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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

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