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Anthem Blue Cross will go forward with rate hikes, execs tell Calif. lawmakers

Anthem Blue Cross executives told California lawmakers Tuesday that they plan to go ahead with a rate hike of up to 39 percent for individual health insurance policies.

24 Feb 2010

Abortion, public option questions remain

The Wall Street Journal: "Abortion was one of the final matters to be resolved in December when the Senate created its version of the health-care bill, with a carefully crafted compromise that left neither side in the debate happy.

24 Feb 2010

American People's Online Health Summit to be hosted in response to bipartisan health summit

In response to President Barack Obama's bipartisan health summit on February 25, Newt Gingrich's Center for Health Transformation will host the "American People's Online Health Summit," a LIVE blog to engage the American people in health reform negotiations and give them a voice in Washington.

24 Feb 2010

Centrist Dems have mixed responses to new Obama health plan

"The sweeping health-care package unveiled this week by the White House appears to face big hurdles in the House, with abortion and unease among moderates potential stumbling blocks to winning passage of the legislation," The Wall Street Journal reports. President Obama's proposal Monday has "drawn mixed reviews from moderate Democrats," who face electoral pressures and in some cases dispute specific policy ideas. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., for instance, "criticized a new White House provision that would give the federal government powers to hold down insurance premiums, saying that should be up to the states" (Adamy and Hitt, 2/24).

24 Feb 2010

Reid wants COBRA subsidy extension, eyes Medicaid funds for states

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to extend unemployment benefits, health insurance subsidies for those recently laid-off and help for state Medicaid budgets that would in total cost $100 billion, The Associated Press reports. The measure is separate from the jobs bill. "Facing a Feb. 28 deadline, Reid hopes to pass two measures, one as soon as possible. The first includes a 30-day extension of several of soon-to-expire provisions such as jobless aid, parts of the Patriot Act and prevention of cuts in Medicare payments to doctors."

24 Feb 2010

A bird's-eye view of health overhaul lobbying

The Center for Public Integrity's new "analysis of Senate lobbying disclosure forms shows that more than 1,750 companies and organizations hired about 4,525 lobbyists — eight for each member of Congress — to influence health reform bills in 2009."

24 Feb 2010

State regulators criticize Obama plan to create federal authority over health insurance rates

Kaiser Health News staff writers Phil Galewitz and Julie Appleby spoke with three veteran state insurance commissioners and found that "state insurance regulators said President Barack Obama goes too far with his proposal

24 Feb 2010

Almost Family's fourth-quarter net service revenues up 18%

Almost Family, Inc., a leading regional provider of home health nursing services, announced today its financial results for the three months and full year ended December 31, 2009.

24 Feb 2010

Observational study on mild demonstrates acute safety of procedure in treatment of LSS

Medical device company Vertos Medical Inc. has reported that an observational study on mild, published in the January/February 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Pain Physician, has demonstrated the acute safety of the procedure in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).

24 Feb 2010

NeHII implements Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange platform at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital

NeHII, the Nebraska Health Information Initiative, a statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE) designed to share clinical and administrative data among providers in Nebraska, today announced its successful expansion to Central Nebraska. The physicians and medical staff of Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital, serving the city of Hastings, are able to communicate electronically and exchange patient information with other hospitals and physicians throughout the state.

24 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 24, 2010

Today's headlines focus on the run-up to tomorrow's White House health summit as well as the latest from Capitol Hill regarding the outlook for health reform.

24 Feb 2010

Asparity Decision Solutions reports 50,000 federal employees become better health care consumers

Asparity Decision Solutions, a leading provider of decision support and data solutions in health care and employee benefits, reports that 50,000 federal employees used PlanSmartChoice during the 2010 federal open season to become better health care consumers.

