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GAO: Postal health plan could add to retired workers' costs, impact Medicare

The proposal to opt out of the federal health plan would save billions of dollars but could bring uncertainties for employees.

21 Aug 2013

More patients suffer from complications after cancer surgery, but only few die

While more patients in the U.S. are suffering from complications such as blood clots and infections after major cancer surgery, fewer are dying from their operations.

20 Aug 2013

State highlights: Fort Worth to move retirees into Medicare advantage plans; Calif. preps Medi-Cal cuts; Calif. bill would help provide medical interpreters

A selection of health policy stories from Texas, California, Maryland, Oregon, Wisconsin, Illinois and Oklahoma.

20 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: GOP trapped between angry base and reality of health law; small businesses 'scrambling;' competing views of Medicaid expansion in Va.

Recent political reporting suggests that Republican leaders are in a state of high anxiety, trapped between an angry base that still views Obamacare as the moral equivalent of slavery and the reality that health reform is the law of the land and is going to happen (Paul Krugman, 8/18).

20 Aug 2013

Docs prescribe more radiation if they have financial interest in it; Medicare's new e-prescribing ayment spurs use

Doctors who have a financial interest in prescribing radiation treatment do it more, a congressional study says. In the meantime, new Medicare payment incentives drive a rise in e-prescribing.

20 Aug 2013

Insurers seek clarity on who's responsible if consumers who receive subsidies don't pay their share

Insurance officials are asking the Obama administration to make clear who is responsible financially if people who get federal subsidies to buy health insurance don't pay their premiums.

20 Aug 2013

Full-time workers more likely to get kidney transplants

People in end-stage kidney failure in need of a kidney transplant are much less likely to be placed on a waiting list for a new kidney or to actually receive a new kidney once on the list if they are unemployed or work part time, according to new collaborative research from the University of New Hampshire.

20 Aug 2013

Detailing the health law's implementation hurdles

Continued opposition to the overhaul is one of the administration's biggest challenges. In addition, many consumers eligible to buy insurance in new online marketplaces still don't understand their benefits and obligations under the law. Meanwhile, insurance companies are gearing up to sell policies.

20 Aug 2013

First Edition: August 19, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how public perceptions and political opposition continue to swirl around the health law's implementation.

19 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: Medicare's lessons for the health law; Krauthammer says Obama shouldn't try to write his own laws

As a Sept. 30 budget deadline approaches, many in the Republican Party are pushing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The law's most radical opponents are even threatening to shut down the government by refusing to pass a continuing resolution, which would fund existing government programs at current or slightly adjusted levels.

17 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: Latest Health law delay just a 'glitch;' feds' overhaul of health care gets many 'moving parts wrong'

Today brings news of another delay in the implementation of Obamacare -- the second significant glitch this summer. … If this sounds like a winner for Republicans in 2014 it probably isn't.

17 Aug 2013

Research roundup: The health of the U.S.; doctors aren't paid to talk; savings from high-deductible plans

Understanding the major health problems in the United States and how they are changing over time is critical for informing national health policy. ... From 1990 to 2010, the United States made substantial progress in improving health. Life expectancy at birth and [healthy life expectancy] increased, all-cause death rates at all ages decreased, and age-specific rates of years lived with disability remained stable.

17 Aug 2013

Planned Parenthood affiliates among groups tapped to receive federal health law grants

News outlets also highlight various other organizations that received funding to be 'navigators.'

17 Aug 2013

Professor receives Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award from GSA

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) - the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging - has chosen Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, PhD, RN, FAAN, dean of the New York University College of Nursing, as the 2013 recipient of the Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award.

17 Aug 2013

Medicare changes appear to be driving reduced used of dialysis drugs

The Washington Post reports on a new study, which finds Food and Drug Administration warnings did not cause a sharp drop in the use of these drugs.

16 Aug 2013

Fla. hospitals reduce hospital readmissions by 15 percent

The initiative headed by the Florida Hospital Association also reduced readmission rates for surgical complications and bloodstream infections and saved millions at 160 hospitals, it says.

16 Aug 2013

As the health law reshapes the marketplace, concerns emerge

Many of the plans [offered on the new health marketplaces] will include relatively few choices of doctors and hospitals. In some cases, plans will layer on other limits, such as requirements that patients get referrals to see specialists, or obtain insurer authorization before pricey procedures.

16 Aug 2013

Critical-access hospitals would face funding trims under new plan

The proposal, advanced as part of a report from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, would curb enhanced payments to as many as two-thirds of these facilities.

16 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: Gov. Jindal skeptical of navigators program; scare tactics against Obamacare growing

By August 15, the Obama administration is expected to spend $54 million of our tax dollars to hire community organizers to push this law on the American people. ...

14 Aug 2013

State highlights: Texas waits for feds' ok on higher Medicaid payments

California schools may give students insulin injections and other medications without having to call in licensed nurses, the state's highest court ruled Monday. … The unanimous decision was a defeat for the powerful California Nurses Assn., which had argued that only licensed health care workers could administer medicine under a state law that bars the unauthorized practice of nursing (Dolan, 8/12).

14 Aug 2013

Medicare News and Research

GAO: Postal health plan could add to retired workers' costs, impact Medicare

More patients suffer from complications after cancer surgery, but only few die

State highlights: Fort Worth to move retirees into Medicare advantage plans; Calif. preps Medi-Cal cuts; Calif. bill would help provide medical interpreters

Viewpoints: GOP trapped between angry base and reality of health law; small businesses 'scrambling;' competing views of Medicaid expansion in Va.

Docs prescribe more radiation if they have financial interest in it; Medicare's new e-prescribing ayment spurs use

Insurers seek clarity on who's responsible if consumers who receive subsidies don't pay their share

Full-time workers more likely to get kidney transplants

Detailing the health law's implementation hurdles

First Edition: August 19, 2013

Viewpoints: Medicare's lessons for the health law; Krauthammer says Obama shouldn't try to write his own laws

Viewpoints: Latest Health law delay just a 'glitch;' feds' overhaul of health care gets many 'moving parts wrong'

Research roundup: The health of the U.S.; doctors aren't paid to talk; savings from high-deductible plans

Planned Parenthood affiliates among groups tapped to receive federal health law grants

Professor receives Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award from GSA

Medicare changes appear to be driving reduced used of dialysis drugs

Fla. hospitals reduce hospital readmissions by 15 percent

As the health law reshapes the marketplace, concerns emerge

Critical-access hospitals would face funding trims under new plan

Viewpoints: Gov. Jindal skeptical of navigators program; scare tactics against Obamacare growing

State highlights: Texas waits for feds' ok on higher Medicaid payments

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How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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