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U.S. not-for-profit hospitals and health care systems focus on managing and reallocating investment portfolios

U.S. not-for-profit hospitals and health care systems continue to focus more on managing and reallocating their investment portfolios in order to provide capital stability and growth as well as building cash reserves.

17 Feb 2010

Idaho Health Freedom Act: Unproven, untried and vague, says AARP and urges Senate committee to reject bill

As Idaho families, businesses and retirees struggle with soaring health care costs, a vague bill aimed at tackling an issue in a non-existent federal health care law could make the crisis worse for many of the state's residents. The Idaho Health Freedom Act (HB 391) is set to be heard by Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee tomorrow morning, and AARP says the legislation is unproven, untried and vague and is urging them to reject the bill.

17 Feb 2010

Medical journal finds divide between doctors and patients on new mammogram recommendations

News outlets explore confusion about cancer screening guidelines and questions raised about the effects of high tech procedures on health care costs and quality.

17 Feb 2010

Shared Health partners with MEDai to provide HIE platform to the state of Tennessee

Shared Health, Inc., Tennessee's largest public/private health information exchange (HIE) has partnered with MEDai, an Elsevier company, to provide a rich, interoperable, clinically relevant HIE platform to the state of Tennessee. This partnership delivers best in class solutions and technologies that support clinical excellence and operating efficiencies.

17 Feb 2010

New report focuses on how to reduce and control hypertension

High blood pressure is the second leading cause of death in the United States, triggering more than one-third of heart attacks and almost half of heart failures each year even though it is relatively easy to prevent and inexpensive to treat.

17 Feb 2010

4 Senate Democrats ask Reid to go back to public option

Four Senate Democrats are asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to revisit a plan for a government run health plan, or public option, in the health care overhaul legislation.

17 Feb 2010

CMS study predicts healthcare spending may double by 2019

Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc.. Unlike other industries, spending on healthcare showed no signs of slowing down and the sector made its biggest one-year jump ever according to a new study by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

17 Feb 2010

States struggle with insurance cost and coverage in Ohio, Rhode Island and Nebraska

The Columbus Dispatch reports that a health-insurance co-operative founded by Tom Rose, a retired businessman from Marietta, Ohio, "hopes to give people who feel alone in the health-care market that power-in-numbers feeling. ... Benefits Unlimited Inc. started in 2007 and started accepting dues-paying members across the nation last month. ... Annual dues range from $25 for an individual or household to $1,500 for employers or associations with 500 or more people.

17 Feb 2010

Investigation: Dangerous caregivers missing from federal database of disciplinary records

News outlets report on health care fraud and legal issues, including missing disciplinary records in a federal database of dangerous caregivers and a new federal bill that would target fake Medicare claims for prescriptions and equipment.

17 Feb 2010

Adding daclizumab to standard treatment reduces enlarged brain lesions in patients with relapsing MS

An international team of researchers has found that adding a humanized monoclonal antibody called daclizumab to standard treatment reduces the number of new or enlarged brain lesions in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis. This new study was published online Feb. 16, 2010, and in the March edition of the Lancet Neurology.

17 Feb 2010

Combination of daclizumab and interferon beta significantly reduces MS lesion formation

Biogen Idec and Facet Biotech Corporation today announced the publication of Phase 2 data showing that the addition of daclizumab to interferon beta (IFNβ) led to a significant reduction in the number of new or enlarged multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions when compared to IFNβ alone in patients with active relapsing forms of MS.

17 Feb 2010

Poll says most Americans want to start over on health reform

In a new poll from Zogby International and the University of Texas Health Science Center, more than half of respondents said Congress should start over on health care reforms, The Hill reports.

17 Feb 2010

Study shows value-based plans can improve adherence for diabetes medicines

A study by CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), published this week in the American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits, finds that insurance benefit designs that reduce the cost of medications for plan participants result in patients being more likely to start and stay on their medication therapy.

