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Combination MMRV vaccine associated with increased risk of febrile seizures

The combination vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (MMRV) is associated with double the risk of febrile seizures for 1- to 2-year-old children compared with same-day administration of the separate vaccine for MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) and the varicella (V) vaccine for chicken pox, according to a Kaiser Permanente Division of Research study appearing online in the journal Pediatrics. A febrile seizure is a brief, fever-related convulsion but it does not lead to epilepsy or seizure disorders, researchers explained.

28 Jun 2010

Senate fails to pass 'extenders' bill, state Medicaid funding

After a bill to extend jobs and economic relief programs failed for the third time in the Senate Thursday, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would withdraw the bill, Politico reports. The legislation included financial relief for states, including billions to support Medicaid programs.

28 Jun 2010

High-risk health insurance pools opening soon

News outlets examine how states are coping with covering hard-to-insure people, confusion about insuring young adults and a COBRA subsidy extension.

28 Jun 2010

Mass. panel overturns cap on insurer's premiums; Calif. finds 'substantial' errors in planned premium increase

A Massachusetts "insurance appeals board yesterday overturned the state's cap on health premium increases for small business and individual customers covered by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care." The panel "found that rate increases Harvard Pilgrim initially sought in April are reasonable given what it must pay to hospitals and doctors. That ruling trumped the Insurance Division's earlier finding that the requested increases were excessive, a view that reflects Governor Deval Patrick's campaign to curb health costs. Insurers yesterday cheered the ruling" (Abelson and Wallack, 6/25).

25 Jun 2010

Utah to run state high-risk pool while still opposing health law

Utah Republican Gov. Gary R. Herbert has announced that the state "will join 29 other states and the District of Columbia" to run their own high-risk health insurance pools, while "[o]ther states let the federal government handle the program, concerned they would have to pay for it if they exhausted their federal funding," The Wall Street Journal reports.

25 Jun 2010

Friday opinions: Mandate to buy insurance; Medicare and 'political game'

If Americans want a private health insurance system that does not base the price of individually sold policies on that individual's health status and that does not allow an insurer to refuse to sell a policy because of an individual's health issues, then they should accept a mandate that all Americans purchase at least a minimum package of health insurance (Uwe Reinhardt, 6/25).

25 Jun 2010

Research roundup: Docs' views of industry gifts; Chemotherapy payments; Health law and states

How Medicare's Payment Cuts For Cancer Chemotherapy Drugs Changed Patterns Of Treatment -- This study examines the impact that Medicare payment cuts for chemotherapy drugs had on treatment for Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed lung cancer, before and after implementation of the June 2005 new payment system, focusing on five chemotherapy drugs "in common use singly or jointly for lung cancer..."

25 Jun 2010

Medco Health Solutions, BIG direkt gesund execute agreement for advanced pharmacy-driven solutions

Medco Health Solutions and BIG direkt gesund today announced that they have executed an agreement for an innovative portfolio of advanced pharmacy-driven solutions, which upon expressed patient consent, is designed to leverage innovative technologies for improving patient outcomes, adherence, and lowering overall healthcare costs. BIG direkt gesund, a German sick fund that provides health insurance coverage for about 400,000 beneficiaries nationwide, has become the inaugural client for Medco's Advanced Clinical Solutions service offering.

25 Jun 2010

HHS Secretary to speak about benefits of Affordable Care Act for women

Today, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will speak to the National Partnership for Women and Families about how the Affordable Care Act will benefit women.

25 Jun 2010

News roundup: Judge approves $712 million settlement for 9/11 emergency workers' health problems; Missouri ballot measure on health overhaul challenged

A judge approved a $712 million health settlement for thousands of emergency workers who responded after the Sept. 11 attack, in spite of objections from some who complained that the deal was unfair. Some workers who say they got sick working at the Ground Zero site argued Wednesday that the settlement shortchanged those suffering from certain types of diseases. One of the key factors in how much workers get paid under the settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, depends on the type of disease the person contracted.

25 Jun 2010

Medical weight loss programs before bariatric surgery show no clinical benefit

Patients required by their health insurance providers to complete a six-month medical weight loss program before bariatric surgery do no better than patients who have no such requirement, according to a new study presented here at the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).

