Health Care News and Research

RSS

Memorial Healthcare System to deploy Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange solutions for HIE

Axolotl Corp., today announced that Memorial Healthcare System, the fifth-largest public health care system in the nation has selected Axolotl’s Elysium® Exchange suite of solutions to securely access and share clinical information between physician practices and medical staff. Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange solutions are used by hundreds of hospitals and thousands of health care professionals, powering 3 statewide HIEs and 18 additional regional exchanges (RHIOs) across the nation.

18 Jan 2010

Vilsack promotes agriculture improvement in Afghanistan, announces $20M in aid

ecretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has launched "a major drive to improve agriculture" in Afghanistan, McClatchy/Miami Herald reports. During an airborne tour of the country's Helmand province on Tuesday, Vilsack delivered the "message: If you grow wheat, vegetables and pomegranates instead of poppies, the United States will help you reap the financial benefits."

18 Jan 2010

Medpac recommendation: Adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments to recoup overpayments

Modern Healthcare: "The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is recommending that Congress further adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments over three years to recover overpayments that have resulted from recent documentation and coding changes." MedPAC also "called for the same recommendation as last year: to increase payment rates for inpatient and outpatient hospital services at the full rate of inflation, concurrent with the implementation of a quality incentives program.

18 Jan 2010

NYT magazine: Reid wages political battles on two fronts

As he's shepherded the sweeping health overhaul plan through the United States Senate, a sometimes "hoarse and hacking," weary Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is also facing a tough reelection fight at home, The New York Times reportsin a magazine preview. As he has tried to keep constituents in his native Nevada behind him, Reid has also struggled to keep members of his caucus in line on health reform.

18 Jan 2010

Researchers show close correlation between public health and recreational opportunities

One way to help address the epidemic of obesity in the United States is improved access to pleasant hiking trails and an ambitious parks and recreation program, a recent study suggests, but programs such as this are increasingly being reduced in many states due to budget shortfalls.

18 Jan 2010

Health personalities: Nelson, Landrieu, Melancon, Regina Benjamin

...

18 Jan 2010

Mass. special election could shape fate of health reform

Los Angeles Times: "For Democrats, it's a nightmarish scenario: A Republican appears to be within striking distance of capturing the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy." Some polls now show that [Scott] Brown is gaining on Attorney General Martha Coakley, his Democratic rival.

18 Jan 2010

Missouri best in using federal aid to combat Medicaid fraud, other states fight over federal rules

The Kansas City Star reports that Missouri led the country in 2008 in efficiency in using federal dollars to combat Medicaid fraud. "The state recovered almost $29.8 million in 2008, the most recent year for which comparative data are available, while receiving about $1.6 million in federal Medicaid fraud grants. That equates to $18.81 recovered for every dollar received — 43 cents better than the next-best state" (Noble, 1/12).

18 Jan 2010

KHN column: Individual mandate would impose taxes on low-wage workers

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Michael Cannon writes: "In their attempt to expand health insurance coverage, House and Senate Democrats are poised to make the American dream less accessible to low-income Americans by hitting them with higher implicit tax rates than even multi-millionaires face"

18 Jan 2010

Health IT Roundup: Problems with privacy, access to records highlighted in news reports

"Despite a federal law requiring hospitals and doctors to release medical records to patients who ask for them, patients are reporting they have a hard time accessing" those records and that can lead to serious complications.

18 Jan 2010

Margaret A. Hamburg thanks America's health care professionals on H1N1 vaccine safety

FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg today sent a letter to America's health care professionals thanking them for their efforts during the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak and providing information on safety monitoring of the 2009 H1N1 vaccines.

18 Jan 2010

Health Policy Research Roundup: New Orleans clinic experiences, health reform and lagging biomedical research funds

Journal of the American Medical Association: Funding of US Biomedical Research, 2003-2008 - After doubling in a decade, the rate of increase in biomedical research in the U.S. has slowed since 2005, and the level of funding from the National Institutes of Health and industry appears to have decreased by 2 percent in 2008, after adjusting for inflation, the authors of this study report.

18 Jan 2010

As health reform win seems close, Reid struggling in Nevada re-election bid

The Wall Street Journal: "In the nation's capital, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is on the brink of pushing through a national health program that Democrats rank alongside the creation of Social Security and Medicare.

18 Jan 2010

Obama signals interest in reducing the protections for biologic drugs

Lobbyists for generic biologic drugmakers are fighting to undercut a provision in the proposed health overhaul that would protect brand-name pharmaceutical companies from lower-cost, generic competition over new products for 12 years, the Associated Press reports. The generic companies have friends in high places: "White House officials and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, are trying to reduce the curbs against competition to 10 years or less" (Fram, 1/14).

18 Jan 2010

Also in global health news: Anti-gay bill; Bush Institute TV show; funds for HIV programs in Kenya; EU aid commitments

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday publicly acknowledged the need to address the impact an anti-gay bill before the Ugandan parliament could have on foreign policy, Agence France-Presse reports (1/12).

18 Jan 2010

Chamber of Commerce says health fight over -- but sees room to maneuver

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports on the Chamber's latest take on the next steps in health reform. "Despite unleashing a new round of TV spots last week that blasts congressional Democrats' health overhaul, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce acknowledged at a media briefing Tuesday that the fight is just about over.

18 Jan 2010

Republicans hint at strategy to defeat health bill

Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., speaks as Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and John Fleming, R-La., listen during a news conference. Shadegg held the news conference to discuss the costs of health care reform.

18 Jan 2010

Health care fraud is big business

Health care fraud has become a multi-billion dollar industry - up to $100 billion a year, according to estimates - for scammers and organized crime gangs, CNNMoney reports. In recent months health care identity theft has topped the list of crimes, a con in which criminals to tap real patient information to rack up fake charges.

18 Jan 2010

Minnesota County says state plan to cover costs of health care for the needy is unfair

In Minnesota, Hennepin County officials are saying a plan to charge counties extra to "cover health care for their neediest residents would have an unfair impact on the state's largest county and biggest public hospital."

18 Jan 2010

Geisinger CEO wins 2010 TRUST Award

The Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET), an affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA), has selected Glenn D. Steele Jr., MD, PhD president and chief executive officer of Geisinger Health System, as the recipient of the 2010 TRUST Award.

18 Jan 2010

Health Care News and Research

Memorial Healthcare System to deploy Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange solutions for HIE

Vilsack promotes agriculture improvement in Afghanistan, announces $20M in aid

Medpac recommendation: Adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments to recoup overpayments

NYT magazine: Reid wages political battles on two fronts

Researchers show close correlation between public health and recreational opportunities

Health personalities: Nelson, Landrieu, Melancon, Regina Benjamin

Mass. special election could shape fate of health reform

Missouri best in using federal aid to combat Medicaid fraud, other states fight over federal rules

KHN column: Individual mandate would impose taxes on low-wage workers

Health IT Roundup: Problems with privacy, access to records highlighted in news reports

Margaret A. Hamburg thanks America's health care professionals on H1N1 vaccine safety

Health Policy Research Roundup: New Orleans clinic experiences, health reform and lagging biomedical research funds

As health reform win seems close, Reid struggling in Nevada re-election bid

Obama signals interest in reducing the protections for biologic drugs

Also in global health news: Anti-gay bill; Bush Institute TV show; funds for HIV programs in Kenya; EU aid commitments

Chamber of Commerce says health fight over -- but sees room to maneuver

Republicans hint at strategy to defeat health bill

Health care fraud is big business

Minnesota County says state plan to cover costs of health care for the needy is unfair

Geisinger CEO wins 2010 TRUST Award

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