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Toolkit to help U.S. employers address the growing problem of childhood obesity

Saying that employers can no longer afford to ignore the epidemic of childhood obesity, the National Business Group on Health today announced the launch of "Childhood Obesity: It's Everyone's Business," a toolkit designed to help U.S. employers address the growing problem of overweight and obese children.

22 Oct 2009

White House offer on malpractice finds takers; Obama tells Dems to 'focus'

Since President Obama proposed using $25 million to test new ways to handle malpractice lawsuits, suitors have been lining up, the The Asssociated Press reports. One leading idea is to appoint expert panels to sort fact from fiction in malpractice claims.

22 Oct 2009

Positive results from Argos Therapeutics' personalized immunotherapy candidate AGS-004 Phase 2a trial

Argos Therapeutics today announced two presentations at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 conference, detailing positive viral load, immune response and safety data from an ongoing Phase 2a trial of AGS-004, its personalized immunotherapy candidate. AGS-004 is a product of the Company’s Arcelis™ technology, and is a personalized, RNA-loaded, dendritic cell-based immunotherapy that is perfectly matched to each patient’s unique HIV viral burden.

21 Oct 2009

Aethlon Hemopurifier effective in capturing H1N1 Swine Flu Virus

Aethlon Medical, Inc. announced today that research studies have documented the Aethlon Hemopurifier® is effective in capturing the current pandemic strain of the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus. The Hemopurifier® is the first-in-class medical device able to selectively remove infectious viruses and immunosuppressive proteins from the bloodstream.

21 Oct 2009

Autobiography of a cardiologist "Doctor of the Heart" published

Doctor of the Heart: My Life in Medicine is the autobiography of Isadore Rosenfeld, MD, world-renowned cardiologist, best-selling author, and popular television commentator. Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Dr. Rosenfeld's book is a remarkable account of his long and extraordinary career (www.liebertpub.com/heart).

21 Oct 2009

New report examines the health care status quo that has left employees at risk of losing their insurance

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills today released a new report, Insurance at Risk: Small Business Employees Risk Losing Coverage. The report examines the health care status quo that has left employees at risk of losing their insurance and underscores the financial difficulties small businesses face when providing health insurance to their employees. The complete report is available now at www.HealthReform.gov.

21 Oct 2009

Elan announces fiscal 2009 third-quarter results

Elan Corporation, plc today reported its third quarter 2009 financial results.

21 Oct 2009

Lactose intolerance rates may be overestimated by wide margins

Prevalence of lactose intolerance may be far lower than previously estimated, according to a study in the latest issue of Nutrition Today.(1) The study, which uses data from a national sample of three ethnic groups, reveals that the overall prevalence rate of self-reported lactose intolerance is 12 percent - with 7.72 percent of European Americans, 10.05 percent of Hispanic Americans and 19.5 percent of African Americans who consider themselves lactose intolerant.

21 Oct 2009

Omni Home agrees to pay the United States $1.97 million to settle claims

Omni Home Care, a home health care agency in Evansville, Ind., and its parent corporation, Omni Home Health, have agreed to pay the United States $1.97 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act between 2006 and 2008, by failing to obtain certain required physician approvals before submitting bills for home health services to Medicare, the Justice Department announced today.

21 Oct 2009

Regenstrief Institute links emergency medical services providers with electronic medical records

Emergency medical responders typically know very little about the patients they treat at mass disasters, accident scenes, or other sites where an ambulance is dispatched for rapid response. That's true everyplace in the United States except Indianapolis, the capital of the most health-wired state in the nation.

21 Oct 2009

Some Medicare recipients will see jump in premium costs next year

"The basic Medicare premium will shoot up next year by 15 percent, to $110.50 a month, federal officials said Monday," The New York Times reports. "The increase means that monthly premiums would top $100 for the first time, a stark indication of the rise in medical costs that is driving the debate in Congress about a broad overhaul of the health care system."

