Health Care News and Research

RSS

Press Ganey Associates and UNOS develop comprehensive transplant survey

Press Ganey Associates today announced it has developed a comprehensive transplant inpatient survey and an outpatient survey for use by transplant programs across the country. The surveys' questions were developed by researchers and practitioners from Press Ganey with insight from the United Network for Organ Sharing's (UNOS) Transplant Administrators Committee (TAC - which consists of elected transplant administrators representing transplant centers, members of UNOS, in the United States).

19 Jan 2010

PHEN to develop a scaled-down structure and continue operations

Due to impending budget restrictions and health care restructuring, the Provincial Health Ethics Network (PHEN) of Alberta will develop a scaled-down structure and function to take effect April 1, 2010. While it is not yet clear what form a restructured PHEN will take, it is anticipated to be based on a primarily volunteer-driven resource base.

19 Jan 2010

Urgent aid shipment containing tents and family survival kits docked at Jacmel, Haiti

An urgent aid shipment containing 4,000 tents and more than 300 family survival kits has just docked at the Haitian coastal town of Jacmel.

19 Jan 2010

Abbott to provide critical pharmaceutical and nutritional products for Haiti relief efforts

Working directly with humanitarian partners to help address the growing health care crisis, Abbott is expanding its support for relief efforts in Haiti. The company will provide $2.5 million in grant funding and donations of critical pharmaceutical and nutritional products to humanitarian aid organizations.

19 Jan 2010

CARE's disaster-response teams teach water purification techniques in earthquake-ravaged Haiti

CARE's disaster-response teams find themselves in a race against time in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, coaching survivors how to purify contaminated water and preparing hygiene kits to help prevent a secondary crisis: the outbreak of disease.

19 Jan 2010

Study examines how opioid overdose differs by prescribed dose for chronic pain conditions

More and more Americans with chronic pain not caused by cancer are taking medically prescribed opioids like Oxycontin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone). The January 19 Annals of Internal Medicine features the first study to explore the risk of overdose in patients prescribed opioids for chronic noncancer pain in general health care.

19 Jan 2010

Anthem Blue Cross and California Regional Hospital Associations join in patient safety collaborative

Anthem Blue Cross, along with California's three regional Hospital Associations, and the National Health Foundation, announced today that they are joining together in a three-year, 6 million dollar effort to improve the quality and consistency of care Californians receive. The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center hosted the launch of Patient Safety First... a California Partnership for Health, a unique relationship that will save lives, improve the quality of medical care and reduce health care costs to make health care more affordable for the people of California.

19 Jan 2010

Foresters renews commitment as the international underwriter of Children’s Miracle Network’s Radiothon program

Foresters™, a life insurance provider that champions the well-being of families, has renewed its commitment as the international underwriter of Children’s Miracle Network’s Radiothon program. Foresters support of Children’s Miracle Network, a children’s charity that raises funds for more than 170 children’s hospitals, spans 20 years and three countries - the US, Canada and the UK.

19 Jan 2010

Psoriasis therapy costs outpace inflation

Findings from a cost model suggest that expenses for systemic psoriasis therapy appear to be increasing at a faster rate than inflation, and newer biologically derived treatments are more expensive than traditional systemic therapies, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

19 Jan 2010

AstraZeneca and Dako Denmark A/S enter into collaboration agreement

AstraZeneca and Dako Denmark A/S announced today that they have entered into a collaboration agreement to develop companion diagnostic tests for multiple AstraZeneca oncology projects, including biologics and small molecules, in various stages of discovery and development.

18 Jan 2010

Democrats plot possible health bill strategies if Mass. seat goes to GOP

The New York Times reports that as Democratic leaders campaign for their party's candidate to replace the late Sen. Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts, they are beginning to think about strategies if the Republican candidate wins and "deprives Senate Democrats of the crucial 60th vote they need to overcome filibusters" on the health overhaul bill.

18 Jan 2010

Research analyses underfunding in state retiree benefits

Research shows that, nationally, states are facing more than $550 billion in unfunded liabilities associated with health care and other non-pension benefits for retired state employees, a situation many states are now struggling to fix. New research from North Carolina State University has identified a number of trends that are consistent among those states with the biggest funding problems - information that may help states find a solution to the funding shortfall.