24 Feb 2010

Lack of knowledge and awareness impeding efforts to control HBV and HCV

A recent report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) confirmed that 3.5 to 5.3 million people (1-2 % of the U.S. population) have chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Despite efforts by federal, state and local government agencies to control and prevent these diseases, they remain a serious public health concern. The major factor impeding efforts to control HBV and HCV is lack of knowledge and awareness among health care providers, social service professionals, members of the public, and policy-makers.

24 Feb 2010

Recent health-care figures point to the need for strategy: Keep more mid-career nurses in profession

Recent health-care figures point to the need for a strategy that will keep more mid-career nurses in the profession. According to the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario statistics compiled by the College of Nurses of Ontario and the Canadian Institute for Health Information show a dramatic decrease in the share of nurses aged 35-49.

24 Feb 2010

New report identifies enormous global impact of preterm birth and stillbirth

A new report issued today identifies the enormous global impact of preterm birth and stillbirth-and what can be done to decrease it. Globally, an estimated 13 million babies are born preterm each year. Newborn deaths now account for more than 42 percent of mortality in children under the age of five, a rise from 37 percent in the year 2000.

24 Feb 2010

Fresenius Medical Care fourth-quarter net revenue up 12%

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, the world’s largest provider of dialysis products and services, today announced its results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2009.

24 Feb 2010

Consumer Watchdog calls for public release of Blue Cross premium hike investigation documents

Consumer Watchdog today condemned Blue Cross's transfer of $2.8 billion to its parent company since 2007, including approximately $719.5 million in 2009 alone, as a way of hiding its true financial condition from regulators scrutinizing steep rate hikes. Consumer Watchdog said Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner should seize on the transfers to invalidate recent premium hikes and should make Blue Cross documents available for public scrutiny.

24 Feb 2010

Different rates of post-traumatic stress disorder in different countries: Study

A study published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics provides new insights in the different rates of post-traumatic stress disorder that are found in studies performed in different countries.

24 Feb 2010

Health care reform legislation: Americans still split, but several provisions find wide support

The latest Kaiser Tracking Poll finds the public still split on health care reform legislation, with 43 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed. However, the poll also finds that majorities of Americans of all political leanings support several provisions in the health reform proposals in Congress and most attribute delays in passing the legislation to political gamesmanship rather than policy disagreements.

24 Feb 2010

Multidisciplinary care teams can also reduce risk of dying in ICUs of hospitals without intensivists

The severe shortage of specially-trained intensivist physicians has hospital intensive care units (ICUs) nationwide struggling to staff units with critical care teams led by intensivists, even though the presence of these specially trained physicians reduces the risk of death for patients in the ICU. A new Penn Medicine report found that replacing intensivist-led teams with multidisciplinary care teams can also reduce the risk of dying in intensive care units. The study appears in the February 22 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

24 Feb 2010

Health Care News and Research

Anthem Blue Cross will go forward with rate hikes, execs tell Calif. lawmakers

Abortion, public option questions remain

American People's Online Health Summit to be hosted in response to bipartisan health summit

Centrist Dems have mixed responses to new Obama health plan

Reid wants COBRA subsidy extension, eyes Medicaid funds for states

A bird's-eye view of health overhaul lobbying

State regulators criticize Obama plan to create federal authority over health insurance rates

Almost Family's fourth-quarter net service revenues up 18%

Observational study on mild demonstrates acute safety of procedure in treatment of LSS

NeHII implements Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange platform at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital

First Edition: February 24, 2010

Asparity Decision Solutions reports 50,000 federal employees become better health care consumers

Lack of knowledge and awareness impeding efforts to control HBV and HCV

Recent health-care figures point to the need for strategy: Keep more mid-career nurses in profession

New report identifies enormous global impact of preterm birth and stillbirth

Fresenius Medical Care fourth-quarter net revenue up 12%

Consumer Watchdog calls for public release of Blue Cross premium hike investigation documents

Different rates of post-traumatic stress disorder in different countries: Study

Health care reform legislation: Americans still split, but several provisions find wide support

Multidisciplinary care teams can also reduce risk of dying in ICUs of hospitals without intensivists

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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