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Ragweed pollen allergy: SLIT safe and effective alternative to injections

An oral allergy treatment administered in drops under the tongue is a safe and effective alternative to injections for adults who are allergic to ragweed pollen, according to a study published today in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology by allergic disease specialist at Allegheny General Hospital.

15 Feb 2010

Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mich., Arizona plan Medicaid cuts; N.C.'s prison health costs

The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune: Louisiana "Gov. Bobby Jindal will present his 2010-11 budget request Friday, which is expected to call for cuts to health care, education and other areas of state government as his administration outlines plans for plugging a $1 billion shortfall. ... The general-fund growth is not nearly enough to offset a loss of about $650 million in federal health-care financing, the rising cost of state pensions, automatic pay raises for state workers and inflation in health-care programs."

15 Feb 2010

Researcher receives $2.4M grant from NIH to study preeclampsia and diabetes in pregnant women

The link between obesity and high-risk pregnancies caused by preeclampsia and diabetes will be the focus of a $2.4 million National Institutes of Health research grant received by Sean Blackwell, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

15 Feb 2010

KFHP/H reports net income of $2.1 billion for 2009

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries (KFHP/H) reported today a combined total operating revenue of $10.6 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009, compared to $10.0 billion in the same period in 2008. Operating income was $214 million, equal to two percent of revenue, in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to $108 million in the same quarter of the prior year. Net non-operating income was $276 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to a net non-operating loss of $1.1 billion in the same quarter of 2008.

15 Feb 2010

Today's OpEds: Republicans and Medicare, small business health costs and changes to FEHBP

Republican leaders are now saying they will not participate in the meeting unless the president takes his health reform plan off the table to start over. I understand their concerns with a variety of issues in the current bills, but where you start is not nearly as important as where you finish. After all, fees continue to skyrocket and millions remain uninsured, costing our country in many ways. ... There is no time like the present for Washington to show America that it is interested in governing, not just in campaigning. The cameras will be rolling, and we will be watching (Christine Todd Whitman, 2/12).

14 Feb 2010

Positive interim results from Helix BioPharma's Topical Interferon Alpha-2b Phase II pharmacokinetic study

Helix BioPharma Corp. today announced that the first ten patients that have been enrolled in its Phase II pharmacokinetic study of Topical Interferon Alpha-2b in patients with low-grade cervical lesions have completed the pharmacokinetic primary endpoint analyses with positive findings.

14 Feb 2010

Diabetic retinopathy: 5.3M U.S adults suffer

Despite major progress in diagnosis and treatment, diabetic retinopathy remains the major cause of blindness in adults under 60 in the U.S., said Thomas C. Lee, director, Retina Institute in The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and attending physician at Doheny Eye Institute.

12 Feb 2010

Critical Conditions wins Mom's Choice Awards for best health/safety book of 2010

Critical Conditions: The Essential Hospital Guide To Get Your Loved One Out Alive by author Martine Ehrenclou, MA, has been awarded its 14th book award by Mom's Choice Awards for best health/safety book of 2010. http://www.momschoiceawards.com/celebrate09.php

12 Feb 2010

New book on hospitalist recruitment and retention

Recruitment and retention of physicians in all specialties is a national challenge, and it is expected to become even more difficult due to an impending physician shortage. As relative newcomers to the long line of medical specialists, hospitalists pose special challenges. What will convince a hospitalist to join one organization over another? What might prevent a hospitalist from considering a certain assignment?

12 Feb 2010

Bluewater Health licenses Medworxx LMS and PDMS

Medworxx Inc., provider of healthcare solutions for patient flow, compliance and education, announced that Bluewater Health has licensed the Medworxx Learning Management System and Policy and Document Management System. With the addition of Bluewater Health, every hospital within the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network (ESC LHIN) is a Medworxx customer.

12 Feb 2010

Adult stem cell transplant therapy may help prevent amputations from PAD

Grant Medical Center recently completed the nation's first published study of a new procedure that may give hope to millions of patients facing lower limb amputations from peripheral arterial disease (PAD). PAD is a painful circulatory problem in the legs that affects 10 million Americans. If left untreated, it can lead to serious complications such as stroke, amputation and death.

