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The Sutter Heart Transplant Program gets recertified after an eight-month legal battle

Larry Clymer's heart was just plum wearing out. The 60-year-old Rocklin resident needed a heart transplant, and a temporary machine was implanted in his abdomen to keep his heart beating until the right heart was identified.

22 Oct 2009

Nationwide Better Health launches workplace benefit plans for employees

Nationwide Better HealthSM recently announced the launch of its workplace benefits for employees including accident and hospital products, group dental plans, group term life insurance and medical stop loss insurance. These offerings allow employers to provide benefits that help safeguard their employees’ physical and financial health.

22 Oct 2009

Dr. John Kitzhaber on reforming health care

Kaiser Health News features an interview with former Oregon governor, Dr. John Kitzhaber. When he "was president of the Oregon Senate, the state's languishing economy was tightening the screws on Medicaid outlays.

22 Oct 2009

Budget hawks block Reid's push for 'doc fix'

Democrats backed away from an unfunded proposal to increase physician payments from Medicare in the face of opposition from Republicans and some fiscally conservative members of their own ranks, the New York Times reports.

22 Oct 2009

Enrollment in medical school rises slightly as physician demand also increases

New figures show that enrollment in medical school continues to rise as schools try to increase the number of graduates to meet the increasing physician need. But doctors cautioned that more residency positions are needed and urged federal officials to fund them.

22 Oct 2009

Health reform triggers analysis of the lobbying 'revolving door,' spending reports

A joint ProPublica/CBS News investigation found that at least two dozen current lobbyists used to be federal officials who helped design the last major change to American health care.

22 Oct 2009

Small businesses could benefit from insurance exchanges

Supporters of health reform legislation told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday that the insurance exchanges are critical for small businesses, which pay more than large companies to cover their employees and are cutting jobs and insurance coverage to control costs.

22 Oct 2009

Senate votes to shelve 'doc fix' legislation

"The Senate has sidetracked legislation raising Medicare payments for doctors by $247 billion over the next decade," The Associated Press reports. "The 47-53 vote was 13 short of the 60 needed to advance the measure, and reflected bipartisan concern that it would have raised deficits if it became law" (10/21).

22 Oct 2009

Snowe: Vote on reform by Thanksgiving is 'optimistic'

"Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), two key moderates, met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Wednesday morning — their second meeting with the leader this week as a part of their ongoing effort to shape the final Senate health care reform bill," Roll Call reports.

22 Oct 2009

Sexual dysfunction in cancer survivors rarely addressed by internists

Few internists who care for cancer survivors address issues of sexual dysfunction with their patients, according to a study led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers. In their article appearing in a November 2009 cancer survivor supplement to the Journal of General Internal Medicine, now available online, the investigators report that more than half the internists responding to a survey indicated they rarely or never discussed sexual problems with their patients who had survived cancer.

22 Oct 2009

Senate Democrats continue pursuit of insurers' antitrust exemption

"Top Senate Democrats intend to try to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws, according to congressional officials, the latest evidence of a deepening struggle over President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health care industry," the Associated Press/Boston Globe reports.

22 Oct 2009

House Committee votes to strip health insurance industry of federal antitrust exemption

The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday "voted to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws as senators announced plans to take the same step," The Associated Press reports. The committee voted "20 to 9 to repeal a 1940s law that exempted the health insurance industry from federal controls over certain antitrust violations including price-fixing."

22 Oct 2009

Poll: Rising concern over cost, quality of reformed health system

"Americans are increasingly worried about the cost and quality of medical care that could result from President Obama's effort to revamp health care, but a majority still trust him more than Republicans to change the system, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows," USA Today reports.

22 Oct 2009

Health reform bills maintain some type of insurance 'age rating'

Insurance company "age rating" is likely to continue under proposed health care legislation.

22 Oct 2009

Pharmaceutical company coupons to help patients buy drugs may raise insurance premiums

Drug companies use coupons to get patients to choose name-brand products -- which are often more expensive -- by subsidizing a patient's high copay. The practice hides a drug's true costs from consumers.

22 Oct 2009

Media outlets examine how AIDS vaccine trial results will shape future studies

As the AIDS vaccine conference continues in Paris this week, Reuters examines how recent trials are helping researchers better understand ways to develop a vaccine that offers people protection from HIV.

22 Oct 2009

Guardian examines how Uganda's drought, food shortages affect HIV-positive people

The Guardian examines how "famine and acute food shortages" in Uganda could affect people living with HIV/AIDS. "The situation is beginning to undermine efforts to fight the virus in the north and east of Uganda, the areas most affected by the drought," according to the Guardian.

22 Oct 2009

Obama's success on reform hinges on health care team of 6

"President Obama's overhaul hinges on six crucial individuals and their skill at negotiating behind closed doors," The Los Angeles Times reports.

22 Oct 2009

Insurers' stocks bruised by reform efforts despite earnings

Despite strong performance on earnings sheets, stocks for companies like UnitedHealth Group have faltered amid uncertainty about the future shape of American health care, BusinessWeek reports. The flagging stocks don't reflect "the firms' profits, sales, or anything specific to UnitedHealth or its competitors. Rather, it's the health-care reform debate coming out of Washington."

22 Oct 2009

U.S. Congress extends Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, HIV care providers applaud move

Medical providers on the front lines of HIV care applaud the U.S. Congress for extending the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, helping to ensure that more than half a million low-income, uninsured, or underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS have access to lifesaving care.

22 Oct 2009