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Research roundup: Insurance crisis tough on middle class; Hospitals' profit margins on private patients up

Private-Payer Profits Can Induce Negative Medicare Margins - "Hospitals' profit margins on privately insured patients have risen dramatically in recent years, while profit margins on Medicare patients have fallen," write the authors, who all work for MedPAC.

20 Mar 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet study performed a systematic review of HIV prevention and treatment services targeting injecting drug users (IDUs) globally based on the availability of "core interventions for IDUs: needle and syringe programmes (NSPs), opioid substitution therapy (OST) and other drug treatment, HIV testing and counselling, antiretroviral therapy (ART), and condom programmes." The authors conclude, "although the number of countries with core HIV prevention services is growing … worldwide, there are few countries in which the level of intervention coverage is sufficient to prevent HIV transmission" (Mathers et al., 3/20).

20 Mar 2010

Student loan provisions help offset health costs in reconciliation bill

"Without the inclusion of a student loan overhaul, the healthcare reconciliation bill would likely have been blocked in the Senate, according to an analysis of preliminary CBO estimates," Congress Daily reports.

20 Mar 2010

Today's OpEds: Wash Post, Economist support health bill, others articulate opposition

But if legislators are asked to cast an up-or-down vote in the next few days, our advice would be to vote yes. With trepidation, we would say that the benefits of acting outweigh the risks (3/19).

20 Mar 2010

AMA, AARP announce support for health care legislation

The New York Times Prescriptions Blog reports: "In a major end-game endorsement for Democrats, the American Medical Association, which represents the nation's doctors, reiterated its support for the health care legislation on Friday. The announcement was immediately hailed by the White House. ... While some groups like the United States Chamber of Commerce are openly fighting the legislation, it is helpful to the White House and Democratic leaders that the doctors are not throwing their weight behind the opposition" (Herszenhorn, 3/19).

20 Mar 2010

Divisions within pro-life groups on overhaul ease opposition

A previously steadfast coalition opposed to abortion - which feared that the health overhaul could divert federal money to support the procedure - is beginning to crack, The Christian Science Monitor reports. "Increasingly, abortion foes - including high-profile Catholic organizations and members of Congress - are saying that while the language aimed at preventing use of federal funds for abortion is not perfect, the bill is still worth passing as a first step."

19 Mar 2010

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: NIAID Director issues statement

Following is a statement of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health on National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, March 20, 2010:

19 Mar 2010

Comprehensive community-based solution to help achieve 'meaningful use'

Navigating the Challenges of Meaningful Use to Identify Benefits, March 31, 2010, 2 p.m. CT, a Webinar hosted by Informatics Corporation of America, will explore how to practically implement a community-wide solution that assists its healthcare participants to achieve the proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s criteria for meaningful use and bridge gaps in the adoption of electronic health records by its provider community.

19 Mar 2010

Kaiser Permanente to invest nearly $2M to open new medical office in Lawrenceville

Located in Building 100 at 455 Philip Blvd., the new medical office will become Kaiser Permanente's third location in Gwinnett County, along with its Sugar Hill-Buford and Gwinnett locations. The Lawrenceville location is the third new Kaiser Permanente medical center to open in the past six months, along with East Cobb and Downtown Decatur.

19 Mar 2010

NMA to discuss the impact of health care reform on health disparities

The National Medical Association, the nation's oldest and largest organization representing the interests of 30,000 African American physicians will hold a press conference to address health care reform legislation and its impact on health disparities.

19 Mar 2010

First Edition: March 19, 2010

The headlines reflect yesterday's flurry of activity as House Democratic Leaders unveiled their $940 billion health-care compromise bill and steamed toward a Sunday vote. All the while, Republican leaders plotted was to stall this progress and nullify the measure.

19 Mar 2010

RAND study: Common insurance plans may not achieve intended savings

Increasingly common insurance plans that encourage patients to receive care from physicians who keep medical costs lower are based on unreliable estimates of doctor performance and may not achieve the intended savings, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

19 Mar 2010

New report on the state of U.S. mobile health market

CSMG, the strategy division of TMNG Global, a leading provider of professional services, products and services to the converging communications, media and entertainment industries, today released its report on the state of the U.S. mobile health market, entitled: mHealth: Taking the Pulse.

19 Mar 2010

Veteran dentist from Chickasha named 2010 National Gold Medal Dentistry award winner

A veteran dentist from Chickasha, Oklahoma has been named the 2010 National Gold Medal Dentistry award winner for his contributions to the practice of safe sedation dentistry.

19 Mar 2010

Increasing awareness about child accidents in the home and their prevention can help reduce risk

Targeted and individually adapted information to the parents of small children would reduce the risk of accidents involving children in the home. This is shown by new research from the Faculty of Health and Society at Malmö University in Sweden.

19 Mar 2010

Technique of igniting nanoparticles with low-intensity laser may help destroy cancer cells from within

University of Florida engineering researchers have found they can ignite certain nanoparticles using a low-power laser, a development they say opens the door to a wave of new technologies in health care, computing and automotive design.

19 Mar 2010

Predominantly white, insured and sick patients frequently use ER

Frequent users of the emergency department are predominantly white, insured and at greater risk for hospitalization due to serious illness, despite public perceptions of them as abusers of the healthcare system with minor complaints and no health insurance. This is the consensus of a systematic review of two dozen published studies of so-called "frequent flyers" ("Frequent Users of Emergency Departments: The Myths, the Data, and the Policy Implications").

19 Mar 2010

Role of structured physical activity in preventing or delaying mobility disabilities in older adults

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, together with Wake Forest University, will play a key role in a new study that seeks to determine whether a program of structured physical activity can prevent or delay major mobility disabilities in older adults.

19 Mar 2010

Enrollment in internal medicine residency program remains stagnant

The number of U.S. medical students choosing internal medicine residencies inched higher from 2009 but not enough to significantly impact the shortage of primary care physicians.

19 Mar 2010

Women need education on risks associated with early elective cesarean sections: Survey

Results of a national survey point to a greater need to educate women on the risks associated with early elective cesarean sections and labor inductions.

19 Mar 2010

Health Care News and Research

Research roundup: Insurance crisis tough on middle class; Hospitals' profit margins on private patients up

Recent releases in Global Health

Student loan provisions help offset health costs in reconciliation bill

Today's OpEds: Wash Post, Economist support health bill, others articulate opposition

AMA, AARP announce support for health care legislation

Divisions within pro-life groups on overhaul ease opposition

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: NIAID Director issues statement

Comprehensive community-based solution to help achieve 'meaningful use'

Kaiser Permanente to invest nearly $2M to open new medical office in Lawrenceville

NMA to discuss the impact of health care reform on health disparities

First Edition: March 19, 2010

RAND study: Common insurance plans may not achieve intended savings

New report on the state of U.S. mobile health market

Veteran dentist from Chickasha named 2010 National Gold Medal Dentistry award winner

Increasing awareness about child accidents in the home and their prevention can help reduce risk

Technique of igniting nanoparticles with low-intensity laser may help destroy cancer cells from within

Predominantly white, insured and sick patients frequently use ER

Role of structured physical activity in preventing or delaying mobility disabilities in older adults

Enrollment in internal medicine residency program remains stagnant

Women need education on risks associated with early elective cesarean sections: Survey

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

How microplastics and bacteria interact to drive antibiotic resistance

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