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Support falls for health overhaul as Obama administration prepares for midterms

Kaiser Health News: Public support for the new health law slipped in August, "a development sure to stir concerns among the Obama administration and congressional Democrats seeking to shore up support for the law in the months leading up to the mid-term elections." The latest poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found 43 percent of Americans viewed the law favorably, which is down from 50 percent in July.

2 Sep 2010

Tech News: Feds name health IT certifiers; IBM seeks to crack China's health sector

Federal health officials gave two firms -- the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology in Chicago, Ill., and the Drummond Group in Austin, Texas, -- the power to certify electronic medical record vendors effective immediately, The Hill reports. "As providers move toward mandatory adoption of EHR systems, HHS created an incentive program designed to encourage the transition." Hospitals and doctors can receive payments for achieving "meaningful use," a set of requirements laid out by federal officials.

2 Sep 2010

Today's Opinions: Pawlenty's order against the health overhaul, repealing the health law and more about health care costs

The move can be explained in no other way than in being a totally partisan decision, intended to shore up his conservatism in what will be a 2012 battle of who is more conservative to wear the Republican mantle for president (9/1).

2 Sep 2010

Federal domestic spending increased a record 16%

The Census Bureau reported Thursday that federal "domestic spending increased a record 16 percent, to $3.2 trillion, in 2009 … largely because of a boost in aid to the unemployed and the huge economic stimulus package enacted to rescue the sinking economy," The Washington Post reports.

1 Sep 2010

Seredor acquires South Florida-based operator of sleep diagnostic centers

Continucare Corporation announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary Seredor Corporation has expanded its sleep center operations through the acquisition of a South Florida-based operator of sleep diagnostic centers. The acquired business currently operates two independent diagnostic testing facilities.

31 Aug 2010

First Edition: August 31, 2010

"These days, you may leave your dentist's office with more than a toothbrush and dental floss in your bag. Thousands of dentists are offering patients health-care credit cards to cover the work that needs to be done, with seemingly hard-to-resist repayment terms. If you need care and don't have insurance to cover it or cash in hand, it's tempting to sign up" (Kaiser Health News).

31 Aug 2010

DePuy Orthopaedics sued over faulty hip-implant devices

Hip-implant surgery is commonplace, but a higher than expected number of failures began to surface in patients who had received an implanted device manufactured by a division of J&J. According to company statistics, about one in eight implant patients requires a painful and expensive second procedure called a "revision surgery."

31 Aug 2010

Detroit Medical Center's system-wide EMR helps save over $5 million in costs

The Detroit Medical Center (DMC) achieved significant improvements in patient safety and quality of care, while also saving more than $5 million in costs last year, thanks to efficiencies created by its system-wide Electronic Medical Record (EMR). This system manages nearly all of the DMC's patient health information via new computer-based technology.

31 Aug 2010

Liberal health reform group pushing hard to save lawmakers, Berwick won't disclose donors

Politico: The liberal health group Health Care for America Now is "fighting hard to help reelect lawmakers who voted for the [health reform] bill — even if it means not talking about it. … HCAN activists say they are not dodging their key issue; rather, they want to keep pace with voter concerns, which have markedly shifted over the past year.

31 Aug 2010

Medicare beneficiaries receive prescription drug cost relief under Affordable Care Act

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced that more than 1 million Medicare beneficiaries have received prescription drug cost relief through the Affordable Care Act.

31 Aug 2010

Many public hospitals face increasingly pressures; Nonprofit hospitals face uncertain futures

The Wall Street Journal: "Faced with mounting debt and looming costs from the new federal health-care law, many local governments are leaving the hospital business, shedding public facilities that can be the caregiver of last resort. … More than a fifth of the nation's 5,000 hospitals are owned by governments and many are drowning in debt caused by rising health-care costs, a spike in uninsured patients, cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and payments on construction bonds sold in fatter times.

30 Aug 2010

Canada should publicly fund smoking cessation pharmacotherapies: CMAJ

Canada should follow the lead of Quebec, Australia and the United Kingdom by publicly funding smoking cessation pharmacotherapies, states an editorial in CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj101140.pdf.

