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Is 'model health system' Geisinger replicable elsewhere?

Geisinger Health System, in central Pennsylvania, has been widely hailed as a model for health reform by leading Democrats including President Obama, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. But, its success may hinge on "a rare combination of factors" including "a relative lack of competition, its stable patient base, and the fact that its 800 doctors are on salary," as well as an in-house pharmacy and insurance plan that covers one-third of its patients.

19 Oct 2009

Health reform bills may not protect consumers from treatment denials

"Despite growing frustration with the way health insurers deny medical treatments, major healthcare bills pending in Congress would give patients little new power to challenge those sometimes life-and-death decisions," The Los Angeles Times reports.

19 Oct 2009

Insurers, other health businesses examine effect of reform bills

Health care industry CEOs are analyzing their wins and losses in the bills being considered in Congress.

19 Oct 2009

Campaign to educate men and women about fibromyalgia

Women and men have opposing views on many topics, and it turns out that they also have different takes on chronic pain.

19 Oct 2009

First Edition: October 19, 2009

Five Rivers Medical Center in Pocahontas, Ark., needs help to get a highly coveted "critical access" hospital designation - and the extra Medicare funding that comes with it. Sen. Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat, intends to provide it.

19 Oct 2009

Mcconnell: GOP will seek amendments to offset cost of Medicare physician pay fix

"U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters Thursday that Senate Republicans will offer amendments to offset the cost of a 10-year, $247 billion Medicare physician payment bill set for debate next week," according to The Wall Street Journal. The GOP amendments, he said, would "either pay for a one-year fix for Medicare physician payment rates - set to drop 21% in January - or a 10-year fix, possibly paid for with unused funds from the $787 billion fiscal stimulus measure passed earlier this year."

19 Oct 2009

Pelosi has tough words for insurers as she pushes public plan

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is joining liberal Democrats in the House on warning insurers that health care reform could mean lower profit, more fees and new competition from government.

19 Oct 2009

Minnesota Governor proposes to let residents buy out-of-state insurance and other state headlines

News outlets report on a variety of state health stories including insurance in Minnesota, premiums and out-of-pocket costs in Massachusetts and high premiums for Blue Sheild in California.

19 Oct 2009

Readmission of elderly patients after colectomy strongly linked with mortality: Study

Readmission to a hospital after standard surgical treatment for colon cancer is far more common than suspected for elderly patients according to researchers who presented their findings at the 2009 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. Results from the first study to determine nationwide readmission rates following colectomy [surgical removal of malignant disease and part of the colon] in the Medicare population revealed that nearly one in nine patients over the age of 65 was readmitted within 30 days.

19 Oct 2009

Breakthrough discovery by scientists may lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's Disease

A breakthrough discovery by scientists from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, may lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's Disease that actually removes amyloid plaques-considered a hallmark of the disease-from patients' brains.

19 Oct 2009

GOP leaders keep up the criticism about Democratic-backed health overhaul plans

Republicans are standing united — mostly — against health care reform in Congress as they try to make the case that Democratic-backed reforms are the wrong way to go.

19 Oct 2009

Insurers vs. Dems: Battle over AHIP report leads to 'grudge match'

An industry-sponsored report forecasting soaring health insurance prices as a result of reform plans ignited a fight between insurers and Democrats, and doused a fragile truce between top insurance lobbyist Karen Ignagni and White House health adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle, TIME reports. After a years-long relationship and more-than-weekly phone calls despite tensions over reform plans, the recent episode "shattered the thin trust between the Administration and the insurance lobby."

19 Oct 2009

Pelosi raises banner of public plan in response to insurers' attacks

The health insurance industry's recent attacks on health-overhaul legislation only strengthens the case for the federal government to offer a competing health plan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday, the Associated Press reports.

19 Oct 2009

Senate Democratic leaders say party will unite on health reform vote

Sens. Max Baucus and Harry Reid are predicting that a health care overhaul in the Senate will attract the votes of all Democrats in the Senate — and maybe even more than one Republican.

19 Oct 2009

Physical therapists can promote early diagnosis of breast cancer-related lymphedema

As breast cancer awareness month is observed during October, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is hoping to shine a spotlight on lymphedema, a chronic, debilitating and often irreversible side effect of cancer treatment.

19 Oct 2009

Lawmakers wrestle with health reform details - publicly and behind closed doors

Reporters examine which provisions - such as the public option or cost control provisions - may be included as House and Senate negotiators try to meld various Democratic health reform bills.

19 Oct 2009

Slow start for PSOs meant to help providers learn from mistakes

A federal agency has designated 68 "Patient Safety Organizations" to offer health care providers a way "to share information and learn from problems," Modern Healthcare reports. But, a year after the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality began implementing the program, its "technology has not been finessed enough to really enable that sharing."

19 Oct 2009

Poll questions lead to varying answers on health reform

News outlets continue to analyze how polls and public opinion intersect.

19 Oct 2009

Public option re-emerges in Senate discussions; continues to play role in House

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's efforts to merge the two Senate health care reform bills is being complicated by question of whether to include a public plan and how it might fit with vote counting, the president's agenda and the more liberal version sure to come out of the House.

19 Oct 2009

Pfizer announces it has combined operations with Wyeth following the closing of the acquisition

Pfizer Inc today announced that it has combined operations with Wyeth following the closing of the acquisition yesterday. Pfizer is now a more diversified health care company, with product offerings in human, animal, and consumer health, including vaccines, biologics, small molecules and nutrition across the developed and emerging markets.

19 Oct 2009