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Health insurance and new laws: Questions still abound

In Massachusetts, individuals and small businesses are in limbo about their future rates, The Boston Globe reports: "Hundreds of individuals and owners of small businesses seeking to buy health insurance this week were turned away from the state's Health Connector website as the standoff between insurers and Massachusetts regulators dragged" on.

12 Apr 2010

New York Attorney General: Some college health plans violate state regulations

An investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office into health insurance plans offered to college students found that most plans "pay out far less in benefits than they collect in premiums," sometimes in violation of state regulations.

12 Apr 2010

Wireless technology and data systems transforming health care

News outlets report on the way that health information technology is changing the practice of medicine.

12 Apr 2010

Study finds overall increase in developing country domestic health spending, some countries have reduced health budgets as donor funding increases

Researchers on Friday released a study in the Lancet that found while "[m]ost countries in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East doubled their health budgets," countries in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have trimmed their health spending as donors have boosted their health aid, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

12 Apr 2010

Resverlogix highlights features of RVX-208 drug at ATVB conference

Resverlogix Corp. announced today that key scientific data was communicated in an oral presentation highlighting the novel features of RVX-208, the Company's lead drug, during the Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, Vascular Biology conference being held in San Francisco, California.

12 Apr 2010

Pfizer discloses payments to doctors

In Pennsylvania, the payments suggested that "[p]harmaceutical company money continued flowing to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center doctors last year, despite a restrictive two-year-old policy designed to limit drug company influence, and reflecting the struggle academic medical centers face in distancing doctors from drug companies," the Pittsburgh Business Times reports

12 Apr 2010

Elmendorf: Health reform will reduce deficit, warns of fiscal crisis

In remarks to reporters Thursday, Congressional Budget Office director Doug Elmendorf warned of a looming budget crisis that "cannot be solved through minor tinkering." The nation's "unsustainable" spending could increase the national debt from $7.5 trillion at the end of 2009 to 20.3 trillion in 2020, when the debt would total 90 percent of gross domestic product, Elmendorf noted (Allen, 4/8).

12 Apr 2010

Aetna faces Medicare sanctions

Health insurer Aetna announced Friday it will suspend "marketing to and enrollment of new members to its Medicare plans for the elderly because of sanctions imposed by the U.S. government," Reuters reports.

12 Apr 2010

Health reform effects on Tricare still being discussed

"Defense officials insist that the new national health care reform law has no direct effect on Tricare — but some analysts say indirect effects eventually may surface. ... military advocacy groups say the law's potential interaction with the complex family of Tricare plans over the longer term is vague, and could lead to future cost or coverage encroachment on the valuable benefit that serves 9.6 million beneficiaries."

9 Apr 2010

One in ten primary care physicians in the U.S. experience conflict with religiously-affiliated hospital: Report

Nearly one in ten primary care physicians in the United States has experienced a conflict with a religiously-affiliated hospital or practice over religious policies for patient care, researchers from the University of Chicago report in a paper published early online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

9 Apr 2010

Top state health officials confused over national reform's effects on states

Stateline.org reports on confusion over health care reform at a quarterly meeting with top state health officials in Washington, D.C.: "The session exemplifies the overwhelming sense of confusion among state lawmakers and health care officials around the country as they scramble to figure out what exactly health care reform means for their governments, their citizens and, not least of all, their budgets.

9 Apr 2010

List of MCEG's Annual Top Ten issues

Likely to be the first professional healthcare group to meet immediately after healthcare reform legislation passed, the Managed Care Executive Group held its annual forum in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida last week.

9 Apr 2010

Mass. judge could rule on health insurer dispute by Monday

"Lawyers for health insurers and the state sparred in court yesterday over regulators' rejection of 235 proposed rate increases, and a judge said he would decide by Monday whether the companies will be allowed to charge the higher prices." The insurers are arguing that the state's insurance commissioner overstepped his authority in rejecting the 235 of 274 requests to increase premiums (Weisman, 4/9).

9 Apr 2010

Today's opinions and editorials

In its most frightening version to date, the new Big Lie about health care reform is that it will require the Internal Revenue Service to hire "16,500 armed bureaucrats" to enforce the coming requirement that those who can afford it must purchase insurance (Eric Zorn, 4/8).

9 Apr 2010

Free Medicare education seminars for Hispanic-American seniors

This month, UnitedHealthcare will offer two free Medicare education seminars aimed at helping Hispanic-American seniors understand the basics of Medicare. Following the seminar, seniors are encouraged to take a free Zumba Gold class, a Latin-infused fitness program that blends the rhythms of merengue, salsa, cumbia, rumba, and tango.

9 Apr 2010

We need social security fund on a global scale: The Lancet

We are in need of a social security fund on a global scale. That is what scientists of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp argue in a Viewpoint in the leading medical journal The Lancet. Such a 'Global Fund for Health' would make the use of international donor money a lot more transparent and efficient.

9 Apr 2010

Research roundup: The effects of health IT, doctor-owned treatment centers, long-term care issues

Physician-Ownership Of Ambulatory Surgery Centers Linked To Higher Volume Of Surgeries - The authors analyzed data from Florida, using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's State Ambulatory Surgery Databases, revealing "a significant association between physician-ownership of surgicenters and greater use" of certain outpatient procedures.

9 Apr 2010

Massachusetts dentist pleads not guilty in Medicaid fraud case

"A former Massachusetts dentist accused of Medicaid fraud for using paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in patients' root canals has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him." The dentist, Michael Clair, was released on personal recognizance.

9 Apr 2010

IMAGE project to be launched for prevention of type 2 diabetes

Researchers and clinicians from across the UK have been part of a pan-European team that has developed the first Europe wide strategy for the prevention of type 2 diabetes. The project received substantial funding of -1.2 million from the European Union.

9 Apr 2010

Developing nations: Laboratories for health care innovation

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jaclyn Schiff writes: A few months ago, GE Healthcare rolled out a portable electrocardiogram machine, trumpeting the new product's ability to help patients wherever they might need it.

9 Apr 2010