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NavGate Technologies cooperates with Humana Points of Caregiving program

NavGate Technologies, a national leader in providing value-added, smart technologies for caregiving, wellness, healthcare and care-planning initiatives, announces its cooperation with the Humana Points of Caregiving program.

13 Jul 2010

Telemedicine plays important role in providing access to care for Medi-Cal members

According to US Department of Health and Human Services, compared with urban Americans, rural residents have higher poverty rates, have fewer doctors, hospitals, and other health resources, and face more difficulty getting to health services. Beginning 2014, when health care reform becomes effective, an estimated 2.4 million Californians will be newly-eligible for Medi-Cal.

13 Jul 2010

Governors press Washington for more help, Mass. municipalities seek new authority to cut health care plan costs

The National Governors Association, meeting in Boston, pressed Washington for more help to states. The "NGA renewed its bipartisan appeal for Congress to pass stalled jobs legislation. ... [Last month,] the House and Senate failed to complete legislation that would have extended, through June 2011, important parts of the federal stimulus program enacted last year to provide unemployment insurance and help offset recession-driven cuts to education, health care and public safety.

13 Jul 2010

Changes for employers, health insurers coming with health reform implementation

Starting in September, changes to health insurance could significantly alter how insurers operate and how employers provide coverage for workers.

13 Jul 2010

healthychat.com addresses myriad consumer health care questions

Health care reform will impact every American in some way. The question is how and when? The healthychat.com website was created to address the many questions consumers have about health insurance. Since its launch on May 1, thousands have viewed healthychat.com, creating a community forum addressing myriad health care questions.

12 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: Churchillian Berwick?; Government's obesity fight; WSJ on paying for health reform

In an ideal world, Berwick would be Medicare's Winston Churchill, a prophetic voice who emerges from the wilderness and ends years of appeasement and denial. He tells the truth about federal health care and medicine generally. It's no wonder the Obama administration didn't think the Senate could handle it (Jay Hancock, 7/11).

12 Jul 2010

Simple interventions by pediatricians change parent's perspective about child being overweight or obese

Some simple interventions used by pediatricians were enough to change a parent's perspective about a child's being overweight or obese, and change the parent's behaviors at home to reduce those risks.

12 Jul 2010

GOP questions Berwick's ties to industry

The Hill reports that Republicans are charging the Obama administration with evading questions on Dr. Donald Berwick's ties to the health care industry. President Barack Obama used a recess appointment this week to install Berwick as head of the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid after key Republicans had raised concerns about Berwick's views.

12 Jul 2010

News roundup: NYC program to help poor, elderly with insurance gets cut; Colo. promotes wellness programs for small businesses

A program that for a decade helped New York City's poor and elderly navigate their way through insurance problems — and that became a model for a similar federal program — has become a casualty of city budget cuts, an administrator of the program said on Thursday. The $4 million program sent ombudsmen to 25 social service agencies across the city.

9 Jul 2010

HHS proposes stricter patient privacy rules

New rules have been proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services to stregthen patient privacy protections.

9 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: More commentary on the Berwick appointment, the financial and political costs of health reform, thoughts on hospital consolidation

President Obama got serious this week about the ticking time bomb in his new health-care legislation -- the lack of any clear plan to reduce costs and improve quality. What he did was install someone who can use our behemoth Medicare and Medicaid programs as laboratories for change -- so that reform doesn't bankrupt the country (David Ignatius, 7/9).

9 Jul 2010

HHS to give states $25 million for HIV drugs; Researchers identify antibodies that may help in AIDS vaccine research

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday "that she would provide $25 million more to help states buy life-saving medications for people with H.I.V. or AIDS. Advocates for patients said the money was not nearly enough to eliminate waiting lists, which have surged to record levels as people have lost health insurance, along with their jobs, and states have cut their budgets. Ms. Sebelius said she was 'reallocating and transferring $25 million in existing resources' to provide medicines for people on waiting lists.