21 Oct 2009

Nationwide H1N1 Event Log to help ongoing challenges of flu pandemic

LiveProcess launched a nationwide H1N1 Event Log on October 1 designed to help regional healthcare organizations more effectively deal with the expected patient surge, consolidate the massive flow of disease-related communications and coordinate regional events with their constituent hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

21 Oct 2009

Eclipsys supports healthcare providers to meet the goal of ARRA

To support healthcare organizations in making the appropriate technology decisions to maximize federal stimulus dollar opportunity, Eclipsys Corporation®, The Outcomes Company®, today announced the multiple superior outcomes its client organizations are achieving today.

20 Oct 2009

ECRI Institute reports increase in request for medical technology acquisition support from its members

ECRI Institute(R), an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improve patient care and offers procurement support to more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals, reports a significant increase in requests by its members for medical technology acquisition support, a strong signal that the economy may be improving. ECRI Institute member hospital research requests typically precede medical capital technology purchases.

20 Oct 2009

Four Pharma companies underpay Medicaid rebate obligations, pay $124M to resolve allegations

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, UDL Laboratories, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical have entered into settlement agreements for a total of $124 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by failing to pay appropriate rebates to state Medicaid programs for drugs paid for by those programs, the Justice Department announced today.

20 Oct 2009

Vangent announces launch of the Health Information Exchange Open Source software tool

Vangent, Inc., a leading global provider of information management and strategic business process outsourcing solutions, announced today that it will provide an open source software tool known as Health Information Exchange Open Source (HIEOS™) making possible secure exchange of health information from multiple and disparate system and data sources.

19 Oct 2009

New NIH grants to develop Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System

The National Institutes of Health announced today that it is awarding 15 new grants to further develop and test the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).

19 Oct 2009

Phase I clinical study of PENNVAX-B preventive DNA vaccine using electroporation technology

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) announced today the initiation of a phase I clinical study of Inovio’s PENNVAX-B preventive DNA vaccine delivered using its proprietary electroporation technology.

19 Oct 2009

PHARMACIA & UPJOHN COMPANY to pay the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S.

PHARMACIA & UPJOHN COMPANY, INC., a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. ("Pfizer") today was sentenced today in federal court for a felony violation of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, for misbranding the drug, Bextra, with the intent to defraud or mislead.

19 Oct 2009

Democratic lawmakers seek momentum, Republican votes as two versions of reform bills are combined

Democrats are seeking momentum and votes -- from both Democrats and Republicans -- as leaders work to combine the two versions of reform approved by Senate committees.

19 Oct 2009

Health and Human Services News and Research

Toolkit to help U.S. employers address the growing problem of childhood obesity

White House offer on malpractice finds takers; Obama tells Dems to 'focus'

Positive results from Argos Therapeutics' personalized immunotherapy candidate AGS-004 Phase 2a trial

Aethlon Hemopurifier effective in capturing H1N1 Swine Flu Virus

Autobiography of a cardiologist "Doctor of the Heart" published

New report examines the health care status quo that has left employees at risk of losing their insurance

Elan announces fiscal 2009 third-quarter results

Lactose intolerance rates may be overestimated by wide margins

Omni Home agrees to pay the United States $1.97 million to settle claims

Regenstrief Institute links emergency medical services providers with electronic medical records

Some Medicare recipients will see jump in premium costs next year

Nationwide H1N1 Event Log to help ongoing challenges of flu pandemic

Eclipsys supports healthcare providers to meet the goal of ARRA

ECRI Institute reports increase in request for medical technology acquisition support from its members

Four Pharma companies underpay Medicaid rebate obligations, pay $124M to resolve allegations

Vangent announces launch of the Health Information Exchange Open Source software tool

New NIH grants to develop Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System

Phase I clinical study of PENNVAX-B preventive DNA vaccine using electroporation technology

PHARMACIA & UPJOHN COMPANY to pay the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S.

Democratic lawmakers seek momentum, Republican votes as two versions of reform bills are combined

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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