Health Care News and Research

RSS

Biden predicts health reform will pass after partisan battles

Vice President Joe Biden predicted Thursday that health reform would pass, but not before a contentious partisan battle, CQ Politics reports. "'As bleak as it looks ... you think about every change in health care, it passed by a couple of votes,' Biden said in response to a question following an address at the Brookings Institution.

4 Sep 2009

Morning Edition: September 4, 2009

Today's headlines illustrate the following point: Everyone should enjoy the long weekend ahead, because next week Congress comes back to Washington and President Obama delivers his big health care speech -- in other words, the health policy world will be very busy.

4 Sep 2009

MCNC applies for broadband recovery funding to improve access to health services

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that MCNC has applied to receive $28.1 million in broadband recovery funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to support fiber acquisition for the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN) in North Carolina.

4 Sep 2009

Mindray DS USA announces the recent appointment of its Vice President

Mindray DS USA, a Mindray Global Company, announces the recent appointment of Michael Thompson as vice president of ultrasound sales for the U.S. Thompson brings more than 20 years of medical sales, sales force management and business development to the position.

From Mindray 4 Sep 2009

Rick Barnett appointed as senior vice president by VHA to head its West Coast regional office

VHA Inc., the national health care network, has hired Rick Barnett as senior vice president of its West Coast regional office, and it has elevated John Thomas to the post of senior vice president to lead the newly formed VHA Pacific Northwest office, VHA's 17th regional office.

4 Sep 2009

New report released to highlight health insurance reform for senior women

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will travel to Maine today and formally release a new report on the importance of health insurance reform for older women (ages 55-64) and senior women (ages 65 and older).

4 Sep 2009

State round-up: News from California, Colorado and Massachusetts

The Los Angeles Times: The California State Senate Wednesday approved a $196-million plan to tax insurance companies and capture federal dollars to keep about 700,000 children from being dropped from a governmental insurance program for the working poor. "The state Senate passed a measure to create a new tax on insurance companies and bring in federal money to rescue the decade-old Healthy Families program, which had been cut deeply in recent months as lawmakers scrambled to balance the state budget" (Bailey and Mcgreevy, 9/3).

4 Sep 2009

Fixing health care costs by changing patient behavior

Patient behavior plays a central role in fixing health. NPR reports: "Economists have long said health care, as a market, is a strange animal. A large part of this is because patients don't act like regular consumers."

4 Sep 2009

VA tries to keep up with surge of need

The Department of Veterans Affairs is experiencing a surge of treatment requests and disability claims as soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan, overwhelming VA clinics.

4 Sep 2009

South Dakota Biotech Association to present the 4th Annual South Dakota Biotechnology Summit

Investing in Biotechnology for Life, Food and Energy,” is the theme for the 4th Annual South Dakota Biotechnology Summit and Annual Meeting on Thursday, September 17, 2009. This annual event is presented by the South Dakota Biotech Association and will be held at the Ramkota Hotel, Rushmore Room in Sioux Falls, SD.

4 Sep 2009

Flat fees and EMR usage vary significantly in different hospitals

HighRoads, the company providing employers – for the first time – complete control over their health care costs and compliance, today announced findings from the industry’s first medical travel request for information (RFI) for Fortune 500 employers to compare health care procedural ethics, quality and costs around the world.

4 Sep 2009

White House 'rallies the faithful' for health overhaul push

The White House is going beyond the Wednesday speech to take control of the health reform debate, including a road trip to urge passage of legislation.

4 Sep 2009

Unseen health costs — often from defensive medicine — drive health costs

The Wall Street Journal reports that defensive medicine is a significant yet small portion of overall health care spending in America.

4 Sep 2009

Medicare advantage rates could go up, while Part D 'exceeding expectations'

"Despite near-zero inflation and recessionary conditions, health insurers in 2010 face another year of double-digit increases in the charges they pay for hospital services, physicians, drugs, and other healthcare costs," U.S. News and World Report writes in a news column.

4 Sep 2009

Town hall meetings continue to trigger unexpected events

The New York Times reports that conservatives are hungry for a real debate beyond the rhetoric at these events: "Far from embracing the attacks, many leading conservative health care policy experts said in recent interviews that the dynamic was precluding a more robust real-world debate while making it nearly impossible for them to inject their studied, free-market solutions into the discussion.

4 Sep 2009

Positive impact on medication adherence through Aetna's care management program

Aetna announced today results of an analysis from the first half of 2009, demonstrating an average medication adherence of over 95 percent for its members taking Specialty medications. Disease states evaluated in Aetna’s analysis include: multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV, Crohn's disease, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), psoriasis, Hepatitis C and asthma.

4 Sep 2009

Minnesota offers model for cost-effective health care

In the second of two reports, NPR examines how Minnesota provides lessons on how to create a more cost-effective health care delivery system. "Many agree that the [fee-for-service] system for doctors and hospitals doesn't work ... and is a major driver in rising health care costs. The health care bills before Congress may do little to change that. But on the state level, Minnesota may have found its own way to move doctors off of the fee-for-service treadmill."

4 Sep 2009

New scholarship program announced for health care students

At a time when most health care professions are experiencing significant worker shortages and need is growing, community colleges and businesses are teaming up to support future graduates in key health care professions.

4 Sep 2009

Members of Congress will seek business investment in Rwanda

A delegation of five U.S. members of Congress traveling in Africa "pledged to woo the U.S. business community to invest in Rwanda," New Times/allAfrica.com reports. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), who is leading the delegation, "said that Rwanda has proven to be one of the most favourable places to do business and it would be a major destination for U.S. investors," the publication writes. "I think the U.S. can continue to send individuals here, businessmen especially, that would invest in Rwanda and also help the people of Rwanda. I think this is very important," Meeks said.

4 Sep 2009

World should contribute $23B to increase women's access to contraception, UNFPA says

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Tuesday "appealed for the world to contribute more to improve women's health and access to contraception," Agence France-Presse reports.

4 Sep 2009