Health Insurance News and Research

RSS

Roundup: HIPAA enforcement; Brownback blasted for rejecting federal grant; nurses strike in Calif.

Only two state attorneys general have pursued the authority Congress gave them two years ago to prosecute privacy and security breaches of health information - despite training from federal agencies and a consensus among privacy groups that enforcement needs to improve. The expansion of jurisdiction to state attorneys general was awarded in concert with a $27 billion stimulus program initiated in 2009 to reward health care providers for switching from print to computerized health records.

21 Sep 2011

Many still find insurance unaffordable and employer-sponsored insurance unavailable

Despite the implementation of the Massachusetts health care reform designed to bolster employer-based insurance and to provide no-cost or low-cost insurance to those unable to afford it, the uninsured in Massachusetts remain predominantly the working poor, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard Medical School just published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

20 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 20, 2011

In today's headlines, details and analysis of President Barack Obama's debt-reduction plan, which would trim health programs by $320 billion and links such entitlement trims to new taxes.

20 Sep 2011

Centrifuge releases new version of Visual Network Analytics solution

Centrifuge Systems, Inc. announced Version 2.5 of its Visual Network Analytics solution (VNA) the first and only thin-client, 100% zero footprint web application that discovers hidden meaning and network relationships from public, cloud, and enterprise information.

20 Sep 2011

Roundup: Calif. woman's death at nursing home probed; Minn. orders counseling before patients get long-term care

Johnnie Esco died after a 13-day stay at the El Dorado Care Center in Placerville. Her death on March 7, 2008, led to a contentious civil lawsuit, investigations by California's Department of Justice and Department of Public Health – and the exhumation of her body from Arlington National Cemetery. Last week, amid inquiries from The Bee, the state Department of Justice reopened its criminal investigation into Johnnie Esco's treatment at the facility.

20 Sep 2011

Mammography rates among immigrant women remain lower than the native-born

Fewer immigrant women receive mammograms than native-born American women, according to Penn State researchers, who note that more immigrant women are getting mammograms now than a decade ago.

20 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Controlling entitlement spending; irrationality of bashing health overhaul; need for changes to state workers' benefits; Va. abortion rules

Entitlement spending - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the rest - is the long-term problem. … But Social Security is the easy case. Medicare and Medicaid have much bigger problems. The rise in their spending is fueled by the aging population and ever-more-expensive advances in medical care. Their problems cannot be solved with taxes unless American workers want government to take an ever-increasing share of their pay.

20 Sep 2011

Feds OK Mich. request to reduce premium costs for state's pre-existing condition insurance plan

Other news reports related to health law implementation include the latest on a push by the Department of Health and Human Services for state insurance exchange partnerships, speculation about the measure's essential benefits rule and efforts on Capitol Hill to block the law's funding.

19 Sep 2011

Researchers confirm strong bidirectional relation between epilepsy, schizophrenia

Researchers from Taiwan have confirmed a bidirectional relation between schizophrenia and epilepsy. The study published today in Epilepsia, a journal of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), reports that patients with epilepsy were nearly 8 times more likely to develop schizophrenia and those with schizophrenia were close to 6 times more likely to develop epilepsy.

19 Sep 2011

Roundup: San Diego launches new HIV testing effort; Study finds economy hurt by Mass. health law; Texas schools turning to safe sex curriculum

The Centers for Disease Control says 20 percent of Americans with HIV don't know they're infected, and those people are responsible for about half of all new infections. A new effort in San Diego is trying to reduce those numbers by making HIV testing more widespread.

17 Sep 2011

Perry attacks Romney on Mass. health plan, similarities to Obama

In a campaign swing through Iowa, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry drew distinctions between himself and Mitt Romney, another Republican presidential candidate, by highlighting the similarities between the federal health law and the Massachusetts health plan that became law while Romney was the state's governor.

17 Sep 2011

Plans for new hospital outside Detroit raise questions

Developments in hospital news also include an analysis of Maryland's success with rate regulation, the economic power of health care jobs in San Francisco and reports that a Mass. hospital system is launching a health plan.

17 Sep 2011

House Republicans launch new attacks on health law regulations

The medical-loss ratio requirement is one of the prime GOP targets. Democrats responded that Republicans were trying to roll-back key consumer protections. In other health law implementation news, HHS announced new funding for community health centers, and groups interested in setting up health insurance co-ops are seeking certain HHS "tweaks" in the regulations.

17 Sep 2011

Bayonne Medical Center resolves outstanding issues with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield

Bayonne Medical Center (BMC), announced today that it has resolved all outstanding issues with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest provider of health insurance in the state of New Jersey. As of October 1, 2011, Bayonne Medical Center will be considered in-network for all services for Horizon subscribers.

17 Sep 2011

DestinationRx is now DRX

DestinationRx, Inc., a leading provider of healthcare comparison tools, technology and data, today announced a strategic decision to rename the company DRX. The change in branding is a response to the company's significant growth in the healthcare industry—from its origins in prescription drug pricing and purchasing technology to its expansion into broader drug and health plan comparison technology and data services.

17 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Support for HPV vaccinations; Compassion and GOP debates

Imagine that scientists invented a vaccine that was proved to safely prevent cancer. Imagine that it was licensed and recommended in the U.S. for all preadolescent girls and available to boys as well, yet five years later only 11 percent of children were receiving the full course of shots.

17 Sep 2011

Health Insurance News and Research

Roundup: HIPAA enforcement; Brownback blasted for rejecting federal grant; nurses strike in Calif.

Many still find insurance unaffordable and employer-sponsored insurance unavailable

First Edition: September 20, 2011

Centrifuge releases new version of Visual Network Analytics solution

Roundup: Calif. woman's death at nursing home probed; Minn. orders counseling before patients get long-term care

Mammography rates among immigrant women remain lower than the native-born

Viewpoints: Controlling entitlement spending; irrationality of bashing health overhaul; need for changes to state workers' benefits; Va. abortion rules

Feds OK Mich. request to reduce premium costs for state's pre-existing condition insurance plan

Researchers confirm strong bidirectional relation between epilepsy, schizophrenia

Roundup: San Diego launches new HIV testing effort; Study finds economy hurt by Mass. health law; Texas schools turning to safe sex curriculum

Perry attacks Romney on Mass. health plan, similarities to Obama

Plans for new hospital outside Detroit raise questions

House Republicans launch new attacks on health law regulations

Bayonne Medical Center resolves outstanding issues with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield

DestinationRx is now DRX

Viewpoints: Support for HPV vaccinations; Compassion and GOP debates

Calif. and Texas face big challenges, take different health reform approaches

Reading between the lines: As poor get poorer, their health is at greater risk

Unlikely coalition launches effort to aid enrollment of people without insurance

Medicare Advantage premiums to go down next year: HHS

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Latest News