25 Jun 2010

Governors, state attorneys general seek to counter lawsuit against health law

"Gov. Chris Gregoire is joining three fellow Democratic governors in asking a federal judge to consider their opposition to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the nation's new health-care law," The Seattle Times reports.

25 Jun 2010

Details emerge on young adults coverage, small business health law provisions

More details are emerging on what aspects of the new health reform law mean for coverage for young adults and how small businesses will be affected by the changes.

25 Jun 2010

Workers in small businesses more likely to have high premium for employer-sponsored health plans: AHRQ

Nearly 13 percent of workers with employer-sponsored health plans who worked in firms with 10 or fewer employees had premiums of $7,200 or more a year for single-coverage plans in 2008, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This amount is much higher than the $4,704 average, national premium for employer-sponsored single-coverage health plans in 2008.

25 Jun 2010

Latino population less likely to receive basic preventive tests, says study

"Prevention" is the new buzzword for health professionals and the new emphasis for containing future health care costs. Yet Latinos, who currently represent about 15 percent of the U.S. population, have the lowest level of preventive care of all racial and ethnic groups in the nation.

25 Jun 2010

Six-month Medicare patch slows Medicare meltdown for now

“The six-month Medicare patch Congress passed today is a very temporary reprieve for seniors and baby boomers who rely on the promise of Medicare. Delaying the problem is not a solution. It doesn’t solve the Medicare mess Congress has created with a long series of short-term Medicare patches over the last decade – including four to avert the 2010 cut alone.

24 Jun 2010

MHQP survey assesses patients' experiences with primary care since health reform law implementation

A report released today by Massachusetts Health Quality Partners provides the first comprehensive assessment of how patients rate their experiences with primary care since the state's groundbreaking health reform law was implemented.

24 Jun 2010

Medica, HealthInsight partner to deliver value-based benefit program to commercial customers

Today, Medica, a leading health care insurance provider headquartered in Minneapolis, and HealthInsight, provider of the leading value-based healthcare incentive platform, announced that they have partnered to deliver a next generation value-based benefit program to Medica's commercial customers.

24 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 24, 2010

Today's headlines reflect the latest news about action in the Senate regarding the Medicare "doc fix" and Medicaid assistance for states as well as developments across the health care marketkplace.

24 Jun 2010

New poll illustrates difficult situations cancer patients face in affording needed health care

A new poll illustrates the difficulty that cancer patients, survivors and their families face in affording needed health care and paying for other basic necessities such as food and heat, underscoring the need to strongly implement the Affordable Care Act so that it works for people with cancer.

24 Jun 2010

Health Insurance News and Research

Combination MMRV vaccine associated with increased risk of febrile seizures

Senate fails to pass 'extenders' bill, state Medicaid funding

High-risk health insurance pools opening soon

Mass. panel overturns cap on insurer's premiums; Calif. finds 'substantial' errors in planned premium increase

Utah to run state high-risk pool while still opposing health law

Friday opinions: Mandate to buy insurance; Medicare and 'political game'

Research roundup: Docs' views of industry gifts; Chemotherapy payments; Health law and states

Medco Health Solutions, BIG direkt gesund execute agreement for advanced pharmacy-driven solutions

HHS Secretary to speak about benefits of Affordable Care Act for women

News roundup: Judge approves $712 million settlement for 9/11 emergency workers' health problems; Missouri ballot measure on health overhaul challenged

Medical weight loss programs before bariatric surgery show no clinical benefit

Governors, state attorneys general seek to counter lawsuit against health law

Details emerge on young adults coverage, small business health law provisions

Workers in small businesses more likely to have high premium for employer-sponsored health plans: AHRQ

Latino population less likely to receive basic preventive tests, says study

Six-month Medicare patch slows Medicare meltdown for now

MHQP survey assesses patients' experiences with primary care since health reform law implementation

Medica, HealthInsight partner to deliver value-based benefit program to commercial customers

First Edition: June 24, 2010

New poll illustrates difficult situations cancer patients face in affording needed health care

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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