18 Jan 2010

Wellness programs help retain employees

Forty-five percent of Americans working at small to medium-sized companies said that they would stay at their jobs longer because of employer-sponsored wellness programs, according to the latest Principal Financial Well-Being IndexSM.

18 Jan 2010

Patients have few barriers to affordable health care, efficient care in post-Katrina primary care clinics

A new Commonwealth Fund survey of safety-net clinic patients in New Orleans finds that, despite being disproportionately low-income and uninsured, these patients had fewer problems affording care and fewer instances of medical debt and inefficient care than most U.S. adults.

18 Jan 2010

Health care reform: Opportunities and challenges in palliative care

Opinion leaders in the field of palliative medicine explored the unparalleled opportunities that now exist for the palliative care community, which matches treatment to the desires of informed patients and their families, to help define evolving health care reform policy. The thought-provoking Roundtable discussion, "Palliative Medicine: Politics and Policy," is published online ahead of print in Journal of Palliative Medicine, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..

18 Jan 2010

First disposable side-opening vaginal speculum for office-based hysteroscopic procedures launched

OBP Medical Inc. introduces the OfficeSPEC™, the first disposable side-opening vaginal speculum for office-based hysteroscopic procedures.

18 Jan 2010

NIH awards IU School of Optometry $2.35M for glaucoma research

An Indiana University School of Optometry researcher's ongoing work to improve testing for and treatment of one of the world's leading causes of blindness will advance with support from a $2.35 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

18 Jan 2010

Unveiling of soybean genome could help boost crop yields in future

"Scientists on Wednesday unveiled the genome of the soybean, saying it was an achievement that should deepen understanding of one of the world's most important crops, help to boost yields and defend the plant against pests," Agence France-Presse reports. The study, published in the journal Nature, details the findings of the "[e]ighteen organisations, most of them American, [who] teamed up in a 15-year endeavour that yielded a draft of 85 percent of the soybean's 1.1 billion base pairs, the 'rungs' in the double-helix ladder of DNA," the news service writes

18 Jan 2010

Surveillance colonoscopy need to be better aligned with patients' risks for colorectal cancer

How often patients receive surveillance colonoscopy may need to be better aligned with their risks for colorectal cancer, according to two papers published this month by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers.

18 Jan 2010

"Cadillac Plan" tax: Society of Actuaries proposes changes for successful health care reform

Drawing attention to one of the most complex health care bills recently passed by the U.S. Senate, the Society of Actuaries and American Academy of Actuaries today announced the findings from a new technical model and report on the estimated effect of the excise tax on high–cost employer health plans, also known as the "Cadillac Plan" tax. According to the report, while a tax on excess benefits could play a role in offsetting other costs of health reform, specific design elements of the tax may present some issues.

18 Jan 2010

Health Care News and Research

Press Ganey Associates and UNOS develop comprehensive transplant survey

PHEN to develop a scaled-down structure and continue operations

Urgent aid shipment containing tents and family survival kits docked at Jacmel, Haiti

Abbott to provide critical pharmaceutical and nutritional products for Haiti relief efforts

CARE's disaster-response teams teach water purification techniques in earthquake-ravaged Haiti

Study examines how opioid overdose differs by prescribed dose for chronic pain conditions

Anthem Blue Cross and California Regional Hospital Associations join in patient safety collaborative

Foresters renews commitment as the international underwriter of Children’s Miracle Network’s Radiothon program

Psoriasis therapy costs outpace inflation

AstraZeneca and Dako Denmark A/S enter into collaboration agreement

Democrats plot possible health bill strategies if Mass. seat goes to GOP

Research analyses underfunding in state retiree benefits

Wellness programs help retain employees

Patients have few barriers to affordable health care, efficient care in post-Katrina primary care clinics

Health care reform: Opportunities and challenges in palliative care

First disposable side-opening vaginal speculum for office-based hysteroscopic procedures launched

NIH awards IU School of Optometry $2.35M for glaucoma research

Unveiling of soybean genome could help boost crop yields in future

Surveillance colonoscopy need to be better aligned with patients' risks for colorectal cancer

"Cadillac Plan" tax: Society of Actuaries proposes changes for successful health care reform

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

Applications Engineer

Latest News