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Kansas lawmakers debate legality of health insurance mandate amendment

Kansas Health Institute: "Republicans and Democrats were sharply divided Tuesday over a proposed constitutional amendment that sponsors said would let federal officials know Kansans don't want to be told by the government that they must buy health insurance. On a 12-9, party-line vote, the House Health and Human Services Committee voted to recommend House Concurrent Resolution 5032 favorable for passage.

4 Mar 2010

New Verizon Medical Data Exchange platform launched

In a significant step toward accelerating the adoption of electronic health records, Verizon Business has launched an information technology platform that enables the digital sharing of physician-dictated patient notes.

4 Mar 2010

Senate gridlock ends, COBRA and Medicare fees extended

Los Angeles Times: "Senate leaders Tuesday night resolved an impasse over emergency aid to the jobless that had driven a wedge into Republican ranks and given Democrats a political weapon. The deal overcame the continued objections of a single senator, Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky, who for days had held up short-term extensions of unemployment and COBRA benefits over concerns that the bill would increase the federal deficit." The measure passed with a 78-19 vote (Oliphant, 3/2).

4 Mar 2010

South Carolina, Oklahoma and Arkansas grapple with Medicaid cuts to help balance budget

States consider major cuts to Medicaid services and reimbursement rates to help fill gaps in the budget.

4 Mar 2010

Biomoda and Amigenics collaborate to advance treatments for lung and other cancer

Biomoda, Inc. (www.biomoda.com) and Advanced Medical Imaging and Genetics (www.amigenics.com), an innovative medical clinic specializing in prevention and early detection of disease, announced their intent to collaborate on a variety of projects to advance technology for the early detection of lung and other cancer.

4 Mar 2010

GOP rejects Obama's compromise on health care, wants 'new approach'

USA Today: "President Obama offered to add a handful of Republican ideas to his 10-year, $950 billion health care plan Tuesday but was rebuffed and urged to start over.The letter from Obama to the GOP signalling his interest in four specific Republican health reform ideas was met with an icy reception from Republican leaders. ... 'We were surprised and disappointed with your latest proposal to simply paper a few of these common-sense proposals over an unsalvageable bill,' wrote Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky." (Wolf and Fritze, 3/2).

4 Mar 2010

Wasteful medical spending clogs health care industry

CNN: "Consider this: For every dollar the nation spends on health care, 50 cents is wasted. According to a 2008 report by Pricewaterhouse Cooper's Health Research Institute, wasteful spending accounts for $1.2 trillion of the $2.2 trillion spent on health care in the United States." CNN says the waste includes "costs associated with inefficient insurance claims processing, defensive medicine, preventable hospital readmissions, medical errors, and unnecessary emergency room visits."

4 Mar 2010

Stimulus spurs health IT adoption, but rush may hurt programs' quality

Within the next two years, 58 percent of small physician practices surveyed by Accenture and Harris Interactive will have begun using electronic medical records, Computerworld/BusinessWeek reports. Only 15 percent of those doctors' practices are now using the technology, and the shift is likely driven by federal subsidies to help physicians buy the technology, as well as future penalties for those who do not. Both the subsidies and penalties are a result of last year's economic stimulus package (Mearian, 3/2).

4 Mar 2010

Obama to include GOP ideas in health proposal today

With President Barack Obama's release today of his latest health reform plan, he hopes to propel the dialogue forward as he also signals willingness to incorporate GOP ideas into his proposal.

4 Mar 2010

Hand sanitizers sold in Puerto Rico contain harmful bacteria, says FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers in Puerto Rico that two hand sanitizers - "Bee-Shield Hand Sanitizer" with Aloe Vera (10 fl. oz. or 1 gallon bottles) and "MD Quality Hand Sanitizer" with Aloe Vera (10 fl oz. bottles) - contain high levels of a bacteria, Burkholderia cepacia, that can cause serious infections in humans.

4 Mar 2010

Obama presses forward in health overhaul efforts

The Wall Street Journal: "President Barack Obama made a final push for comprehensive health-care legislation, calling on lawmakers to schedule a vote in the next few weeks." Obama urged Congress to "press ahead with a comprehensive bill," which will involve using reconciliation. "But he didn't use the term reconciliation, instead calling for a simple 'up or down vote.'" He appealed to public frustration with insurance companies and emphasized that he had included GOP ideas into his plan (Meckler, 3/3).

4 Mar 2010

Beta blockers improve heart function; eliminate need for implantable cardiac devices

New Saint Louis University research has found that beta blockers, a class of drugs used to prevent the progression of heart failure and manage arrhythmias (irregular heart beat) and hypertension (high blood pressure), are underused in heart failure patients who receive implantable cardiac devices.

4 Mar 2010

Daschle: Incremental health reforms won't work

Kaiser Health News editors and reporters talked Monday with former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle about health reform's current dynamics, strategies, key issues and chances of passage.

4 Mar 2010

Kaiser Permanente awards $500,000 grant to Community Health Alliance of Pasadena

Kaiser Permanente announced today that it is awarding a half million dollar grant to the Community Health Alliance of Pasadena to help fund the expansion of primary health care services at the Pasadena Community Care Center for residents of the San Gabriel Valley.

4 Mar 2010

NAEC elects Mayo Clinic as top epilepsy treatment center

Mayo Clinic has been designated a comprehensive epilepsy treatment center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC). Only the top epilepsy programs - those that can provide the most complex and advanced care - are selected for this designation, according to the association.

3 Mar 2010

Eyeing reconciliation for health reform, GOP launches preemptive strike on Senate parliamentarian

News outlets profile Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and the "everyday Americans" invited to a White House forum on health care last year.

3 Mar 2010

Winner of 2010 Thomas Parran Award

University of Washington's Dr. H. Hunter Handsfield, a long-time trailblazer in sexually transmitted diseases (STD) research, will receive the nation's highest honor in the STD field during the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2010 National STD Prevention Conference in Atlanta, March 8-11.

3 Mar 2010

$Phase 3 trial: Cabazitaxel improves survival in patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer$

Phase 3 trial: Cabazitaxel improves survival in patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer

Sanofi-aventis announced today results from a Phase 3 trial which demonstrated cabazitaxel, an investigational compound, plus prednisone/prednisolone significantly improved overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with metastatic (advanced) hormone-refractory prostate cancer whose disease progressed following treatment with docetaxel-based chemotherapy.

3 Mar 2010

House expanding inquiry of health insurance rate hikes

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which held a hearing last week on a California insurer's rate increases, is expanding its investigation.

3 Mar 2010

Democrats seem to gain momentum on health reform, but face many obstacles

As Democratic leaders pursue a go-it-alone strategy on health care, the real test will be whether their caucus can pull together and be effective, according to a Politico analysis.

3 Mar 2010