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Modified blood adult stem-cell transplant regimen reverses sickle cell disease

A modified blood adult stem-cell transplant regimen has effectively reversed sickle cell disease in 9 of 10 adults who had been severely affected by the disease, according to results of a National Institutes of Health study in the Dec. 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

13 Dec 2009

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta receives $5 million multi-year gift to care for low-income children

Kaiser Permanente of Georgia today announced a $5 million multi-year gift to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta with the goal of improving access to care for low-income children.

12 Dec 2009

State Medicaid programs face cuts, backlog of applications

The Associated Press reports Minnesota Democratic lawmakers said Thursday that they hope to save health coverage for 35,000 low-income adults after state funding runs out in March. "Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's administration already plans to switch patients into another subsidized program, MinnesotaCare.

12 Dec 2009

UPMC Health Plan signs agreement to offer brain fitness software from Posit Science

UPMC Health Plan announced today that it has signed an agreement to offer award-winning brain fitness software from Posit Science®, at no cost, to all UPMC for Life Medicare Advantage members.

12 Dec 2009

Health reform profiles: People working in the health industry and those struggling with coverage

News reports today include profiles of people who work in the health care industry and people struggling with their insurance coverage.

12 Dec 2009

Health policy study roundup

Relationship of Primary Care Physicians' Patient Caseload With Measurement of Quality and Cost Performance - To "determine whether primary care physicians in the same physician practice collectively see enough Medicare patients annually to detect meaningful differences between practices in ambulatory quality and cost measures," the authors of this study combed through a national sample of Medicare beneficiaries and a database identifying the practice affiliations of the physicians who delivered care to these patients.

12 Dec 2009

Expansion of Medicare in health care compromise faces challenges

The expansion of Medicare included in a Senate compromise hailed as a breakthrough in the discussions of health care overhaul earlier this week is now encountering some friction.

11 Dec 2009

Patients can reduce their health care costs, improve overall wellness by communicating with doctors

Patients can reduce their health care costs and improve their overall wellness by communicating more effectively with their doctors, according to a recent report and list of 10 tips released by InfoMedics, Inc., a patient feedback company that works to improve patient-physician communication.

11 Dec 2009

Disabilities account for a quarter of U.S. adult health care costs

"Just over one-quarter of U.S. adult health care spending was associated with disability in 2006, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention," Insurance Journal reports.

11 Dec 2009

Kaiser Permanente: Women of Chinese and Korean heritage may develop diabetes during pregnancy

More than 10 percent of women of Chinese and Korean heritage may be at risk for developing diabetes during pregnancy, according to a Kaiser Permanente study of 16,000 women in Hawaii that appears in the December issue of the Ethnicity and Disease journal.

11 Dec 2009

BaylorHealth.com wins gold at Healthcare Internet Conference and silver at W3 Awards

Baylor Health Care System's website - BaylorHealth.com - took home the gold at the thirteenth annual Healthcare Internet Conference and silver at this year's W3 Awards.

11 Dec 2009

First Edition: December 11, 2009

Today's headlines track the fits and starts of the Senate's health bill debate, including moderates' concern regarding the recent Medicare expansion deal and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's positive reaction to it. Meanwhile, floor action appears snagged on a drug importation amendment.

11 Dec 2009

Prescription drug and healthcare expenditures increase for U.S. adults

In 2006 the average cost for a prescription drug purchase for Americans age 18 to 44 was double the inflation-adjusted average for 1996, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

11 Dec 2009

"Checklists" for evaluating comparative effectiveness research

A new report released today by the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) provides guidance in the evaluation of comparative effectiveness research (CER), including easy-to-use "checklists" that help make sure such studies can be used to improve the dialogue between health care providers and patients, as well as better inform health care decision-making.

11 Dec 2009

Sage MIP Fund Accounting version 10.2 now available with built-in feedback mechanism

Sage North America today announced version 10.2 of its Sage MIP Fund Accounting nonprofit and government financial management software, featuring a new customer feedback portal allowing customers to quickly submit ideas and feedback to Sage MIP Fund Accounting product executives.

11 Dec 2009

Proposed changes to breast cancer screening criticized

The Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Investigation and one of the country's most respected medical policy professors has written a new commentary which criticizes proposed changes to breast cancer screening.

11 Dec 2009

HSMR helps identify sepsis as an area of concern for Canadian hospitals

A new study shows that in 2008-2009 more than 9,300 patients died of sepsis, a condition resulting from the body's response to severe infection, in Canadian hospitals outside Quebec.

11 Dec 2009

New campaign urges Americans to oppose Senate restrictions on flexible spending accounts

Save Flexible Spending Plans, a national grassroots organization dedicated to protecting flexible spending accounts (FSAs), today launched a new campaign, "Ten Before Ten," that encourages Americans to voice their support for protecting the cost-saving benefit by sending 10,000 emails to their senators before the start of 2010.

11 Dec 2009

Ten years later: Look to nurses as champions of patient safety

In a column for Kaiser Health News, Mary Naylor and Mark Pauly write: "Ten years ago this month, the Institute of Medicine shattered a widely held perception that American health care was safe.

11 Dec 2009

Teamsters supports Sanders amendment to eliminate tax

The Teamsters on Thursday announced their support for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) amendment to eliminate the proposed excise tax on insurance plans from the Senate health care reform proposal.

11 Dec 2009

Health Care News and Research

Modified blood adult stem-cell transplant regimen reverses sickle cell disease

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta receives $5 million multi-year gift to care for low-income children

State Medicaid programs face cuts, backlog of applications

UPMC Health Plan signs agreement to offer brain fitness software from Posit Science

Health reform profiles: People working in the health industry and those struggling with coverage

Health policy study roundup

Expansion of Medicare in health care compromise faces challenges

Patients can reduce their health care costs, improve overall wellness by communicating with doctors

Disabilities account for a quarter of U.S. adult health care costs

Kaiser Permanente: Women of Chinese and Korean heritage may develop diabetes during pregnancy

BaylorHealth.com wins gold at Healthcare Internet Conference and silver at W3 Awards

First Edition: December 11, 2009

Prescription drug and healthcare expenditures increase for U.S. adults

"Checklists" for evaluating comparative effectiveness research

Sage MIP Fund Accounting version 10.2 now available with built-in feedback mechanism

Proposed changes to breast cancer screening criticized

HSMR helps identify sepsis as an area of concern for Canadian hospitals

New campaign urges Americans to oppose Senate restrictions on flexible spending accounts

Ten years later: Look to nurses as champions of patient safety

Teamsters supports Sanders amendment to eliminate tax

Discover how SciY empowers scientists

Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

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