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Hospitals lobby for broader health IT rewards; Mobile devices infiltrate health care

The American Hospital Association stepped up its advocacy efforts to get lawmakers to revisit a program that will reward hospitals for adopting electronic medical records by expanding its opportunities for hospital systems with multiple facilities, The Hill reports.

13 Sep 2010

Physician shortage could grow under new health law

HealthDay/Bloomberg BusinessWeek: With tens of millions of patients newly insured under the law, "[s]ome experts worry that there could be longer wait times to see a doctor, particularly in rural areas and underserved markets where primary-care physicians are in short supply. … [P]rimary-care physicians make up only 35 percent of America's physician workforce, and the pipeline of fresh talent is tapering off.

10 Sep 2010

CMS issues hospice benefit guidance for terminally sick kids

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a guidance Thursday regarding a health overhaul mandate that state Medicaid programs allow terminally ill kids to get curative treatment even if they take hospice benefits, The Hill's Healthwatch Blog reports.

10 Sep 2010

Dartmouth study says primary care not always a cure-all

A new study by Dartmouth Health Atlas researchers contends that making primary care more widely accessible -- one of the goals of the health overhaul -- won't necessarily improve the nation's health, Reuters reports. The researchers found wide variations in the quality of care that do not always match up with the level of access to physicians.

10 Sep 2010

Research Roundup: Shifting ER visits to urgent care centers; Evaluating doctors; Medicare Advantage quality ratings

Health Affairs: Many Emergency Department Visits Could Be Managed At Urgent Care Centers And Retail Clinics - Researchers analyzed samples of patient records and found "13.7 percent of all emergency department visits could take place at a retail clinic" - 7.9 percent when hours are restricted - and "an additional 13.4 percent of emergency department visits could take place at a urgent care center—8.9 percent when hours are restricted.

10 Sep 2010

Clinica of Virginia offers medical services to Medicare and Medicaid patients for $1.00

In an effort to promote wellness and help those who are struggling to make ends meet, Clinica of Virginia, LLC. is providing quality medical services to Medicare and Medicaid patients for only $1.00. The national economic downturn, combined with national bureaucracy, has created a shortage of physicians and clinics who accept Medicare and Medicaid. Chronic, multiple medical conditions plague those Americans who can financially afford it the least, and physicians' offices who accept Medicare or Medicaid are now far and few between. Clinica accepts both.

10 Sep 2010

Doctor works to measure outcomes of provider care

Forbes profiles "the most powerful doctor you never heard of," a Yale cardiologist who does "outcomes research" in which he measures "how well doctors are doing in the real world, outside of controlled trials--what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong and what they are forgetting to do entirely."

10 Sep 2010

IASIS Healthcare signs agreement to acquire Brim Holdings

IASIS Healthcare today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Brim Holdings, Inc., which operates Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, and Pikes Peak Regional Hospital in Woodland Park, Colorado, in a cash-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $95 million, subject to customary closing conditions and working capital adjustments. Combined revenue of the two facilities is approximately $120 million.

10 Sep 2010

Commonwealth among 103 Pennsylvania employers qualified for federal retiree benefit assistance

Governor Edward G. Rendell announced today that the commonwealth is among the 103 Pennsylvania employers accepted into a federal program to help offset the rising health care costs for retirees.

10 Sep 2010

K-V successfully completes FDA inspection for resumption of manufacturing and shipment of products

K-V Pharmaceutical Company announced today that it has received notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") of the successful completion of an inspection of the Company's facilities and approval to return its first product to market. Under the Company's Consent Decree, successful FDA inspections of the Company's quality systems, processes and facilities are expected to be required before K-V is permitted to resume manufacturing and shipment of particular products.

10 Sep 2010

Illinois HFS selects Centene subsidiary for managed care services

Centene Corporation announced today its new subsidiary, IlliniCare Health Plan, was selected by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) as one of one of two vendors to provide managed care services to approximately 40,000 Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities in six Chicago area counties.

10 Sep 2010

New national assessment tool for nursing home residents

A fundamental shift will take place in skilled nursing homes beginning in October following the work of a California-based researcher and a team of investigators that has developed a new national assessment tool for nursing home residents.

