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Medicaid is the United States health program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states.

MAXIMUS signs Eligibility Support Services contract with HHSC

MAXIMUS, a leading provider of government services, announced today that it has signed the previously announced Eligibility Support Services contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The three-year base contract is valued at $315.3 million with an additional two option years.

6 Jan 2011

Skilled Healthcare Group updates 2010 full year non-GAAP earnings estimates

Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. today announced it has updated its 2010 full year non-GAAP earnings estimates and expects consolidated revenue to be approximately $816 million to $819 million, Adjusted EBITDAR to be approximately $138.9 million to $140.7 million and Adjusted EBITDA to be approximately $119.7 million to $121.5 million. The Company expects adjusted earnings per diluted share for 2010 to be between $1.01 and $1.04.

6 Jan 2011

Nicotine replacement therapies to quit smoking

Although smoking is an expensive habit, let's face it, nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) to help you quit smoking can seem like expensive purchases as well.

6 Jan 2011

State roundup: Minn. Medicaid expansion, Mass. health costs, Calif. free clinic

[Gov.] Dayton is scheduled to sign an executive order that would expand Medicaid coverage in Minnesota -- a move Republicans in the Legislature oppose. Dayton's decision won't put an end to the debate (Scheck, 1/5).

6 Jan 2011

OpEds: Sebelius, Fla. Attorney General, USA Today, Wash Post opine about repeal strategies

Over the past nine months, I've traveled around the country and seen the benefits of this law firsthand. Unless we want to take coverage away from cancer patients, reduce oversight for insurance companies, raise prescription drug costs for seniors, weaken Medicare, add $1 trillion to the deficit and undo dozens of other reforms that are improving health around the country, we can't afford repeal (Kathleen Sebelius, 1/5).

6 Jan 2011

Investigators receive two Alpha-1 Foundation grants for research on lung disorder

The Alpha-1 Foundation announced today that it has awarded two research grants to investigators whose research will contribute to our understanding of the causes and mechanisms that give rise to lung disease.

6 Jan 2011

Teva acquires Théramex

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Théramex, Merck KGaA's European-based women's health business.

5 Jan 2011

20% of patients who received implantable cardioverter-defibrillators did not meet guidelines for receipt of ICD

A study that included more than 100,000 patients who received implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) found that about 20 percent did not meet evidence-based guidelines for receipt of an ICD, and that these patients had a significantly higher risk of in-hospital death than individuals who met criteria for receiving an ICD, according to a study in the January 5 issue of JAMA.

5 Jan 2011

HMS receives contracts to perform dependent eligibility audit services

HMS, a wholly owned subsidiary of HMS Holdings Corp., today announced that it had been awarded contracts by both the Iowa Department of Administrative Services and the Maine State Employee Health Commission to perform dependent eligibility audit services for their State Employee Health Benefit Plans.

5 Jan 2011

Alzheimer's Association applauds President Obama for signing National Alzheimer's Project Act into law

As the leading care, research and advocacy organization for Alzheimer's disease, the Alzheimer's Association® applauds President Obama for signing the National Alzheimer's Project Act(NAPA) into law. NAPA creates for the first time a coordinated national strategy to confront one of America's most feared and costly diseases, a disease that will only plague more baby boomers as they age.

5 Jan 2011

Governors take hard look at Medicaid dollars, programs

Amidst continuing state budget pressures, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to reduce Medicaid spending by a hefty sum; Missouri's new governor pledges to reverse his predecessor's cuts; and in Kansas, program reforms are part of Gov. Brownback's agenda.

5 Jan 2011

Today's Opinions: GOP rerun; Finding bipartisanship; Pawlenty's legacy

You just can't close the door on this crowd. The party that brought us the worst economy since the Great Depression, that led us into Iraq and the worst foreign policy disaster in American history, that would like to take a hammer to Social Security and a chisel to Medicare, is back in control of the House of Representatives with the expressed mission of undermining all things Obama (Bob Herbert, 1/3).

4 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 4, 2011

The House GOP leadership sets Jan. 12 as the date for a vote on repealing the health law. Meanwhile, California's new health insurance commissioner takes action on health insurers' expenditures while New York's governor targets Medicaid spending.

4 Jan 2011

SelectHealth ranked Utah's top HMO health plan

SelectHealth is Utah's top ranked HMO health plan, according to a recent report issued by the Utah Health Data Committee.

4 Jan 2011

Florida public hospitals a likely target for new governor; Two people appointed to create Calif. health exchange

Florida's government-owned hospitals will be in the political cross hairs after Tuesday's inauguration of Rick Scott, once leader of the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain. The governor-elect's transition team has recommended creation of a panel to study whether government-owned hospitals -- Miami-Dade's Jackson Health System and Broward's two hospital districts among them -- are necessary (Dorschner, 1/2).

4 Jan 2011

C. difficile infection has become common among hospitalized children in the US

Hospitalized children in the United States are more frequently becoming infected with the bacteria Clostridium difficile, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the May print issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

3 Jan 2011

Aetna acquires Medicity

Aetna today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Medicity Inc., a health information exchange technology company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

3 Jan 2011

KHN video: Health care battles to surge anew in 2011

In this video feature, Kaiser Health News reporters preview some of the big issues coming this year: The GOP's fight to repeal the law and what the party can offer instead; states' efforts to beat back growing Medicaid costs; consumers' troubles affording care (1/3).

3 Jan 2011

New report evaluates rate of reinterventions, readmissions after initial AAA surgery

A new report published in the January issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery® evaluates the rate of reinterventions and readmissions after initial abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, 30-day mortality and the effect on long-term survival.

30 Dec 2010

Appalachian Regional Healthcare sues West Virginia DHHR, Bureau for Medical Services over Medicaid reimbursements

Appalachian Regional Healthcare, Inc., yesterday filed a lawsuit against the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) and its Bureau for Medical Services for inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates that threaten the continued operation of the not-for-profit Beckley ARH Hospital (BARH). The suit was filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

29 Dec 2010