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Yearly flu shots recommended for adults in 50-64 age group

The proportion of Americans with diabetes ages 18 to 64 who reported getting flu shots the previous year rose from 40 percent to 50.5 percent between 2000 and 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

13 Apr 2010

Transparent Health Network adds MPG to provider network

Transparent Health Network today announced the addition of Manhattan's Physician Group (MPG), the largest multi-specialty group in New York City, to its provider network. A new health care access plan that advocates for the working uninsured by negotiating dramatically reduced fees that are 35 to 60% lower than the "retail" fees typically charged to patients without insurance, Transparent Health Network is not insurance. In exchange for the reduced fees, members pay providers directly when they receive care.

13 Apr 2010

SCAN Health Plan honors Monarch HealthCare of Orange County with Wave award

Monarch HealthCare of Orange County has been named this year's recipient of SCAN Health Plan's "Wave" award, presented annually to a medical group that combines "high levels of performance or improvement in the field of geriatrics" with a "strong commitment to care for seniors and SCAN members."

13 Apr 2010

New website for PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Industries practice

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP today launched a new website for their Health Industries practice – www.pwc.com/healthreform – which will serve as a central point of access for PricewaterhouseCoopers' latest insight and analysis on the implications of health reform for health organizations including insurers, physicians, hospitals and other providers, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies and employers.

13 Apr 2010

Implanting blue light-filtering IOLs during cataract surgery may help preserve retina health

Implanting blue light-filtering intraocular lenses during cataract surgery helps maintain visual function and may preserve the health of the retina, specifically in disease states such as age-related macular degeneration, according to a comprehensive review published in the May/June 2010 edition of Survey of Ophthalmology.

13 Apr 2010

Boston Globe examines how PEPFAR budget pressures are affecting AIDS clinics in Africa

"U.S. officials have asked some AIDS clinics overseas to stop enrolling new patients in a U.S.-sponsored program that provides lifesaving antiretroviral drugs, in a bid to stem the rising costs of one of the most ambitious US assistance programs, according to interviews with doctors and official correspondence," the Boston Globe reports.

13 Apr 2010

CSL Behring calls for grant requests through LEAD program

CSL Behring, a global leader in the plasma protein biotherapeutics industry, is calling for grant requests through its Local Empowerment for Advocacy Development program. The LEAD program awards funds to United States patient organizations that assist people with rare diseases in advocating for continued access to health care and life-saving plasma protein therapies.

13 Apr 2010

False claims to Medicare: Los Angeles DME company owner pleads guilty

The owner and operator of a Los Angeles durable medical equipment (DME) company pleaded guilty today to submitting nearly one half of a million dollars in false claims to Medicare, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.

13 Apr 2010

Experts begin probe of WHO's response to H1N1

Health experts on Monday began a probe of how the WHO responded to the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic "nearly a year after global alarm was raised over the new swine flu strain," Agence France-Presse reports (Capella, 4/12).

13 Apr 2010

U.S. seeks to constrain global AIDS program costs

The Boston Globe: "US officials have asked some AIDS clinics overseas to stop enrolling new patients in a US-sponsored program that provides lifesaving antiretroviral drugs" in an effort to stem the rising costs of this assistance program. This step has triggered concern among some AIDS advocates "that the Obama administration is curtailing its commitment to a program that provides lifesaving drugs for 2.4 million people and that many view as President Bush's most successful foreign policy legacy.

13 Apr 2010

San Diego Union-Tribune examines pharma's growing interest in neglected diseases

The San Diego Union-Tribune examines the pharmaceutical industry's growing interest in developing new treatments for what are known as "neglected diseases."

13 Apr 2010

New tool for retrieving accurate drug side-effect information

It's not uncommon for individuals to take as many as a dozen different prescriptions, each with its own set of possible side effects. If a patient experiences one of the potential hundreds of different adverse reactions such as nausea, headaches, insomnia or heart palpitations, how does the physician quickly and accurately determine which drug is the culprit?

13 Apr 2010

AP examines micro-insurance in Africa

The Associated Press examines the growth of micro-insurance in Africa, "a product accessible to those earning less than $2 a day, who pay tiny weekly premiums of sometimes less than a cent."

13 Apr 2010

UHC announces agreements for executive recruitment services

The University HealthSystem Consortium today announced agreements for executive recruitment services: one with Furst Group, based in Rockford, Ill., and one with Witt/Kieffer, Ford, Hadelman, Lloyd Corporation, based in Oak Brook, Ill. The agreements became effective on February 1, 2010.

13 Apr 2010

UPMC Health Plan to host training session on child health- We Can!

UPMC Health Plan will host a two-day training session designed to teach community leaders about We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition) April 27-28, 2010, at Marriott City Center Hotel, Uptown.

13 Apr 2010

News outlets report on food crisis in Sahel region of Africa

A food crisis is developing across the Sahel region - from Mauritania and Guinea to Nigeria and Sudan - where "[m]illions" of people are facing hunger and malnutrition, aid groups say, afrol News reports.

13 Apr 2010

Uninsured migraine sufferers likely to get inadequate treatment: Neurology

People with no health insurance are less likely than the privately insured to receive proper treatment for their migraines, according to a study published in the April 13, 2010, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

13 Apr 2010

KHN column - Medicare advantage competitive pricing: The political failure of a good idea

Few Americans should be satisfied with the way the government pays private health insurance plans that participate in the Medicare Advantage program. Taxpayers pay 14 percent more to insure a beneficiary through the Advantage program than through traditional, fee-for-service Medicare, the program's 'public option.'

13 Apr 2010

Small businesses continue search for health reform information

The Bergen County (N.J.) Record/NorthJersey.com: Small businesses continue to assess the impact health reform will have on them. "While some believe the reforms will help control health costs and give assistance to small businesses that can't afford worker coverage, others are skeptical they will benefit when the plan is up and running — and some are sure it will hurt.

13 Apr 2010

Research on efficacy of yoga in breast cancer treatment attracts award of over $4.5M

In an ongoing effort to scientifically validate the age-old belief that mind-body interventions have a beneficial impact on the health of patients, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has been awarded more than $4.5 million to study the efficacy of incorporating yoga into the treatment program of women with breast cancer.

13 Apr 2010