17 Feb 2010

As politics swirl, both sides prepare for health care summit

With the White House health summit quickly approaching, members from both sides of the aisle "are pressing story lines on how the reform debate has played out that aren't as tidy or truthful as Democrats and Republicans would like voters to believe," Politico reports. "The summit could help reset the negotiations, but with [President Barack] Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, other top administration officials and 37 lawmakers all in attendance, the likelihood of a serious breakthrough appears dim."

17 Feb 2010

Two prominent Georgia physicians call for Senate action to stop 21% Medicare cut

Making a plea to Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, two prominent Georgia physicians who head national physician organizations joined with American Medical Association (AMA) President J. James Rohack, M.D. to call for Senate action this month to stop a 21 percent Medicare cut that will hurt seniors and military families on March 1.

17 Feb 2010

Even with new medical schools opening, shortages mar workforce

Nearly two dozen medical schools have recently opened or may open across America, "the most at any time since the 1960s and '70s," The New York Times reports. These new institutions "are seeking to address an imbalance in American medicine that has been growing for a quarter century. Many bright students were fleeing to offshore medical schools, or giving up hope entirely, when they could not get into domestic schools. Meanwhile, American hospitals were using foreign-trained and foreign-born physicians to fill medical residencies. During the 1980s and '90s only one new medical school was established."

17 Feb 2010

Amid stalled health reform efforts, advocates emerge for the state-by-state approach

Proponents of state-based health reform are saying that the federal stall over a health overhaul is giving states a perfect opportunity to showcase what they can do to solve the health care cost and coverage crisis, The Washington Post reports.

17 Feb 2010

Health reform pressure points: Excise tax, individual mandate, antitrust legislation

"An agreement to tax high-cost, employer-sponsored health insurance plans, announced with fanfare by the White House and labor unions last month, is losing support from labor leaders, who say the proposal is too high a price to pay for the limited health care package they expect to emerge from Congress," The New York Times reports.

16 Feb 2010

Obama administration announces $1 billion in new health IT grants

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis Friday announced the release of $1 billion in stimulus funds to expand the use of electronic records and to train health care workers.

16 Feb 2010

Budget cuts hit health care services in Minnesota, Oklahoma and California

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to cut a net of $347 million from programs for sick, aged, disabled and jobless people is akin to the advice an ailing George Washington got from his doctors 210 years ago, one critic said Monday: Bleed him, in hope of a cure. Pawlenty would eliminate the General Assistance program in which about 20,000 disabled and very-low-income people receive an average of $175 a month.

16 Feb 2010

Health Care News and Research

U.S. not-for-profit hospitals and health care systems focus on managing and reallocating investment portfolios

Idaho Health Freedom Act: Unproven, untried and vague, says AARP and urges Senate committee to reject bill

Medical journal finds divide between doctors and patients on new mammogram recommendations

Shared Health partners with MEDai to provide HIE platform to the state of Tennessee

New report focuses on how to reduce and control hypertension

4 Senate Democrats ask Reid to go back to public option

CMS study predicts healthcare spending may double by 2019

States struggle with insurance cost and coverage in Ohio, Rhode Island and Nebraska

Investigation: Dangerous caregivers missing from federal database of disciplinary records

Adding daclizumab to standard treatment reduces enlarged brain lesions in patients with relapsing MS

Combination of daclizumab and interferon beta significantly reduces MS lesion formation

Poll says most Americans want to start over on health reform

Study shows value-based plans can improve adherence for diabetes medicines

As politics swirl, both sides prepare for health care summit

Two prominent Georgia physicians call for Senate action to stop 21% Medicare cut

Even with new medical schools opening, shortages mar workforce

Amid stalled health reform efforts, advocates emerge for the state-by-state approach

Health reform pressure points: Excise tax, individual mandate, antitrust legislation

Obama administration announces $1 billion in new health IT grants

Budget cuts hit health care services in Minnesota, Oklahoma and California

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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