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Kronos closes 41 major contracts with healthcare organizations

Solidifying its leadership as the premier provider of workforce management solutions to the healthcare industry, Kronos® Incorporated today announced that it closed 41 major contracts with healthcare organizations in the past 12 months.

2 Mar 2010

Some Democrats cautious as leaders line up health votes - GOP slams Dem approach

In addition to GOP resistance, the Democratic party faces internal opposition to some aspects of health reform legislation.

2 Mar 2010

Loyola medical students and CRJHS students team up to promote healthcare awareness

Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing students are teaming up with high schoolers from Cristo Rey Jesuit High School (CRJHS) to bring awareness and share ideas about health care now and in the future.

2 Mar 2010

AdMeTech Foundation: Health care reform highlights need for better screening and prevention of prostate cancer

AdMeTech Foundation announced today that its President and CEO Dr. Faina Shtern will testify on March 4 before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on how health care reform highlights the need for increased funding for research aimed at creating accurate, life-saving diagnostic tools for prostate cancer, which will improve screening, prevention, early detection and reduce health costs.

2 Mar 2010

Business Roundtable issues report on health care cost trends

In September 2009, Business Roundtable issued a report on health care cost trends prepared by Hewitt Associates. Its central finding was that, if present trends continue, the cost to provide an employee with health care will rise from $10,000 to $28,000 over ten years. Cost increases of this magnitude imperil the competitiveness of our companies and the health care coverage of our employees; they must be addressed.

2 Mar 2010

Study finds most HIV prevention, treatment, care efforts overlook IDUs

A systematic review of HIV prevention, treatment and care for injecting drug users (IDUs) throughout the world, published Monday in the journal Lancet, found that international efforts to fight the disease are largely overlooking this population, the Australian Associated Press/Sydney Morning Herald reports (Rose, 3/1).

2 Mar 2010

Pelosi says Obama to propose 'smaller' health care bill; Durbin defends reconciliation

During a stop in Denver Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said President Barack Obama plans to propose a "health care bill that will be 'much smaller' than the House bill but 'big enough' to put the country on a 'path' toward health care reform" within days, FoxNews.com reports. According to a senior administration official, Obama plans to unveil his proposal Wednesday

2 Mar 2010

Michigan hospitals face rising costs; Doctor urges culture changes to increase safety

Hospitals in Michigan are losing money, according to a report expected to be released today by the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. The Detroit Free Press reports that the losses are leading to "layoffs, hiring freezes and elimination of some services."

2 Mar 2010

Rescission is one of rare points of agreement in health care overhaul

NPR reports that rescission, "where health insurance companies cancel policies after people run up heavy bills" is one of the points of agreement among lawmakers of both parties in health care reform as evidenced by its inclusion in comments at last week's health care summit.

2 Mar 2010

New report: Federal spending for public health flat for nearly five years

Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today released a new report, Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at How Public Health Dollars Are Spent, which finds federal spending for public health has been flat for nearly five years, while states around the country cut nearly $392 million for public health programs in the past year, which leaves communities around the country struggling to deliver basic disease prevention and emergency health preparedness services.

2 Mar 2010

Catholic directive may thwart end-of-life wishes

Kaiser Health News reports on questions resulting from a directive passed last November in Tulsa, Okla. "An elderly woman taken last year to St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., had suffered a massive stroke and could no longer speak, eat or drink.

2 Mar 2010

Pelosi 'confident' on health overhaul vote through reconciliation process

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is "confident" she will be able to get the votes needed to pass health care reform, "even if it threatens the political careers of some members of her party," The New York Times reports.

2 Mar 2010

Joint Chiefs Chair visits Haiti to examine aid response

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mike Mullen, who is President Barack Obama's top military adviser, visited Haiti over the weekend to examine relief and rebuilding efforts and meet with local leaders, Agence France-Presse reports. It was his first visit to the country after the earthquake, according to AFP.

2 Mar 2010

Reid planning to start debate on COBRA, Medicaid help extensions

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is planning to start debate Monday on a bill that would extend COBRA health coverage benefit subsidies for people who have been laid-off. The measure, part of a larger package of expired government programs, also would help states with Medicaid reimbursements.

2 Mar 2010

Towns struggle with high health costs

In the final installment of a two-part series, The Boston Globe reports on municipal health costs and how financially strapped towns are seeking a change in state law so that they can have more flexibility in setting health costs.

2 Mar 2010

Researchers uncover new explanation for the spread of tau protein within human brain

A team of researchers at UMass Lowell has found a new mechanism by which a key protein associated with Alzheimer's disease can spread within the human brain.

2 Mar 2010

MedPac urges Feds to cut payments to private insurers

Reuters: The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPac) on Monday issued nonbinding recommendations that Medicare "cut U.S. government payments to private insurers and home healthcare providers." The panel, which is an independent body set up to advise Congress on Medicare, "repeated its earlier call for the federal government to pay private insurers that offer coverage known as Medicare Advantage the same as it pays when Medicare reimburses providers directly."

2 Mar 2010

Opeds: GOP ideas, HSAs, calls for 'yes' on health bill

It turns out that, when someone is spending his own money alone for routine expenses, he is far more likely to ask the questions he would ask if purchasing any other good or service: "Is there a generic version of that drug?" (Gov. Mitch Daniels, 3/1).

2 Mar 2010

New treatment guidelines demonstrate that best care does not always cost more

Arizona Oncology is proud to be a part of the larger network that just completed a recently conducted study by US Oncology and Aetna that finds evidence-based care for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) results in an average cost savings of 35 percent over 12 months while demonstrating equivalent health outcomes.

2 Mar 2010

Medical identify theft on the rise

NPR/WBUR: Medical identity theft - in which thieves use stolen social security numbers, names and insurance information to seek treatment under an assumed identity - is on the rise. "Over the past 12 months, [CoxHealth Hospital in Missouri] has seen nine instances of identity theft — four in the past 45 days, says Betty Breshears, vice president of corporate integrity at the hospital."

2 Mar 2010