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Health Net’s MA product portfolio offers budget-friendly health plan choices to beneficiaries for 2010

With the kick-off of the Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP) this week, Health Net, Inc. reminds those eligible for Medicare that Health Net’s Medicare Advantage (MA) product portfolio offers a comprehensive range of budget-friendly health plan choices to beneficiaries for 2010.

17 Nov 2009

Global Alliance for Chronic Disease to fight against chronic non-communicable diseases

An alliance of institutions collectively managing an estimated 80 percent of all public health research funding worldwide today announced their first targets for concerted action in the fight against "chronic non-communicable diseases" (CNCDs).

17 Nov 2009

Illinois AARP members support health care reform plan

A new poll of Illinois AARP members released today finds strong support across party and ideological lines for elements of health care reform included in the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which recently passed the House of Representatives.

17 Nov 2009

U.S. again scores 'D' for premature birth rate; states take action to reduce risk factors

For the second consecutive year, the United States earned only a "D" on the March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card, demonstrating that more than half a million of our nation's newborns didn't get the healthy start they deserved.

17 Nov 2009

USPSTF recommendations against regular mammography screening can result in unnecessary breast cancer deaths

If cost-cutting U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) mammography recommendations are adopted as policy, two decades of decline in breast cancer mortality could be reversed and countless American women may die needlessly from breast cancer each year.

17 Nov 2009

Molecular makeup of current H1N1 flu strain strikingly different from previous H1N1 strains

As the number of deaths related to the pandemic H1N1 virus, commonly known as "swine flu," continues to rise, researchers have been scrambling to decipher its inner workings and explain why the incidence is lower than expected in older adults.

17 Nov 2009

Improved productivity and lowered absenteeism are top priorities for business leaders

Improving productivity by keeping employees healthy and working is emerging as the top business objective for employer-sponsored wellness programs around the world. The two exceptions are the United States, where reducing health care cost increases overwhelmingly continues to be the top goal, and Asia, where the most important objective is improving workforce morale.

17 Nov 2009

Meaningful legislation required to control biotech medicine cost, says PCMA

“Today’s New York Times’ article exposes the short-comings of the ‘pharma deal’ and how it gives with one hand while taking with the other. Rather than relying on ‘shell games’ to lower prescription drug costs, policymakers should return this debate to the need for more competition in the form of real biogenerics reform.

17 Nov 2009

Physicians still retain decision-making power over nurses in Quebec, says study

Physicians still retain the bulk of decision-making power over nurses in Quebec - a situation that's detrimental to evolving nursing roles. According to a new study by Universit- de Montr-al researchers, published in Recherches Sociographiques, nursing functions are still very much assigned by physicians who often oversee family medicine groups (FMGs), specialized nurse practitioners (SNP) and oncology nurse navigators (ONN).

17 Nov 2009

New data shows obesity costs will quadruple over the next decade

A new study released today shows that rising obesity rates will continue to be an increasing burden on the health care system over the next decade. The report, titled, "The Future Cost of Obesity: National and State Estimates of the Impact of Obesity on Direct Health Care Expenses," is the first to estimate obesity prevalence and costs at the state and national level 10 years from now.

17 Nov 2009

National health leaders collaborate to create environmentally responsible health care system

Twelve national organizations representing all areas of the health sector, joined by the David Suzuki Foundation, have produced a joint statement spelling out a new commitment to creating an environmentally responsible health sector.

17 Nov 2009

Health Mason software to streamline health care claim payment process

With health care reform taking the national spotlight, the sole point of agreement by all parties is that some form of change is necessary. Many health care industry experts believe that now is the worst time for government-mandated change because innovation has already begun to occur organically from within the industry. One Franklin Tennessee-based software company is defining that innovation and garnering attention in the industry.

17 Nov 2009

Scientists find major genetic differences between the pandemic H1N1 strain and seasonal strains

17 Nov 2009

Pet therapy can have a positive effect on patients’ physical and psychosocial well being

Adults who use pet therapy while recovering from total joint-replacement surgery require 50 percent less pain medication than those who do not. These findings were presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the International Society of Anthrozoology and the First Human Animal Interaction Conference (HAI) in Kansas City, Mo.

17 Nov 2009

NIH awards $3 million grant to ASU professors for research on rapid DNA sequencing technology

Arizona State University has been awarded nearly $3 million in federal stimulus funds from the National Institutes of Health. ASU professors Stuart Lindsay and Paul Westerhoff will lead a pair of two-year, innovative projects designed to tackle challenges in the fields of rapid DNA sequencing and the potential health risks of nanotechnology.

17 Nov 2009

Reorganizing the FDA could save Americans trillions of dollars over the next decade, says legal expert

While Congress and the rest of the nation turn the battle over healthcare reform into a pro-wrestling-style steel cage death match with enough rhetoric to choke an English professor, at least one expert is looking beyond the bills on the table for a different solution.

17 Nov 2009

KHN column: Will there be a market for gov't long-term care insurance?

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Howard Gleckman writes about long-term care: "The CLASS Act—the far-reaching proposal to create a national long-term care insurance program—is in the House health reform bill, and is still in the mix as Senate leaders struggle to design their own version of reform."

16 Nov 2009

HELP Committee chairman: Senate will work weekends on health bill

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Monday that the Senate will work weekends in December to try to pass a health care reform bill, The Hill reports.

16 Nov 2009

Strong support from AARP members for Affordable Health Care for America Act

A new poll of AARP members released today finds strong support across party and ideological lines for elements of health care reform included in the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which recently passed the House of Representatives. The AARP-backed bill limits how much more insurance companies can charge based on age and will close the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole.

16 Nov 2009

Leaders conclude second Africa Water Week

African leaders concluded the Second Africa Water Week on Friday, with an appeal for "concrete actions to meet the water and sanitation needs in the continent," Xinhua reports.

16 Nov 2009

Health Care News and Research

Health Net’s MA product portfolio offers budget-friendly health plan choices to beneficiaries for 2010

Global Alliance for Chronic Disease to fight against chronic non-communicable diseases

Illinois AARP members support health care reform plan

U.S. again scores 'D' for premature birth rate; states take action to reduce risk factors

USPSTF recommendations against regular mammography screening can result in unnecessary breast cancer deaths

Molecular makeup of current H1N1 flu strain strikingly different from previous H1N1 strains

Improved productivity and lowered absenteeism are top priorities for business leaders

Meaningful legislation required to control biotech medicine cost, says PCMA

Physicians still retain decision-making power over nurses in Quebec, says study

New data shows obesity costs will quadruple over the next decade

National health leaders collaborate to create environmentally responsible health care system

Health Mason software to streamline health care claim payment process

Scientists find major genetic differences between the pandemic H1N1 strain and seasonal strains

Pet therapy can have a positive effect on patients’ physical and psychosocial well being

NIH awards $3 million grant to ASU professors for research on rapid DNA sequencing technology

Reorganizing the FDA could save Americans trillions of dollars over the next decade, says legal expert

KHN column: Will there be a market for gov't long-term care insurance?

HELP Committee chairman: Senate will work weekends on health bill

Strong support from AARP members for Affordable Health Care for America Act

Leaders conclude second Africa Water Week

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

How microplastics and bacteria interact to drive antibiotic resistance

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