12 Feb 2010

Rate of seasonal flu vaccination doubles national average at Johns Hopkins East Baltimore medical campus

A campaign that makes seasonal flu vaccinations for hospital staff free, convenient, ubiquitous and hard to ignore succeeds fairly well in moving care providers closer to a state of "herd" immunity and protecting patients from possible infection transmitted by health care workers, according to results of a survey at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

12 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 12, 2010

Today's headlines highlight the continuing flap over Anthem Blue Cross' planned rate hike as well as GOP and Democratic responses to President Obama's proposed health summit.

12 Feb 2010

MSNJ participates in multi-payer health care common portal project

Health plans today launched a landmark initiative to make delivering and getting health care easier for patients and their physicians by reducing the time, effort, and expense for the "paperwork" required for each patient office visit. The initiative, which will simplify information flow between health plans and doctors' offices, and between health plans and hospitals, is comparable to what ATMs did for banks and consumers.

12 Feb 2010

Patients receiving female-donor plasma did better than patients receiving male-donor plasma: Study

Three years after the U.S. blood banking industry issued recommendations that discourage transfusing plasma from female donors because of a potential antibody reaction, Duke University Medical Center researchers discovered that female plasma actually may have advantages.

12 Feb 2010

Humans are economical walkers, but not efficient runners

Humans, other great apes and bears are among the few animals that step first on the heel when walking, and then roll onto the ball of the foot and toes. Now, a University of Utah study shows the advantage: Compared with heel-first walking, it takes 53 percent more energy to walk on the balls of your feet, and 83 percent more energy to walk on your toes.

12 Feb 2010

New pain management options for patients undergoing knee or hip replacements

Patients undergoing knee or hip replacements recover more quickly when treated with targeted pain-blocking medications that may eliminate the need for general anesthesia during surgery and intravenous narcotics drugs after surgery.

12 Feb 2010

Life-sustaining interventions: Hospitals 'moving toward the middle'

Patients admitted to hospitals with higher-intensity end-of-life care live longer than those admitted to hospitals with low-intensity approaches, according to a University of Pittsburgh study available online and published in the February issue of the journal Medical Care. Higher-intensity care refers to greater use of life-sustaining measures such as ICU admission, intubation or mechanical ventilation, kidney dialysis and feeding tubes.

12 Feb 2010

Solantic offers $5 prescriptions

Solantic walk-in urgent care, Florida’s fastest-growing provider of urgent care, wellness and employer health services, today announced it is offering $5 prescriptions to its patients whose conditions require prescribed medications.

12 Feb 2010

Embark Health launches Advance Directive Solution to improve healthcare practices

The huge gap between current healthcare practices and patients' wishes for end of life care is finally resolved, as Embark Health today launches the Advance Directive Solution: the first easy, affordable and comprehensive system to make advance directives work the way they were intended.

12 Feb 2010

Hospital News and Research

Ragweed pollen allergy: SLIT safe and effective alternative to injections

Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mich., Arizona plan Medicaid cuts; N.C.'s prison health costs

Researcher receives $2.4M grant from NIH to study preeclampsia and diabetes in pregnant women

KFHP/H reports net income of $2.1 billion for 2009

Today's OpEds: Republicans and Medicare, small business health costs and changes to FEHBP

Positive interim results from Helix BioPharma's Topical Interferon Alpha-2b Phase II pharmacokinetic study

Diabetic retinopathy: 5.3M U.S adults suffer

Critical Conditions wins Mom's Choice Awards for best health/safety book of 2010

New book on hospitalist recruitment and retention

Bluewater Health licenses Medworxx LMS and PDMS

Adult stem cell transplant therapy may help prevent amputations from PAD

Rate of seasonal flu vaccination doubles national average at Johns Hopkins East Baltimore medical campus

First Edition: February 12, 2010

MSNJ participates in multi-payer health care common portal project

Patients receiving female-donor plasma did better than patients receiving male-donor plasma: Study

Humans are economical walkers, but not efficient runners

New pain management options for patients undergoing knee or hip replacements

Life-sustaining interventions: Hospitals 'moving toward the middle'

Solantic offers $5 prescriptions

Embark Health launches Advance Directive Solution to improve healthcare practices

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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