9 Jul 2010

Aetna offers premium payments, file claims extensions to customers affected by storms

Aetna is offering fully insured health plan customers, including Medicare members, in Ohio's Wood, Ottawa and Fulton counties an extra two months to make premium payments and file claims, among other assistance. People in those counties were affected by tornados and severe weather in early June.

9 Jul 2010

HPV DNA testing for precancer, cervical cancer is more sensitive than cytology testing: Study

HPV DNA testing for precancers and cervical cancers is over 50 per cent more sensitive than cytology testing for the same conditions a community-based study in Mexico has revealed. Results of the largest HPV DNA primary screening study ever to be performed in a Latin American country point to the readiness of HPV DNA testing for large-scale implementation in Mexico and are published online today (8 July 2010) in Cancer, Causes and Controls.

9 Jul 2010

Calif., R.I., move to strengthen review of health insurance rates; Ind. weighs changes in state employee health plans

The Los Angeles Times' Blog: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved Wednesday to implement a major element of the new national healthcare overhaul, seeking a $1-million federal grant to strengthen the state's review of health insurance rates. Much of the money would pay for actuaries to evaluate premium hikes sought by insurers.

9 Jul 2010

KHN column -- High-risk pools: A rare opportunity for bipartisanship

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Harold Pollack writes: "This month a key program created by the new health overhaul law, the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, becomes operational in many states. Over the next 40 months, this high-risk insurance pool will provide $5 billion to cover Americans who face the dual challenges of chronic illness and uninsurance.

8 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 8, 2010

Today's headlines reflect the continued coverage of President Obama's recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to head CMS as well as other developments related to Medicaid, the health insurance industry and state challenges to the health reform law.

8 Jul 2010

Barriers to dental care among Californian children

Lack of dental care continues to be a significant problem for American children, who miss about 1.6 million school days each year due to dental disease.

8 Jul 2010

MHPA responds to CMS annual report on Medicaid managed care enrollment

Medicaid Health Plans of America, the leading trade association solely focused on representing Medicaid health plans, responded today to an annual report just released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Medicaid managed care enrollment, which showed Medicaid health plan enrollment grew by almost 2.4 million members in 2009 to more than 23.4 million Americans nationwide.

8 Jul 2010

Children of unemployed Americans experience avoidable loss of healthcare coverage: Research

Not only are the children of the 15.3 million unemployed Americans feeling the impact of financial hardship brought on by the economic recession, many of their children may be experiencing an avoidable loss of healthcare coverage, according to new research by the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center published in the July issue of Health Affairs.

8 Jul 2010

Health Insurance News and Research

NavGate Technologies cooperates with Humana Points of Caregiving program

Telemedicine plays important role in providing access to care for Medi-Cal members

Governors press Washington for more help, Mass. municipalities seek new authority to cut health care plan costs

Changes for employers, health insurers coming with health reform implementation

healthychat.com addresses myriad consumer health care questions

Today's OpEds: Churchillian Berwick?; Government's obesity fight; WSJ on paying for health reform

Simple interventions by pediatricians change parent's perspective about child being overweight or obese

GOP questions Berwick's ties to industry

News roundup: NYC program to help poor, elderly with insurance gets cut; Colo. promotes wellness programs for small businesses

HHS proposes stricter patient privacy rules

Today's OpEds: More commentary on the Berwick appointment, the financial and political costs of health reform, thoughts on hospital consolidation

HHS to give states $25 million for HIV drugs; Researchers identify antibodies that may help in AIDS vaccine research

Aetna offers premium payments, file claims extensions to customers affected by storms

HPV DNA testing for precancer, cervical cancer is more sensitive than cytology testing: Study

Calif., R.I., move to strengthen review of health insurance rates; Ind. weighs changes in state employee health plans

KHN column -- High-risk pools: A rare opportunity for bipartisanship

First Edition: July 8, 2010

Barriers to dental care among Californian children

MHPA responds to CMS annual report on Medicaid managed care enrollment

Children of unemployed Americans experience avoidable loss of healthcare coverage: Research

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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