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New tools for evaluating quality, value of health care from patient's perspective

An ongoing program is developing new tools for assessing health care quality from the most important viewpoint-that of the patient receiving care, according to a special supplement to Medical Care.

20 Oct 2012

Health law opponents eye strategies to delay implementation

However, this approach may be fraught with difficulties. Meanwhile, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official offered assurances that the government and business sector could work together to fix the nation's health system.

20 Oct 2012

Roundup: Va. health chief quits, citing new abortion clinic regulations; Texas will shutter women's health program if Planned Parenthood participates

Virginia Health Commissioner Karen Remley resigned Thursday over new GOP-backed regulations that could shutter most Virginia abortion providers as reproductive rights take center stage in pivotal Senate and presidential races.

20 Oct 2012

As election day nears, health issues remain central

KHN hosts a discussion with former Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle and conservative health care analyst Avik Roy to explore the plans advanced by President Barack Obama and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Romney focuses on some of those themes in a new ad incorporating video from this week's town hall debate.

19 Oct 2012

Link between norovirus outbreaks and excess hospitalization and mortality in nursing homes

In a study that included more than 300 Medicare-certified nursing homes, rates of hospitalization and death were substantially increased during outbreaks of norovirus gastroenteritis vs. non-outbreak periods, according to a study appearing in the October 24/31 issue of JAMA.

19 Oct 2012

House and Senate races turning on health, abortion issues

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is focusing on Medicare and women's health issues in new TV ads, as Missouri Rep. Todd Akin strengthens his ties to evangelicals.

19 Oct 2012

First Edition: October 19, 2012

Today's headlines include reports about how Medicare and women's health issues are playing in a number of House and Senate races.

19 Oct 2012

Viewpoints: NYT's Kristof on the death of his friend; Obama, Romney fight for women

I wrote in my last column about my uninsured college roommate, Scott Androes, and his battle with Stage 4 prostate cancer - and a dysfunctional American health care system. I was taken aback by how many readers were savagely unsympathetic. "Your friend made a foolish choice, and actions have consequences," one reader said in a Twitter message.

19 Oct 2012

Lack of 'fiscal cliff' talk offers proof that the urgent issue is frozen until after election

The fact that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and President Barack Obama have not discussed looming automatic spending cuts leads this roundup of Capitol Hill news.

19 Oct 2012

Okla. lawsuit provides first test of legal arguments against health law's insurance exchanges

Some of the lawsuit's backers maintain that last summer's Supreme Court health law decision would not be the "law's last trip" to the high court.

19 Oct 2012

Roundup: Ore. lawmakers petition for separate dental care; Docs failing to check drug registry in Colo.

The state is inviting public comment on how dentists fit with reforms of the Oregon Health Plan. Last week, two lawmakers and a dental executive submitted a petition to the Oregon Health Authority asking that dental care remain separate until 2017 from the state's new coordinated care organizations (CCOs), provider networks set up to integrate services, manage spending and reward prevention in the care of low-income members of the Medicaid-funded system.

19 Oct 2012

In second face-off, Obama and Romney rumble over a range of issues

News outlets examine how each candidate fared in Tuesday night's town-hall style debate. In general, many media sources note how little discussion surrounded issues related to Medicare and the health law.

19 Oct 2012

Swing state highlights: Medicare steals spotlights in congressional campaign ads, debates

KHN's Sarah Barr samples political coverage each week from swing states to see how health policy developments, and other political issues, are playing.

19 Oct 2012

Roundup: Mass. launches information exchange; Ga. fight brews over new prompt-pay rule

Massachusetts on Tuesday launched a statewide health information exchange that will allow health care providers to share electronic health information as they seek to improve coordination of care, lower costs and increase patient safety. Gov. Deval Patrick successfully sent his health data from 907-bed Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to 659-bed Baystate Medical Center in Springfield as part of the launch.

19 Oct 2012

Viewpoints: 'Scrappy' debate offered little new on entitlement programs; Staring down the fiscal cliff

President Obama and Mitt Romney faced off Tuesday night in a scrappy, at times downright nasty town-hall debate that featured a feistier, more focused Obama than was seen in their first encounter and that broadened the discussion to social issues such as immigration, contraceptive coverage and gun control. ... In the end, on the domestic front, the debate performance of both has been about as disappointing as their dodging on the campaign trail.

19 Oct 2012

Medicare News and Research

New tools for evaluating quality, value of health care from patient's perspective

Health law opponents eye strategies to delay implementation

Roundup: Va. health chief quits, citing new abortion clinic regulations; Texas will shutter women's health program if Planned Parenthood participates

As election day nears, health issues remain central

Link between norovirus outbreaks and excess hospitalization and mortality in nursing homes

House and Senate races turning on health, abortion issues

First Edition: October 19, 2012

Viewpoints: NYT's Kristof on the death of his friend; Obama, Romney fight for women

Lack of 'fiscal cliff' talk offers proof that the urgent issue is frozen until after election

Okla. lawsuit provides first test of legal arguments against health law's insurance exchanges

Roundup: Ore. lawmakers petition for separate dental care; Docs failing to check drug registry in Colo.

In second face-off, Obama and Romney rumble over a range of issues

Swing state highlights: Medicare steals spotlights in congressional campaign ads, debates

Roundup: Mass. launches information exchange; Ga. fight brews over new prompt-pay rule

Viewpoints: 'Scrappy' debate offered little new on entitlement programs; Staring down the fiscal cliff

First Edition: October 18, 2012

How health care is playing up and down the ballot

Social Security payments to rise 1.7% but higher Medicare premium may offset increase

Hill staffers predict deal to prevent cuts to Medicare physician payments

Health law regs moving slowly in advance of election

Industry Focus eBook - Neurology/Neuroscience - 2nd edition eBook

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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