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Roundup: Ga. 'provider fee' defeat could mean $430M less for Medicaid; Minn. health programs in line for $37M cut over fiscal cliff; Calif. stem cell board criticized

Just weeks before the 2013 General Assembly convenes, the state's provider fee, called a "bed tax" by some, remains a high-profile wild card -- one that could deal Georgia's hospital industry a crippling blow. If the fee is not renewed -- and anti-tax forces will oppose it -- the Medicaid system may lose $430 million-plus that the assessment now generates. That loss would swell the state's Medicaid financial shortfall, which is already about $400 million (Miller, 12/6).

7 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Considering baby boomers' future burden on Medicare; Holtz-Eakin endorses state exchanges; The value (or not) of mammograms

The Congressional Budget Office projects that if current policies continue, total federal spending will rise to 24 percent of gross domestic product in 2022. [Republicans and Washington deficit hawks'] proposed solution is a cap on government spending.

7 Dec 2012

Novel sensor measures individual particles in blood samples

Norwegian researchers have developed the world's first sensor capable of measuring individual particles in a blood sample. This new innovation could cause a sensation in the medical world.

7 Dec 2012

Longer looks: The frustrations of academic medicine; Small business owners fear health law changes; A doctor struggles to save his mother

Like many franchisees, Robert U. Mayfield, who owns five Dairy Queens in and around Austin, Tex., is always eager to expand and - no surprise - has had his eyes on opening a sixth DQ. But he said concerns about the new federal health care law had persuaded him to hold off.

7 Dec 2012

Nordic project to coordinate initiatives to combat dramatic increase in tick-borne diseases

Last year, more than 40,000 people in Western Scandinavia may have been affected by infections caused by ticks. SEK 17 million has now been invested in a joint Nordic project to coordinate initiatives to combat the dramatic increase in tick-borne diseases.

7 Dec 2012

Few new doctors choose primary care

Less than a quarter of new doctors are choosing primary care as their specialty, even after finishing residency programs focused on internal medicine, a new study reports.

6 Dec 2012

Study questions value of coated, low-dose aspirin therapy

Roughly one-fifth of Americans take low-dose aspirin every day for heart-healthy benefits. But, based on either urine or blood tests of how aspirin blocks the stickiness of platelets - blood cells that clump together in the first stages of forming harmful clots - up to one third of patients are deemed unlikely to benefit from daily use. Such patients are called "aspirin resistant." Clots are the main cause of most heart attacks and strokes.

6 Dec 2012

Patient-centered relationship increases pain tolerance: Study

A doctor-patient relationship built on trust and empathy doesn't just put patients at ease - it actually changes the brain's response to stress and increases pain tolerance, according to new findings from a Michigan State University research team.

5 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: David Brooks' formula to avoid Cliff; Krugman says control costs, don't cut coverage

Republicans should go to the White House and say they are willing to see top tax rates go up to 36 percent or 37 percent and they are willing to forgo a debt-ceiling fight for this year.

5 Dec 2012

Scheduled Medicare doctor pay cut could be just a few weeks away

Medscape and The Connecticut Mirror covered the looming 26.5 percent cut, mandated by the SGR law.

4 Dec 2012

Political, policy decisions swirl around state plans to implement health exchanges, Medicaid expansion

Even as the Department of Health and Human Services releases regulations offering guidance for the health law's online insurance marketplaces, these health exchanges -- as well as the overhaul's Medicaid expansion -- continue to be hot topics.

3 Dec 2012

Diabetes tests: an interview with Dr. Danielle Stowasser

Diabetes is a serious condition that causes high levels of glucose (a type of sugar) in the blood. There are three main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2 diabetes, which are lifelong conditions, and gestational diabetes, which only occurs in women during pregnancy.

3 Dec 2012

American Heart Association's Charlotte Chapter receives $20,000 from AT&T

AT&T today donated $20,000 to the American Heart Association's Charlotte chapter, the largest donation thus far to the organization's 2013 campaign.

3 Dec 2012

'Fiscal Cliff' talks morphing into high-stakes game of political chicken

White House negotiators and GOP lawmakers remain at odds over a deficit-reduction plan with only weeks to go before automatic spending cuts and tax increases are triggered.

3 Dec 2012

Heart attack centres: an interview with Dr Sayan Sen

Heart attack networks are designed to facilitate the rapid transfer of heart attack patients to centres with facilities that allow the manual unblocking of the coronary artery with angioplasty.

3 Dec 2012

Men should see a doctor and be proactive about their health, say UAB experts

Experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) say a man's tendency to wait until the onset of sickness to see his doctor is a major detriment to health because key screenings are missed.

1 Dec 2012

Collaborative care significantly improves depression and anxiety outcomes

Collaborative care, a model that involves multiple clinicians working with a patient, significantly improves depression and anxiety outcomes compared to standard primary care treatment for up to two years, finds a new review by The Cochrane Library.

1 Dec 2012

New national healthcare campaign aims at controlling high blood pressure

A majority of patients can't recall whether their physician mentioned their blood pressure numbers and among patients with high blood pressure, only 56 percent say they talked with their doctor about ways to reduce their high blood pressure, according to a new survey released today by the American Medical Group Foundation, the nonprofit education and research arm of the American Medical Group Association.

1 Dec 2012

Hard-core smokers more likely to cut back when cigarette taxes rise

When cigarette taxes rise, hard-core smokers are more likely than lighter smokers to cut back, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

1 Dec 2012

Some people choose out-of-network care in emergency situations

Forty percent of people who received health care outside of their insurance network did so out of necessity, finds a new study in Health Services Research. About half of those patients did not know how much they would have to pay for their out-of-network care. Out-of- network care can occur during an emergency medical situation or when the network status of a physician or hospital is unknown or if an in-network doctor is unavailable.

30 Nov 2012