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Sterling Health Plans selects MedAssurant's Prospective Advantage solutions

MedAssurant, Inc., a leading provider of data-driven healthcare solutions, today announced that Sterling Health Plans, a national provider of Medicare benefits, has expanded its relationship with MedAssurant through the selection of two key solutions to identify and close meaningful gaps in quality, utilization, documentation, and risk score accuracy.

5 Aug 2010

Amputation can be prevented when patients are treated by podiatric physicians: Study

Amputation, one of the most devastating and costly consequences of diabetes, can be prevented when patients are treated by podiatric physicians. That's the finding of a national, large-scale study co-authored by Dr. James Wrobel, DPM, MS, Associate Professor of Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

5 Aug 2010

Study says quality not hurt when nurse anesthetists work without doc guidance

A new study published Tuesday in Health Affairs suggests that nurse anesthetists' quality of work is not lower when they aren't supervised by a doctor, The Wall Street Journal Health Blog reports. "The background for this is that Medicare won't reimburse for anesthesia services unless a physician is supervising what's going on.

5 Aug 2010

Omega Healthcare Investors second-quarter net income decreases to $15.5 million

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. today announced its results of operations for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. The Company also reported Funds From Operations ("FFO") available to common stockholders for the three months ended June 30, 2010 of $29.7 million or $0.32 per common share.

5 Aug 2010

Cardiogenesis second-quarter 2010 revenue increases 9% to $2.43 million

Cardiogenesis Corporation, a leading developer of surgical products used to treat cardiac patients suffering from severe angina, today reported financial results for its second quarter and first half ended June 30, 2010.

5 Aug 2010

Andy Griffith Medicare ad prompts showdown with GOP

Veteran television star Andy Griffith appeared in a new commercial for Medicare that promotes health law changes the administration says should help seniors, such as free wellness visits and lower drug costs, U.S. News & World Report writes. "The commercial, launched on the 45th anniversary of Medicare last week, is part of a public education campaign about changes to Medicare benefits. Retirees' knowledge about the health reform law's impact on Medicare remains mixed.

5 Aug 2010

Triple-S Management second-quarter total consolidated operating revenues up 8.2%

Triple-S Management Corporation, the largest managed care company in Puerto Rico, today announced consolidated revenues of $522.7 million and operating income of $26.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2010. Net income of $15.1 million, or $0.51 per diluted share, includes an after tax net loss of $4.5 million, or $0.16 per share, related to net realized and unrealized losses on investments and derivatives.

4 Aug 2010

New study of breast cancer survivors may help physicians ease side effect of treatments

A new study of breast cancer survivors may help physicians ease a common side effect of cancer treatments. The collaborative research by Eva Sevick, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Molecular Imaging at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, and Caroline Fife, M.D., Director of the Memorial Herman Wound Care Clinic at UTHSC, could bring relief to millions.

4 Aug 2010

NYT: Rep. Ryan's 'sweeping agenda' includes revising Medicare

The New York Times profiles Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and details the rising Republican star's positions on health care and social programs, among other things. Under his controversial "Roadmap for America's Future" plan, Ryan would eliminate the federal debt over 50 years through major changes to Medicare and Social Security.

4 Aug 2010

Powered by Medicare Advantage, Humana profits jump 21% in second quarter

The Louisville, Ky., health insurer both "increased its Medicare Advantage membership," "benefited from patients' recent lower demand for health-care services" and also "sought to get out in front of an anticipated effect of the federal health-care overhaul, taking a charge related to new requirements for its medical-loss ratio," in attaining 21 percent profits, The Wall Street Journal reports.

4 Aug 2010

GTCR, Dale Wolf partner to create Jessamine Healthcare

GTCR, one of the nation's leading private equity firms, today announced it has entered into a partnership with Dale Wolf to form Jessamine Healthcare, Inc. The new company, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, will focus on acquiring companies in the healthcare payor and outsourced payor services industries.

4 Aug 2010

GE and Intel create new health IT venture focused on home-based care

General Electric Co. and Intel Corp. announced Monday they will create a company to provide new medical technologies for the elderly and chronically ill.

4 Aug 2010

Foreign doctors provide care as good as that of Americans, study finds

Physicians trained in other countries provide care just as good as -- and perhaps better than some U.S. doctors, a report published in the journal Health Affairs found.

4 Aug 2010

Administration touts Medicare savings report; Republicans complain it misleads seniors

A report issued Monday by the Obama administration found that the new health care law "will save Medicare $8 billion by the end of 2011, and $575 billion over the next decade, largely by improving care quality and preventing waste and fraud." The report also predicts that the overhaul will "extend the life of the program more than a decade.

4 Aug 2010

Celera decreases second-quarter net loss to $6.1 million

Celera Corporation today reported net revenues of $32.6 million for the second quarter of 2010 that ended June 26, 2010, compared to $41.4 million for the prior year quarter. For the second quarter of 2010, Celera reported a net loss of $6.1 million, or $0.07 per share, compared to a net loss of $31.7 million, or $0.39 per share, for the prior year quarter.

4 Aug 2010

RehabCare second-quarter consolidated operating revenues increase 62.8% to $334.0 million

RehabCare Group, Inc. today reported financial results for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010. Comparative results for the quarter and six months follow.

4 Aug 2010

European Commission grants Teva approval for acquisition of ratiopharm

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced today that the Company received approval from the European Commission to proceed with its acquisition of ratiopharm.

4 Aug 2010

Hospitals, docs adopting health IT ahead of schedule

Clinics and hospitals are increasingly switching to electronic medical records as a federal push to spread the technology sweeps across the nation.

4 Aug 2010

Dendreon second-quarter revenue increases to $2.8 million

Dendreon Corporation today reported results for the quarter ended June 30, 2010. Revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 was $2.8 million compared to $25,000 for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. Revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2010 was $2.8 million compared to $55,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2009.

4 Aug 2010

Today's OpEds: WSJ on Virginia court ruling; Health law politics; For-profit insurers; Mass. doc shortage; Physician errors

All the smart people in the political, media and legal classes know that ObamaCare is constitutional and anyone who says otherwise is frivolous. This faux consensus, however, does not include a U.S. district court judge in Virginia, who yesterday rejected the Administration's argument that one of the key constitutional challenges should be dismissed outright. Now the case will proceed to arguments on the merits this fall (8/3).

4 Aug 2010