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Hoyer: Senate health bill 'clearly better than nothing'

"House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday said passing the Senate healthcare bill would be 'clearly better than nothing,'" The Hill reports. Though Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts could end Democrats "filibuster-proof majority" in the Senate, Hoyer said, "moving ahead on healthcare is essential" (Allen, 1/19).

20 Jan 2010

Bederra in preliminary discussions to acquire Home Healthcare Company

Bederra Corporation, a Houston, Texas-based, diversified medical services provider announced today that it is in preliminary discussions to acquire a Home Healthcare Company.

20 Jan 2010

Massachusetts' Senate election could shape health reform's endgame

"Democrat Martha Coakley's struggle to stave off a potentially devastating defeat in Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts marks a critical turning point in the year-long debate about health-care reform."

20 Jan 2010

News reports question health reform provisions, forecast legal issues

News reports explore remaining issues in Congress' health overhaul negotiations.

20 Jan 2010

Media outlets examine efforts to develop malaria vaccines

Scientists have identified a group of proteins they say could form the basis of a malaria vaccine, Australia's ABC News reports. "However, they say more laboratory work and clinical trials need to be done, with a vaccine at least 10 years away," the news service reports (Macey, 1/19).

20 Jan 2010

Medicare, consumers face challenges when trying to make choices based on value

News outlets report on concerns about Medicare costs, problems with fraud in health care around the world, and the difficulties consumers face when trying to find value in their health services.

20 Jan 2010

Rescue, relief efforts continue in Haiti, 200,000 people estimated to have perished in quake

Rescue efforts continue in Haiti after a major earthquake hit the country last week, CNN reports (1/18). While teams still search for survivors under the rubble, the priority is shifting to relief for those who survived the quake, according to Nicholas Reader, spokesperson for the U.N. Offices for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, TIME reports (Newton-Small, 1/18).

20 Jan 2010

'Secret bill writing' and Washington rumors are issues in health debate

Transparency in the legislative process is on the decline, The Associated Press reports. "Democrats are refusing to open to the public the end-stage negotiations on how the government is going to change the delivery of health care. And it's not just on the high-profile health care bill; the trend on much legislation is to shut the door and keep the minority party, cable TV and other media on the outside."

20 Jan 2010

Global health care errors, fraud costs $260b annually, report finds

A report released Monday finds $260 billion - or 5.59 percent of annual global health spending - is lost annually to health care errors and fraud, Reuters reports. For the study, the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network (EHFCN) and the Center for Counter Fraud Services (CCFS) at Britain's Portsmouth University, "reviewed 69 exercises in 33 organizations in six countries to measure healthcare fraud and error losses," the news service reports.

20 Jan 2010

The price they paid

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jordan Rau, working in collaboration with The Washington Post, writes about how a Virginia family got permission to get out-of-network treatment for one son's heart defect, and still ended up drowning in debt.

19 Jan 2010

Health insurer stocks rise as Wall Street anticipates Republican victory in Mass.

"Health insurer shares rose on Tuesday, while hospital stocks fell as investors anticipated a Republican victory in the special Massachusetts election for a new U.S. senator that would throw healthcare reform into uncertainty," Reuters reports. "The Street prefers a simple narrative," said Les Funtleyder, a health care analyst with Miller Tabak. "The narrative is Coakley in Massachusetts is in trouble and therefore the healthcare reform bill is also in trouble" (Krauskopf, 1/19).

19 Jan 2010

GOP effort to recruit House Democrats to oppose health overhaul stalls

"A week after House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced an effort to persuade dozens of Democrats to abandon their support for health care reform, he appears to have made little headway, and several of the targets that he has identified said they have yet to hear from him," Roll Call reports.

19 Jan 2010

California limits HMO wait times

The regulations by the California Department of Managed Health Care, in the works for much of the last decade, will require that patients be treated by HMO doctors within 10 business days of requesting an appointment, and by specialists within 15.

19 Jan 2010

WHO, CDC issue H1N1 updates

Though H1N1 (swine flu) activity worldwide has slowed, the potential of a new wave of infections in the northern hemisphere in late winter or early spring remains viable, Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's top flu expert, said Monday at the start of the WHO's weeklong executive board meeting, Reuters reports.

19 Jan 2010

Dems plot health reform contingency plans if GOP wins Massachusetts Senate seat

Democrats are considering several courses of action to pass a health care reform bill if Massachusetts Senate hopeful Democrat Martha Coakley loses to Republican Scott Brown in a special election Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reports.

19 Jan 2010

First Edition: January 19, 2010

All eyes appear to be watching today's special election in Massachusetts to fill the seat of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. The outcome there could have a significant impact on what happens next in Washington regarding the Democrats' health overhaul.

19 Jan 2010