

The American Physical Therapy Association is pointing to a new study on low back pain in Medicare patients in its efforts to encourage the newly established Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to promptly launch a demonstration project on direct access to physical therapist services that was recommended in the recent health reform law.

7 Dec 2010

Pfizer CEO unexpectedly retires

As the chairman of the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Kindler was instrumental in lining up drugmaker support for this year's health care overhaul in a deal that ultimately will bring those companies more customers and sales. The industry had helped defeat the Clinton adminstration's attempt to reform health care in 1994

7 Dec 2010