10 Sep 2010

InHealth continues support for Northwestern and Duke with follow-on grants of over $830,000

The Institute for Health Technology Studies (InHealth) has awarded two follow-on grants totaling more than $830,000 to research teams at Northwestern University and Duke University.

10 Sep 2010

Overhaul's effect on health spending minimal, government study says

The health overhaul and other recent legislative and regulatory changes will only modestly increase the nation's health tab through 2019, according to a government study published today, Kaiser Health News reports.

10 Sep 2010

Assessing the needs of disabled Medicare beneficiaries

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jessica Marcy reports in this KHN short take: "Policy makers need more concrete information about the characteristics of the disabled community and its unique challenges, a senior White House adviser said today at a forum about Medicare disability and health care reform" (Marcy, 9/9).

10 Sep 2010

KHN column - Tomorrow's Medicare: The efficient hybrid?

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Austin Frakt writes: "Since the inception of Medicare, policymakers have wrestled with the problem of how the program can best pay for beneficiaries' medical services. The result of this decades-long struggle has been increasing costs and a Byzantine set of payment methods.

10 Sep 2010

Today's OpEds: Medicare's long-term liabilities; Reforming and funding native health care; Frustrations surrounding stem cell research

Under ObamaCare it will get much worse. Hospitals also will shut down or stop serving Medicare patients. … Everyone should know by now that Medicare suffers dramatic long-term deficits and unfunded liabilities, and is in need of fundamental, structural reforms. But effectively refusing to pay the doctors and hospitals that provide the medical care the program promises to seniors is no way to solve that problem (Peter Ferrara and Larry Hunter, 9/9).

10 Sep 2010

Democrats position for November fight using health care while GOP leader draws line in the sand

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine is defending his party's accomplishments on health care as he paints Democrats as underdogs in November's elections, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. "Kaine, a former governor of Virginia, blasted the Republicans as obstacles to progress for seven decades, warning supporters gathered at the University of Pennsylvania that President Obama's agenda was at risk with less than two months before the Nov. 2 election.

10 Sep 2010

VAP Cholesterol Test can evaluate Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, known as PCOS, is a silent and often mysterious disease that plays havoc with a woman's body and increases the risk of serious illness. There is no single test for diagnosing the illness, but a detailed cholesterol profile called the VAP Cholesterol Test, along with diet, exercise and the right medication, is changing how doctors approach PCOS and is dramatically altering patients' lives for the better.

10 Sep 2010

Affinity Health System selects GE Centricity EMR for patient care network

Northeast Wisconsin's nationally recognized Affinity Health System is the latest to choose GE Centricity® EMR for its patient care network. The Catholic, mission-oriented, regional health network is a collaboration between the Fox Valley's Ministry Health Care and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and plans to implement Centricity EMR across its 22 multi-specialty clinics in 14 communities to help care for an average of 21,000 patients each year.

9 Sep 2010

Medicare News and Research

Hospitals lobby for broader health IT rewards; Mobile devices infiltrate health care

Physician shortage could grow under new health law

CMS issues hospice benefit guidance for terminally sick kids

Dartmouth study says primary care not always a cure-all

Research Roundup: Shifting ER visits to urgent care centers; Evaluating doctors; Medicare Advantage quality ratings

Clinica of Virginia offers medical services to Medicare and Medicaid patients for $1.00

Doctor works to measure outcomes of provider care

IASIS Healthcare signs agreement to acquire Brim Holdings

Commonwealth among 103 Pennsylvania employers qualified for federal retiree benefit assistance

K-V successfully completes FDA inspection for resumption of manufacturing and shipment of products

Illinois HFS selects Centene subsidiary for managed care services

New national assessment tool for nursing home residents

InHealth continues support for Northwestern and Duke with follow-on grants of over $830,000

Overhaul's effect on health spending minimal, government study says

Assessing the needs of disabled Medicare beneficiaries

KHN column - Tomorrow's Medicare: The efficient hybrid?

Today's OpEds: Medicare's long-term liabilities; Reforming and funding native health care; Frustrations surrounding stem cell research

Democrats position for November fight using health care while GOP leader draws line in the sand

VAP Cholesterol Test can evaluate Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Affinity Health System selects GE Centricity EMR for patient care network

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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