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Eliza receives U.S. patent allowance for Complex Acoustic Resonance Speech Analysis System

Eliza Corporation, the pioneer and recognized leader in Health Engagement Management, today announced that it has received a notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a Complex Acoustic Resonance Speech Analysis System.

6 Aug 2012

Research roundup: Massachusetts health reform; Role of race and insurance in kidney transplantation

Access to Care After Massachusetts' Health Care Reform: A Safety Net Hospital Patient Survey -- Policy analysts have long said that Massachusetts and its 2006 health reform law provide great insight into the federal health law and how its expansion of insurance coverage will play out.

3 Aug 2012

Generic drugs saved U.S. $1T over 10 years, industry study finds

Generic drug makers released a study Thursday that found generic pharmaceuticals have saved the U.S. -- through private prescriptions as well as Medicare and Medicaid -- more than $1 trillion over 10 years.

3 Aug 2012

Political cartoon: 'Doctor's Orders'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Doctor's Orders" by Ann Telnaes.

3 Aug 2012

Bipartisan group of House lawmakers to push lame-duck passage of 'Simpson-Bowles' debt plan

A bipartisan group of lawmakers will make a lame-duck push at passing a previously released deficit reduction plan.

3 Aug 2012

State roundup: N.Y. law requires coverage for partial mastectomy

New York's newest laws include one that will require health insurance to cover reconstructive surgery after partial mastectomies. Health insurers in New York must already cover the cost of reconstructive surgery after a full mastectomy (8/2).

3 Aug 2012

Experts offer disparate views on controlling health care costs

Dueling articles in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday propose sharply different ways to curb medical spending. The proposals offer a glimpse of the rival approaches that could emerge in 2013, when Congress will have to tackle the budget deficit and the future of the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled.

3 Aug 2012

Super-bug technology draws high-tech attention

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has said 2012 will be the year that hospitals should start paying to treat infections contracted on their premises. Many investors have the issue pegged as a janitorial concern, and not necessarily the purview of high-tech gadgets.

3 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 3, 2012

Today's headlines include reports on a Capitol Hill hearing during which House GOP lawmakers grilled the director of the Internal Revenue Service on his agency's health care subsidy ruling.

3 Aug 2012

Health care systems explain why they did not participate in CMMS ACO program

Many health care systems across the US have declined to participate in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMMS) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program, developed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), to improve efficiency and quality of health care delivery.

3 Aug 2012

$Cataract surgery reduces hip fracture, as well as improving eye sight$

Cataract surgery reduces hip fracture, as well as improving eye sight

Surgery for cataract removal significantly reduces the rate of hip fracture in the year after the procedure compared with no surgery, show study results involving over a million Medicare beneficiaries aged over 65 years.

3 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Orszag on CAP cost-control proposals; High-tech and health costs

The Center for American Progress proposals thus wisely recognize that there is no single strategy to continue the recent progress in slowing the growth in health-care costs. In contrast, the Republican budget plan put forward by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin seems based on a belief that all that's needed is to shift risks: from Medicare to beneficiaries through a premium-support program, and from the federal government to state governments by turning Medicaid into block grants.

3 Aug 2012

Medicare officials seek more time to estimate cost of fixing card security issues

A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official, testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee, said it would take six more months to figure out this cost and that he could not yet provide a timetable for removing Social Security numbers from Medicare cards.

3 Aug 2012

CBO sets price tag for delaying scheduled Medicare physician payment cuts: $271 billion

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released updated figures on the cost of repealing -- or continuing to override -- the cuts doctors are scheduled to receive under Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) reimbursement formula.

3 Aug 2012

Endoscopic vein grafts just as lifesaving as open-vein grafts

Endoscopic vein-graft harvesting is not associated with higher mortality than open vein-graft harvesting, contrary to previous reports, researchers claim.

2 Aug 2012

Researchers report one-third cut in the rate of lethal SSIs after colorectal operations

A patient safety team including researchers in the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality reported a one-third cut in the rate of costly and potentially lethal surgical site infections (SSIs) following colorectal operations after requiring use of a simple safety checklist and urging caregivers to speak up if they see potentially unsafe practices.

2 Aug 2012

In rare compromise, Hill leaders agree on temporary spending deal to keep government running through next March

The tentative deal would prevent a government shutdown before Election Day. Modern Healthcare reports, though, that the agreement does not include any changes or fixes to the physician payment formula - which will require a 27% cut in payments to Medicare physicians next year.

2 Aug 2012

Report provides two distinct views of behavioral healthcare delivery

Behavioral healthcare systems are playing a major role in responding to the needs of the millions of Americans of all ages who experience psychiatric and substance use conditions each year, according to the latest annual survey from the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) released today.

2 Aug 2012

$Cataract surgery reduces rate of fractures in older patients with vision loss$

Cataract surgery reduces rate of fractures in older patients with vision loss

A major study of Medicare beneficiaries shows that the risk of hip fractures was significantly reduced in patients who had had cataract surgery, compared to patients who did not undergo the procedure. Published in the August edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) the researchers believe their study is the first to demonstrate that cataract surgery reduces the rate of fractures in older patients with vision loss.

2 Aug 2012

CAP publishes revised version of molecular pathology checklist with dedicated section on NGS

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) published a revised version of its molecular pathology checklist with a dedicated section on next generation sequencing (NGS) as part of the new edition of the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program checklists released July 31, 2012.

2 Aug 2012

Medicare News and Research

Eliza receives U.S. patent allowance for Complex Acoustic Resonance Speech Analysis System

Research roundup: Massachusetts health reform; Role of race and insurance in kidney transplantation

Generic drugs saved U.S. $1T over 10 years, industry study finds

Political cartoon: 'Doctor's Orders'

Bipartisan group of House lawmakers to push lame-duck passage of 'Simpson-Bowles' debt plan

State roundup: N.Y. law requires coverage for partial mastectomy

Experts offer disparate views on controlling health care costs

Super-bug technology draws high-tech attention

First Edition: August 3, 2012

Health care systems explain why they did not participate in CMMS ACO program

Cataract surgery reduces hip fracture, as well as improving eye sight

Viewpoints: Orszag on CAP cost-control proposals; High-tech and health costs

Medicare officials seek more time to estimate cost of fixing card security issues

CBO sets price tag for delaying scheduled Medicare physician payment cuts: $271 billion

Endoscopic vein grafts just as lifesaving as open-vein grafts

Researchers report one-third cut in the rate of lethal SSIs after colorectal operations

In rare compromise, Hill leaders agree on temporary spending deal to keep government running through next March

Report provides two distinct views of behavioral healthcare delivery

Cataract surgery reduces rate of fractures in older patients with vision loss

CAP publishes revised version of molecular pathology checklist with dedicated section on NGS

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

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