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WHO Director-General calls for greater efforts to reduce tobacco use

In a speech on Friday marking the fifth anniversary of an international tobacco control treaty, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called for government officials worldwide to increase efforts to protect their population from the harmful effects of tobacco, Reuters reports. "Tobacco kills more than 5 million people a year from cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes and other chronic illnesses, including about 600,000 from second-hand smoke, according to the United Nations agency," the news service writes.

1 Mar 2010

Health votes pose imminent test for Pelosi; Hutchison pledges to stay in Senate as long as reform debate continues

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's latest test on a health reform overhaul will come in the form of living up to the words that she has the votes on a health reform package, Politico reports.

1 Mar 2010

Drugmakers' business practices draw scrutiny

Three top California Medicaid officials in charge of pharmacy issues failed to disclose trips paid for by drug-industry funded business groups, California Watch/San Francisco Chronicle reports. Officials who are directly involved in setting drug policy and negotiating payments took about 12 trips paid for by these nonprofit business groups. The nonprofits hold conferences such as the those attended by the Medicaid officials and raise their money through fees from drug representatives who attend conferences, too.

1 Mar 2010

Massive earthquake hits Chile

"Shell-shocked Chileans struggled to deal with the aftermath of a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake that ripped through the southern half of the country early Saturday morning," the Wall Street Journal reports.

1 Mar 2010

Palliative care helps improve quality, cut end of life care costs

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on palliative care and focuses on a fairly typical American hospital in Abington.

1 Mar 2010

Thirty-six organizations urge Congress to pass health reform legislation

State, regional and national public health associations today called on Congress to send comprehensive health reform legislation to the president in the coming weeks. Thirty-six organizations representing tens of thousands of public health professionals from Alaska to Maine, Iowa to Kentucky and states in between signed on to a letter to members of Congress urging action.

1 Mar 2010

Physicians urge Senators to repeal Medicare cuts

The U.S. Senate's failure to act before today's 21 percent Medicare physician payment cut has put seniors at grave risk of reduced access to health care and choice of physician.

1 Mar 2010

Groups preparing to fight cutbacks, ready final health overhaul push

A renewed push to pass health care reform in America has lobbyists and interest groups pushing to have their voices heard and heeded as lawmakers prepare the endgame on health reform legislation, The Washington Post reports.

1 Mar 2010

Medicare cuts to doctors payments go into effect today

Starting today, doctors face a 21 percent cut in their reimbursements from Medicare based on a federal budget law that sets physican payments based on other economic factors. In past years, Congress has routinely waived such cuts. The House passed a bill to again postpone the cuts but a similar attempt in the Senate stalled last week.

1 Mar 2010

While Congress debates, health costs continue steep rise

The New York Times' "Week in Review" section features a story that begins: "Suppose Congress and President Obama fail to overhaul the system now, or just tinker around the edges, or start over, as the Republicans propose. ... Then 'my health care' stays the same, right? Far from it, health policy analysts and economists of nearly every ideological persuasion agree. The unrelenting rise in medical costs is likely to wreak havoc within the system and beyond it. ... Even those families that enjoy generous insurance now are likely to see the cost of those benefits escalate.

1 Mar 2010

Amerigroup introduces long-term care program to address complex health concerns

Amerigroup Corporation today announced that its Tennessee health plan began offering long-term care (LTC) services to approximately 4,000 existing middle Tennessee members through the state's TennCare CHOICES in LTC program.

1 Mar 2010

First Edition: March 1, 2010

Today's headlines focus on Democratic vote-counting and what plans the future will hold for advancing health reform.

1 Mar 2010

Axolotl celebrates 15 years of software development and HIE implementation

Axolotl Corp., the nationwide leader in health information exchange (HIE) services and solutions, celebrates fifteen successful years of software development and HIE implementation. Since its founding in 1995, Axolotl has been providing advanced Clinical Networking™ solutions to meet the diverse and changing needs of physicians, hospitals, regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and statewide HIEs to achieve interoperability across entire medical trading areas.

1 Mar 2010

Resurrected ParticipACTION initiative in Canada still has potential to succeed

Despite a six-year hiatus, a resurrected national physical activity initiative in Canada, ParticipACTION, still has the potential to succeed thanks to a "sticky" brand fostered over thirty successful years, and support from organizations with health promotion and physical activity as their mandates, University of Alberta researchers have found.

1 Mar 2010

Axolotl to demonstrate Elysium Open Access platform during HIMSS 2010

Axolotl Corp., the most experienced health information exchange (HIE) solutions and services company, today announced that it will be demonstrating its standards-based service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform — Elysium Open Access, with live third party applications – in operation today. Elysium Open Access is a core part of Axolotl’s Elysium® Exchange HIE suite.

1 Mar 2010

Aurora BayCare to host statewide meeting to promote development of medical technology businesses

Aurora BayCare will host a statewide meeting Friday, March 5, to promote the development of medical technology businesses in northeastern Wisconsin. The "Medical Device Collaboration Gathering" will take place at Aurora BayCare Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center, 1160 Kepler Drive in Green Bay.

1 Mar 2010

Government has yet to confirm funding for ADI

With the sunset date for the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative (ADI) rapidly approaching, the government has yet to confirm whether or not funding will continue after March 31st.

1 Mar 2010

Continua Health Alliance, ETSI, IHE-Europe announce receipt of funding from EC for Smart Personal Health project

Continua Health Alliance, an international organization of leading health care and technology companies, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), responsible for standardization of ICT within Europe, and Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise Europe (IHE-Europe) today announced receipt of funding from the European Commission (EC) for a 12-month project called Smart Personal Health.

1 Mar 2010

Outpatient referrals from primary care physicians for CT, MRI studies inappropriate: Academic medical center

A large academic medical center has found that a significant percentage of outpatient referrals they receive from primary care physicians for computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies are inappropriate (based upon evidence-based appropriateness criteria developed by a radiology benefits management company), according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (www.jacr.org).

1 Mar 2010

Ashton and Georgieva visit Haiti to evaluate development of European humanitarian aid

Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, and Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, will visit Haiti to evaluate the development of European humanitarian aid and assess future needs.

1 Mar 2010