30 Aug 2010

Record number taking anti-poverty programs, COBRA coverage alternatives examined

One in six Americans is now taking advantage of government anti-poverty programs, including more than 50 million on Medicaid, for which enrollment is up 17 percent since the recession began in December 2007, USA Today reports. "The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people, beginning in 2014. That has strained doctors. … As caseloads for all the programs have soared, so have costs. The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36% in two years, to $273 billion. Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion.

30 Aug 2010

Today's Opinions and Editorials: The costs of public employees' health benefits, more on Medicare Advantage, and will reform undermine medical innovation?

We want to spend just a little less, so that we have more money for other purposes. And we want to spend just a little differently, so that we're getting a higher quality, more humane health care system (Jonathan Cohn, 8/30).

30 Aug 2010

Health IT: New Medicaid rules, a race for meaningful use, fraud prevention

Instructions for state Medicaid directors to distribute some of the funding for electronic medical records through their programs beginning next year have been circulated by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, American Medical News reports. "The incentive program stipulates that the federal government will pay the full cost of Medicaid bonuses to eligible physicians who adopt certified EMR technology in a way that meets the government's 'meaningful use' criteria.

30 Aug 2010

Patient Home Monitoring releases Reverse Take Over third quarter 2010 results

Patient Home Monitoring, a new company focused on in-home cardiology healthcare services, today released its post Reverse Take Over third quarter financial results, which primarily represent the period from the RTO on June 2, 2010 to June 30, 2010.

30 Aug 2010

Independent drugstore lobby demands more 'transparency' for PBMs in pharmacy supply chain

"Despite recent press revelations of its 'top secret' lobbying campaign to maintain the confidentiality of its own Medicaid pricing information, the independent drugstore lobby continues to demand more 'transparency' for others in the pharmacy supply chain, most notably PBMs.

30 Aug 2010

Boehringer Ingelheim announces sub-analysis result of RE-LY trial

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced results from a pre-specified, retrospective, un-blinded sub-analysis of the RE-LY trial the largest atrial fibrillation outcomes trial ever conducted were published in The Lancet.

30 Aug 2010

US Oncology engages Milliman to develop physician-payer risk contracting model

Innovent Oncology, a subsidiary of US Oncology, has engaged Milliman, a premier global, actuarial and consulting firm, to help develop models in which physician-led oncology organizations can contract around risk, with the intent of negotiating with payers in the first half of 2011.

30 Aug 2010

Roughly one in six cancer survivors forgo some medical care due to cost, Study finds

Two years after undergoing a double mastectomy and chemotherapy so severe she was hospitalized in intensive care for several weeks, breast cancer survivor Denise Hicks should be following what her doctors call 'the plan' which includes additional medications and treatments.

30 Aug 2010

Medicare News and Research

Support falls for health overhaul as Obama administration prepares for midterms

Tech News: Feds name health IT certifiers; IBM seeks to crack China's health sector

Today's Opinions: Pawlenty's order against the health overhaul, repealing the health law and more about health care costs

Federal domestic spending increased a record 16%

Seredor acquires South Florida-based operator of sleep diagnostic centers

First Edition: August 31, 2010

DePuy Orthopaedics sued over faulty hip-implant devices

Detroit Medical Center's system-wide EMR helps save over $5 million in costs

Liberal health reform group pushing hard to save lawmakers, Berwick won't disclose donors

Medicare beneficiaries receive prescription drug cost relief under Affordable Care Act

Many public hospitals face increasingly pressures; Nonprofit hospitals face uncertain futures

Canada should publicly fund smoking cessation pharmacotherapies: CMAJ

Record number taking anti-poverty programs, COBRA coverage alternatives examined

Today's Opinions and Editorials: The costs of public employees' health benefits, more on Medicare Advantage, and will reform undermine medical innovation?

Health IT: New Medicaid rules, a race for meaningful use, fraud prevention

Patient Home Monitoring releases Reverse Take Over third quarter 2010 results

Independent drugstore lobby demands more 'transparency' for PBMs in pharmacy supply chain

Boehringer Ingelheim announces sub-analysis result of RE-LY trial

US Oncology engages Milliman to develop physician-payer risk contracting model

Roughly one in six cancer survivors forgo some medical care due to cost, Study finds

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