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Research Roundups: Underinsured children; Hospital progress on electronic records; Federal officlals' work on comparative effectiveness

Underinsurance Among Children In The United States - This study examines the scope of underinsurance, or health insurance that fails to sufficiently meet the needs, of children living in the U.S. Based on information obtained from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, the authors of the study report, "19.3% — or 14.1 million — of all U.S. children (and 22.7% of children with continuous insurance coverage) were underinsured in 2007, exceeding the number of children without any insurance at all during the year (3.4 million) and the number who had insurance during only part of the year (7.6 million)."

27 Aug 2010

Groups press Congress to end patients' wait for Medicare

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jessica Marcy reports: "Under federal rules, most people with disabilities who are younger than 65 aren't eligible for Medicare until more than two years after they qualify for Social Security disability income.

27 Aug 2010

APF offers actionable solutions to improve access to pain care

The American Pain Foundation (APF), the nation's largest consumer advocacy organization for people in pain, released today a position statement imploring the medical community, regulators and concerned stakeholders to reaffirm their ethical commitment to the 76.5 million Americans—or one in four people—who struggle with pain, work collaboratively to improve access to pain care and dismantle the barriers preventing timely, appropriate and effective pain care for millions.

27 Aug 2010

HealthSpring announces acquisition of Bravo Health

HealthSpring, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of Bravo Health, Inc., an operator of Medicare Advantage coordinated care plans in Pennsylvania, the Mid-Atlantic region, and Texas, and Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans in 43 states.

27 Aug 2010

First Edition: August 27, 2010

In the headlines today, news about U.S. plans to step up efforts to crack down on health care fraud.

27 Aug 2010

Expansion of rapid response systems throughout the Veterans Affairs network can reduce morbidity

Implementing a rapid response team to aid in managing "potentially unstable" patients has led to a sharp reduction in the rate of cardiac arrests at a U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital, reports a study in the September issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

27 Aug 2010

Smoking among youth declines, but much more needs to be done

The 2009 National Youth Tobacco Survey released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides further evidence that the United States has made dramatic progress in reducing youth smoking, but the rate of decline has slowed significantly in recent years.

27 Aug 2010

Quantum Health on HIRC's list of leading disease management organizations

Quantum Health proves bigger isn't better (and small can be mighty) by making the Health Industry Research Companies' (HIRC) list of leading disease management organizations. According to HIRC's Fall 2010 report on Health and Disease Management Service, size was – until recently – a primary factor for making the list. Not anymore. Now, organizations must obtain auditor's letters from respected third parties to vouch for the validity of their outcomes.

27 Aug 2010

Few US hospitals meet federal guidelines for 'meaningful use' in adoption of EHRs

Transforming the U.S. health care system from paper-based to electronic-based may improve health care quality and reduce costs, but a new study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) suggests that goal is far off. The adoption of basic or comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) by U.S. hospitals increased modestly from 8.7% in 2008 to 11.9% in 2009, but only 2% of hospitals met the federal "meaningful use" standard needed to qualify for government financial incentives.

27 Aug 2010

Connectyx Technologies expands relationship with MASA for healthcare program

Connectyx Technologies Holdings Group, Inc. is pleased to announce that the Company has expanded its relationship with MASA Assist, one of the country's leading Medical Evacuation Companies with over 500,000 members.

27 Aug 2010

MCNA announces $2 million to launch HEAL program for childhood asthma management

The mold that spread like a rash across post-Katrina New Orleans did more than destroy homes - it made children with asthma sick. On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, experts point to increased sensitivities to environmental asthma triggers as a risk for more severe asthma symptoms and attacks in hundreds of New Orleans children.

27 Aug 2010

American features series on HIV/AIDS: Prevention Strategies, MSM, Idus

A Scientific American series examines how recent scientific advances will guide future efforts to thwart HIV/AIDS and also looks at the epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) and injecting drug users (IDUs).

27 Aug 2010

Study evaluates use of drought-tolerant maize in Africa

Reuters reports on a study (.pdf) examining the use of drought-tolerant maize in 13 African countries, which was published on Thursday by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) with input from several other food research institutes (Cocks, 8/26).

27 Aug 2010

Study: One in four kids underinsured before recession

Even prior to the onset of the economic recession in 2008, nearly one in four American parents with health insurance reported that their coverage was so inadequate they were unable to access the medical care their children needed.

27 Aug 2010

Wall Street Journal reports on pharma's growing interest in emerging markets

Abbott Laboratories will soon acquire the biggest share of India's pharmaceuticals market, about 7%, when the company closes as early as next month on a $3.7 billion takeover of the drugs business of Piramal Healthcare Ltd

27 Aug 2010

Scaled back premium increases allowed for Calif. insurer; Calif. lawmakers pass bills setting up exchange; Alaska approves Abortion Notification Initiative

California insurance regulators cleared the way Wednesday for Anthem Blue Cross to implement scaled-back rate hikes after a previous increase was canceled amid an uproar over its size.

27 Aug 2010

Researchers recommend traumatic brain injury reclassification for additional funding

Traumatic brain injury, currently considered a singular event by the insurance industry and many health care providers, is instead the beginning of an ongoing process that impacts multiple organ systems and may cause or accelerate other diseases and disorders that can reduce life expectancy, according to research from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

27 Aug 2010

NPR: Some primary care doctors remain in solo practice

In the first of a three-part series on primary care, NPR reports on doctors who choose to stay in solo practice.

27 Aug 2010

Medicare expands coverage for tobacco-related counseling

Previously, Medicare rules allowed the program to cover tobacco-related counseling only for beneficiaries who already suffered from a tobacco-related disease. "Under the new policy, Medicare will cover up to two tobacco-cessation counseling tries each year, including as many as four individual sessions per attempt. ...

27 Aug 2010

81% of physicians visited Health Care Professional content websites in first-quarter 2010

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, and ImpactRx, a pharmaceutical insights company, today released the first in a series of reports from the comScore/ImpactRx Physician Behavioral Measurement™ solution, a unique digital measurement solution that measures physicians' actual online and mobile behaviors.

27 Aug 2010

Health Care News and Research

Research Roundups: Underinsured children; Hospital progress on electronic records; Federal officlals' work on comparative effectiveness

Groups press Congress to end patients' wait for Medicare

APF offers actionable solutions to improve access to pain care

HealthSpring announces acquisition of Bravo Health

First Edition: August 27, 2010

Expansion of rapid response systems throughout the Veterans Affairs network can reduce morbidity

Smoking among youth declines, but much more needs to be done

Quantum Health on HIRC's list of leading disease management organizations

Few US hospitals meet federal guidelines for 'meaningful use' in adoption of EHRs

Connectyx Technologies expands relationship with MASA for healthcare program

MCNA announces $2 million to launch HEAL program for childhood asthma management

American features series on HIV/AIDS: Prevention Strategies, MSM, Idus

Study evaluates use of drought-tolerant maize in Africa

Study: One in four kids underinsured before recession

Wall Street Journal reports on pharma's growing interest in emerging markets

Scaled back premium increases allowed for Calif. insurer; Calif. lawmakers pass bills setting up exchange; Alaska approves Abortion Notification Initiative

Researchers recommend traumatic brain injury reclassification for additional funding

NPR: Some primary care doctors remain in solo practice

Medicare expands coverage for tobacco-related counseling

81% of physicians visited Health Care Professional content websites in first-quarter 2010

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

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