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First Edition: April 29, 2010

This week, as yet another major health insurer reports quarterly gains, the industry says it will stop the practice of rescissions earlier than required by the new reform law. Meanwhile, other headlines examine key provisions of the measure, such as its high risk pools.

29 Apr 2010

PAF annual report offers summary of issues impacting Americans' access to healthcare

Patient Advocate Foundation -- a national non-profit organization that seeks to safeguard patients through effective mediation assuring access to care, maintenance of employment and preservation of their financial stability relative to their diagnosis of life threatening or debilitating diseases -- today released their annual Patient Data Analysis Report, which documents the scope and complexity of the healthcare finance, access and job retention issues routinely confronted by patients at the national and state-specific level.

29 Apr 2010

Masimo forms non-profit Foundation to improve patient safety, deliver advanced health care

Masimo Corporation, the inventor of Pulse CO-Oximetry and Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, announced today the formation of The Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare, a non-profit organization that will facilitate its corporate philanthropy.

29 Apr 2010

Federal employee health program unlikely to extend young adult coverage on parents' plan this year

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jessica Marcy reports: "Many parents breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that health insurance companies were opening up coverage to young adult children.

29 Apr 2010

Americans' confidence in their ability to access and pay for healthcare declines

Americans' confidence in their ability to access and pay for healthcare continued to decline last month, according to a new consumer sentiment index from Thomson Reuters.

29 Apr 2010

Uninsured medical expenses vie with retirement as most pressing financial concern for Americans

Uninsured medical expenses vie with retirement as the most pressing financial concern for Americans, according to a survey conducted for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants by Harris Interactive.

29 Apr 2010

miacom diagnostics announces new tests for faster diagnosis of sepsis

"Conventional PCR tests (PCR is short for polymerase chain reaction, a highly sensitive method of detecting nucleic acids) require several hours to produce a result. lucesco Bacteremia IVD panels are not only much faster with a result after only 30 minutes, they are also much more cost-efficient.

29 Apr 2010

$Ageing population prone to bone fractures drives South African joint replacement market$

Ageing population prone to bone fractures drives South African joint replacement market

The joint replacement market in South Africa is set to experience continued growth in the medium to long term, driven by an ageing population that is prone to cartilage degeneration and bone fractures. The introduction of innovative products with enhanced durability and longevity as well as safer operation techniques is further boosting growth in this market.

29 Apr 2010

Survey: Americans worry about getting health coverage, but leading Democrat optimistic of turnaround

Reuters: A new survey published Wednesday suggests that "Americans are steadily losing confidence in their ability to get healthcare and pay for it, despite the passage of healthcare reform legislation."

29 Apr 2010

Mass. legislation to push poor seniors into managed care plans stirs concerns

Legislation that could push more than 100,000 low-income senior citizens in Massachusetts into managed care health plans spurred intense lobbying yesterday, as consumer advocates argued the measure would strip patients of their freedom to stay in traditional Medicare, while proponents said it could save the state significant money.

29 Apr 2010

Small business owners have mixed reviews on health law's tax credits

Kaiser Health News staff writer Andrew Villegas reports: "Everyone wants a tax credit, right? Maybe not. Employers, particularly small businesses, are fretting over provisions in the health overhaul they say could burden their companies.

29 Apr 2010

Young adults seeking coverage on parents' plans face obstacles

Young adults and their parents eager to take advantage of a new law that will allow parents of children up to age 26 to keep their children on their health plans are facing obstacles in learning even exactly when they'll be eligible.

29 Apr 2010

New research indicates Canadians live longer than Americans

Compared to their neighbours south of the border, Canadians live longer, healthier lives. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Population Health Metrics has found this disparity between the two countries, suggesting that America's lack of universal health care and lower levels of social and economic equality are to blame.

29 Apr 2010

Uninsured patients less likely to receive critical care services

Among the general U.S. population, people who are uninsured are about half as likely to receive critical care services as those with insurance, according to systematic review of the literature by the American Thoracic Society's Health Disparities Group.

29 Apr 2010

Experts disagree on health law's effects on jobs

"There is profound disagreement about healthcare reform's overall impact on jobs. … While the net effect on jobs remains uncertain, it is clear that certain professions will do better than others." Among the specific job categories likely do well are insurance agents, who "may get a boost since approximately 32 million uninsured Americans will be required to buy health insurance starting in 2014.

28 Apr 2010

The Prevention Plan program for Nevada PEBP employees and retirees

State of Nevada public employees are taking steps to get healthier and feel better by participating in The Prevention Plan, a U.S. Preventive Medicine program designed to encourage healthy behaviors, detect disease in the earliest stages and manage chronic conditions before they progress.

28 Apr 2010

53% of middle-aged Americans favor new health care legislation: Poll

Overall, support for the new health care legislation remains low, but a new poll indicates that middle-aged Americans are much more likely to approve of it.

28 Apr 2010

Fine print complicates effort to cover young adults

Some parents may have to wait to get children as old as age 26 to be allowed to stay on their health plans because of the health law's fine print, The Associated Press reports. "As a consequence, some families may have to wait until 2011 to get their kids covered, particularly if the parents are working for a large employer, benefits experts and government officials say.

28 Apr 2010

As health reform's specifics continue to emerge, so do questions and answers from stakeholders

Determining how the law will be applied will be the next big battle in health reform and lobbyists are gearing up to influence implementation. "Congress gave sweeping power to federal agencies, especially (HHS), to fill in gaps lawmakers left in the 906-page legislation — an effort that will take years. The law refers more than 1,000 times to Cabinet secretaries who will make decisions on how to carry out the law. For example, the law requires insurance companies to spend 80% of premiums on medical claims, as opposed to administrative costs, by 2011. But it directs the health department to decide whether gray-area expenses, such as health-and-wellness programs offered by insurers, count as care or overhead."

28 Apr 2010

First Edition: April 27, 2010

Today's headlines focus on the details of health reform that continue to emerge -- including states' reactions to high risk pools and questions about the sweeping expansion of Medicaid.

27 Apr 2010

Health Insurance News and Research

First Edition: April 29, 2010

PAF annual report offers summary of issues impacting Americans' access to healthcare

Masimo forms non-profit Foundation to improve patient safety, deliver advanced health care

Federal employee health program unlikely to extend young adult coverage on parents' plan this year

Americans' confidence in their ability to access and pay for healthcare declines

Uninsured medical expenses vie with retirement as most pressing financial concern for Americans

miacom diagnostics announces new tests for faster diagnosis of sepsis

Ageing population prone to bone fractures drives South African joint replacement market

Survey: Americans worry about getting health coverage, but leading Democrat optimistic of turnaround

Mass. legislation to push poor seniors into managed care plans stirs concerns

Small business owners have mixed reviews on health law's tax credits

Young adults seeking coverage on parents' plans face obstacles

New research indicates Canadians live longer than Americans

Uninsured patients less likely to receive critical care services

Experts disagree on health law's effects on jobs

The Prevention Plan program for Nevada PEBP employees and retirees

53% of middle-aged Americans favor new health care legislation: Poll

Fine print complicates effort to cover young adults

As health reform's specifics continue to emerge, so do questions and answers from stakeholders

First Edition: April 27, 2010

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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