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Budget chief Orszag reportedly set to resign

Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, will step down from his post in July, "according to two knowledgeable administration officials," The Wall Street Journal reports.

23 Jun 2010

New survey: Consumers who buy their own health insurance report big rate increase requests

"Wellpoint - a big health insurer sharply criticized by the Obama Administration for seeking to raise rates up to 39 percent for some California policyholders earlier this year - was not unusual in seeking double-digit increases, a new survey finds" (Appleby and Schiff, 6/21).

23 Jun 2010

Insuring your health: Rising costs spur increase in health savings accounts

In this Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: "High-deductible health plans and the health savings accounts (HSAs) that link to them are becoming a familiar fixture on the insurance landscape, even though they get mixed reviews from many consumers and health-policy experts" (Andrews, 6/22).

23 Jun 2010

Medicare physician payment cuts could cost millions more in reprocessing

Politico reports that the fight over a "doc fix" — fixing the Medicare reimbursement rate for doctors — is "straining not just doctors but also House-Senate relations" and could cost taxpayers millions of dollars. "Having waited for weeks in hopes of a stay, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, is now enforcing a 21 percent cut in physician payments, and an estimated 50 million claims, held back since June 1, will be the first affected."

23 Jun 2010

HHS, insurers, health systems preparing for health law's impact

Politico reports on the Department of Health and Human Services' HealthCare.gov, "the new Web portal that goes live July 1 and is designed to give consumers a place to research and compare health insurance plans. Since it will be the most tangible link to the health reform law for many Americans, health policy experts and administration officials say it's crucial that the site is well-designed, easy to navigate and free of the jargon that makes the field of health insurance so unintelligible to the public. ... When HealthCare.gov launches next Thursday, it will have information about insurance plans that users can sort based on their own situation and their eligibility for public insurance programs, like Medicare, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the new high-risk pools for individuals with pre-existing conditions" (Kliff, 6/22).

23 Jun 2010

Psychotropic medications associated with pediatric ADRs in Denmark: Researchers

Between 1998 and 2007, psychotropic medications were associated with 429 adverse drug reactions in children under 17 in Denmark. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Research Notes found that more than half of these were serious and several were birth defects - suggesting that tighter controls on the prescription of psychotropic medications to pregnant women may be required.

23 Jun 2010

Senate Dems explore phase-out of Medicaid enhanced funding

Congressional Quarterly: Senate Democrats are negotiating with "a pair of pivotal Republicans" a slimmed-down version of the tax bill that they were unable to clear last week. "The most significant change being discussed would shrink the cost of a $24.2 billion provision that extends extra federal Medicaid funds to struggling states."

23 Jun 2010

AIDS specialist leaves Calif. practice, citing rising costs

A long-time San Francisco AIDS specialist is closing his clinic and moving to Manhattan because of frustration with the insurance industry and the rising cost of practicing medicine, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "The bottom line is, you cannot make a living practicing medicine unless you work at least 50 to 60 hours a week," said Dr. Marcus Conant, one of the first AIDS doctors in the area. "I'm not the only doctor who's getting to the point where it's not worth it."

23 Jun 2010

Health reform includes changes to denied claims, health savings accounts

News outlets examine some changes to the health care system that health reform will bring, including help for those with denied insurance claims and health savings account modifications.

23 Jun 2010

States worry about Medicaid funding caught in Congressional impasse

Washington Examiner: "Lawmakers in Virginia and Maryland are bracing for a congressional impasse over millions of dollars in health care funding that threatens to thrust both states into the red. The Medicaid funding is set to expire in January, and a measure to extend it is stalled in the Senate over concerns about the ballooning federal deficit.

22 Jun 2010

Benioff family gifts $100 million for construction of new UCSF Children's Hospital at Mission Bay

Salesforce.com chairman and CEO Marc Benioff and his family have given a $100 million private gift to help fund the construction of the new UCSF Children's Hospital at the UCSF Mission Bay campus near downtown San Francisco. The gift is both the largest gift the donors have ever made and the largest gift ever granted specifically to the UCSF Children's Hospital.

22 Jun 2010

Walgreen third-quarter sales up 6.1% to record $17.2 billion

Walgreens today announced earnings and sales results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010.

22 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 22, 2010

22 Jun 2010

Improving health care for Saskatchewan patients remains a challenge: HQC report

In October 2008 the province's Health Quality Council released its first "state of health care quality" report, called Quality Insight. Key messages in that inaugural report were that limited access to timely data and the absence of an electronic health record were making it hard for HQC, health providers, and system leaders to improve health care for Saskatchewan patients.

22 Jun 2010

Most Americans view paid sick days as basic worker right

Paid sick leave is a benefit prized by American workers but frequently missing on the job — a situation that leads to serious consequences, a new study released Monday by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago shows.

22 Jun 2010

Access to Healthcare signs contract with World Diabetes Foundation for new healthcare project in India

Coloplast's donation programme Access to Healthcare just signed a contract with the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF) about a new healthcare project in India. The project aims to improve the treatment of diabetic wounds.

22 Jun 2010

Veterans with substance use disorders utilize violent means to commit suicide: Study

Veterans with substance use disorders who die by suicide are more likely to use violent means (such as a firearm) rather than nonviolent means (such as a drug overdose), new research suggests.

22 Jun 2010

Kaiser survey examines views of people who buy health coverage in individual market

People who buy their own insurance report that their insurers most recently requested premium increases averaging 20 percent, according to a new Kaiser survey examining the experiences and views of people who buy health coverage in the non-group or individual market.

22 Jun 2010

Kaiser Permanente recognized as Best Place to Work

Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's largest not-for-profit health plans, has been recognized as a "Best Place to Work" by three publications. In the first half of 2010, the organization was ranked No. 1 by Diversity MBA Magazine for diverse managers, and No. 2 in the San Francisco Business Times' list of "Best Places to Work."

22 Jun 2010

Connecticut is first state in U.S to expand coverage for low-income residents under Affordable Care Act

Connecticut is the first state in the nation to permanently add low-income adults to its Medicaid program under the new Affordable Care Act, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today.

22 Jun 2010