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Effective health care reform needed to curtail escalating employee health care costs: Business Roundtable

A new report released today by Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies, finds that annual per employee health care costs will triple to nearly $29,000 over the next decade without significant marketplace reforms that reduce costs, expand coverage and improve delivery.

16 Sep 2009

Opinion piece calls for enhanced U.S.-Russia health collaboration

While legislators in Moscow attempt to reform the Russian health system in a way that is "strikingly similar" to the reform process in the U.S. and "[g]iven the importance of the U.S.-Russia relationship ... our two countries have a historic opportunity to expand our health collaboration and, in so doing, improve our diplomatic ties," former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

16 Sep 2009

Workers face higher costs for employer-sponsored insurance

Kaiser Health News reports that "employers struggling with the steady rise of health insurance costs -- which in 2009 increased 5 percent to an average of $13,375 for family coverage -- are passing on more of the expense to their workers through higher deductibles and co-payments, according to survey released today." The survey was by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust (Galewitz and Villegas, 9/15).

16 Sep 2009

Breaking it down: A comparison of major health care plans in Congress

The Associated Press offers a look at the major health care plans pending in Congress, including the House Democratic bill, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill, the Baucus plan and the House Republican outline, plus President Obama's proposal.

16 Sep 2009

Insurers fail to keep up with speech technology, deny funding for devices that multi-task

Insurance companies push speech-impaired patients, like one New York woman with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, to buy expensive computers featuring text-to-speech software by refusing to pay for alternative devices, the New York Times reports. Furthermore, they insist on blocking all other capabilities of the proprietary machines they do cover.

16 Sep 2009

Today's Op-Ed selections: Medicare, Medicaid and the Constitution

My patient had just been the recipient of a rare and highly valued medical commodity, a treatment that is as quantifiable in its effects as the milligrams of a medication or the number of stitches in a wound: Time (Daphne Miller, 9/15).

16 Sep 2009

Generic drugs create significant cost savings

Generic drugs and mail-order systems can save health plans money since brand name drugs generally cost 50 percent to 70 percent more than generics.

16 Sep 2009

HITECH Act bonus guarantee program from athenahealth

athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of Internet-based business services to physician practices, today announced it has launched a program guaranteeing that physicians who use its EHR service, athenaClinicalsSM, will receive a HITECH Act bonus payment under the 2011 program year.

16 Sep 2009

Also in Global Health News: PNG, Nepal outbreaks; Taliban Oks polio vaccination; Technology helps in developing countries; Satellite images for malaria control

VOA News examines the ongoing struggle for Papua New Guinea's health system to treat thousands of people infected by the "simultaneous outbreaks of influenza, dysentery and cholera that have killed about 120 people." The article includes information about the difficulties heath officials are having in assessing the various outbreaks and concerns of medical workers that conditions may soon worsen (Mercer, 9/14).

16 Sep 2009

Baucus works to iron out Medicaid, abortion and costs in health reform bill

Sen. Max Baucus is addressing the final questions in his Senate Finance Committee health care reform bill and plans to offer it Wednesday, opening the way for a committee vote next week and a floor vote the week after.

16 Sep 2009

Activists organize around the overlap between health reform and illegal immigration issues

"As Congress's debate over health-care legislation lumbers toward a defining test for the Obama presidency, partisans on both sides of another issue -- immigration -- escalated their own proxy war this week, concluding that the fates of the two issues have become politically linked" (Hsu, 9/15).

16 Sep 2009

WHO says 3b people worldwide could receive H1N1 vaccine

Recent findings that a single dose of an H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine offers protection against the virus and anticipation of vaccination programs starting earlier than predicted will increase the number of people worldwide with access to the vaccine and the likelihood health officials may be able to control the spread of the virus, Bloomberg reports.

16 Sep 2009

Congressional aides for health care have industry ties

"Some of the most influential aides in the closed-door Senate Finance Committee negotiations over health care reform have ties to interests that would be directly affected by the legislation," Politico reports.

16 Sep 2009

Members of BCBSF to receive coverage for the administration of the H1N1 vaccine

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. (BCBSF) announces today its plans to offer coverage for the administration of the H1N1 vaccine to all members when it becomes commercially available to the public. The vaccine administration will be covered for members whose health care plans cover vaccines, as well as for those members whose plans currently do not include immunizations.

15 Sep 2009

DNC passes a resolution to commend the new direction set to honor America's service members

At this weekend's Democratic National Committee (DNC) meeting in Austin, TX, the full membership of the DNC passed a resolution to commend the new direction set to honor America's service members.

15 Sep 2009

Biocryst signs agreement with three partners to represent its anti-viral peramivir outside U.S.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX) today announced that it has signed binding letters of intent with three partners who will exclusively represent BioCryst and its anti-viral peramivir for influenza stockpiling opportunities, as well as for marketing and distribution of peramivir for seasonal influenza upon local regulatory approval, within their territories outside the U.S.

15 Sep 2009

Neuroskin Psoriasis Relief DRTV test results announced by avVaa World Health Care

avVaa World Health Care Products Inc. (Pink Sheets: AVVH), a global biotechnology company, manufacturer and distributor of nationally branded therapeutic, natural skin and health care products, announced the results of its first DRTV test week.

15 Sep 2009

Elekta announces interim results

Demand for Elekta’s clinical solutions, products and services remained strong in the first three months of 2009/10. Order bookings rose by 19 percent in local currency with solid performance in all regions. Net sales grew to SEK 1,440 M and operating result rose to SEK 89 M. Earnings per share improved to SEK 0.62 from SEK 0.02.

From Elekta 15 Sep 2009

Conference on how American auto industry's future could affect UAW patients

A conference to explore how the future of the American auto industry could affect United Auto Workers (UAW) patients and their physicians and dentists will be presented by the Michigan State Medical Society and the Michigan Dental Association on Thursday, Sept. 17, from Noon to 4:30 p.m. at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi.

15 Sep 2009

Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority wins 2009 Innovations award

The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University today announced the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority as a 2009 Innovations in American Government Award winner.

15 Sep 2009