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Doctors work fewer hours, study finds

A new study finds that doctors are working fewer hours even as the shortage of primary care physicians persists.

25 Feb 2010

Special Issue of Business Horizons addresses issues central to healthcare and life sciences

A recent Special Issue of Business Horizons (www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor), the journal of the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, and published by Elsevier, addresses issues central to healthcare and life sciences. Healthcare reform, for example, has been at the center of U.S. political debate in recent years with renewed attempts to gain bipartisan support from Congress for passage of a national system of health insurance coverage.

25 Feb 2010

Study examines range of health issues and trends among older women in California

Older women who are divorced, separated or widowed or who have never married have twice the uninsured rate of their married peers, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

25 Feb 2010

House to vote on ending insurer antitrust exemption today, White House backs measure

The Obama administration is supporting a House bill that would end the federal antitrust exemption for health insurers.

24 Feb 2010

Democrats revisit reconciliation as means to pass overhaul

Reconciliation, a parliamentary tactic that could allow Congress to pass health reform with a simple Senate majority, was dismissed weeks ago by centrist Democrats, but some of those lawmakers are now warming to the approach, clearing a possible avenue for passage of the overhaul, Politico reports. "Obviously, if the minority is just frustrating the process, that argues for taking steps to get the public's business done," said Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., one of the senators to reverse course on reconciliation (Budoff Brown, 2/23).

24 Feb 2010

Anthem Blue Cross will go forward with rate hikes, execs tell Calif. lawmakers

Anthem Blue Cross executives told California lawmakers Tuesday that they plan to go ahead with a rate hike of up to 39 percent for individual health insurance policies.

24 Feb 2010

Abortion, public option questions remain

The Wall Street Journal: "Abortion was one of the final matters to be resolved in December when the Senate created its version of the health-care bill, with a carefully crafted compromise that left neither side in the debate happy.

24 Feb 2010

Reid wants COBRA subsidy extension, eyes Medicaid funds for states

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to extend unemployment benefits, health insurance subsidies for those recently laid-off and help for state Medicaid budgets that would in total cost $100 billion, The Associated Press reports. The measure is separate from the jobs bill. "Facing a Feb. 28 deadline, Reid hopes to pass two measures, one as soon as possible. The first includes a 30-day extension of several of soon-to-expire provisions such as jobless aid, parts of the Patriot Act and prevention of cuts in Medicare payments to doctors."

24 Feb 2010

State regulators criticize Obama plan to create federal authority over health insurance rates

Kaiser Health News staff writers Phil Galewitz and Julie Appleby spoke with three veteran state insurance commissioners and found that "state insurance regulators said President Barack Obama goes too far with his proposal

24 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 24, 2010

Today's headlines focus on the run-up to tomorrow's White House health summit as well as the latest from Capitol Hill regarding the outlook for health reform.

24 Feb 2010

Consumer Watchdog calls for public release of Blue Cross premium hike investigation documents

Consumer Watchdog today condemned Blue Cross's transfer of $2.8 billion to its parent company since 2007, including approximately $719.5 million in 2009 alone, as a way of hiding its true financial condition from regulators scrutinizing steep rate hikes. Consumer Watchdog said Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner should seize on the transfers to invalidate recent premium hikes and should make Blue Cross documents available for public scrutiny.

24 Feb 2010

PIA hails the elimination of medical malpractice insurers from draft of bill

The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents is hailing the elimination of medical malpractice insurers from the draft of a bill restricting the limited federal insurance antitrust exemption under the McCarran-Ferguson Act.

24 Feb 2010

Health care reform legislation: Americans still split, but several provisions find wide support

The latest Kaiser Tracking Poll finds the public still split on health care reform legislation, with 43 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed. However, the poll also finds that majorities of Americans of all political leanings support several provisions in the health reform proposals in Congress and most attribute delays in passing the legislation to political gamesmanship rather than policy disagreements.

24 Feb 2010

Pelosi holds news conference to discuss the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, Congressman Peter DeFazio, and Wendell Potter, senior fellow on health care at the Center for Media and Democracy and a former insurance industry executive, held a news conference this afternoon in the Capitol to discuss the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act that will end the unfair anti-trust protection for the health insurance industry.

24 Feb 2010

Hospitals maintain dominant position in determining health care pricing decisions: Study

A study by USC researcher Vivian Wu finds that despite the increasing clout of HMOs in the 1990s, hospitals maintained a dominant position in determining health care pricing decisions.

24 Feb 2010

Physicians’ average weekly hours decreased by 7% over the last decade

After remaining stable for 2 decades, the average hours worked per week by physicians decreased by about 7 percent between 1996 and 2008, according to a study in the February 24 issue of JAMA.

24 Feb 2010

Poll: Americans split on health care bills, but majority frustrated by delays

A new tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds Americans with mixed views on health care reform.

24 Feb 2010

GW report: Asthma is on the rise in America and more than 1M children with asthma not insured

Researchers from The George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services said today that asthma, a largely manageable and chronic disease, is on the rise in America and released new data on the magnitude of the asthma crisis, the surging cost of treatment, and the more than 1 million children with asthma who are uninsured.

24 Feb 2010

AARP tracks upcoming Senate vote on Idaho Health Freedom Act

With the Idaho State Senate expected to vote today on the ill-conceived Idaho Health Freedom Act (HB 391), a bill that could wreak havoc on the state's health care system, AARP has announced it will make the vote a part of it's "accountability vote" efforts.

24 Feb 2010

Emergency department closures will be disastrous, says ACEP

As members of Congress and President Obama meet this week about health care reform, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) today raised alarm over the recent closure of an emergency department in Cincinnati and reports of more ERs on the brink of closure in New York and Washington, D.C.

24 Feb 2010

Health Insurance News and Research

Doctors work fewer hours, study finds

Special Issue of Business Horizons addresses issues central to healthcare and life sciences

Study examines range of health issues and trends among older women in California

House to vote on ending insurer antitrust exemption today, White House backs measure

Democrats revisit reconciliation as means to pass overhaul

Anthem Blue Cross will go forward with rate hikes, execs tell Calif. lawmakers

Abortion, public option questions remain

Reid wants COBRA subsidy extension, eyes Medicaid funds for states

State regulators criticize Obama plan to create federal authority over health insurance rates

First Edition: February 24, 2010

Consumer Watchdog calls for public release of Blue Cross premium hike investigation documents

PIA hails the elimination of medical malpractice insurers from draft of bill

Health care reform legislation: Americans still split, but several provisions find wide support

Pelosi holds news conference to discuss the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act

Hospitals maintain dominant position in determining health care pricing decisions: Study

Physicians’ average weekly hours decreased by 7% over the last decade

Poll: Americans split on health care bills, but majority frustrated by delays

GW report: Asthma is on the rise in America and more than 1M children with asthma not insured

AARP tracks upcoming Senate vote on Idaho Health Freedom Act

Emergency department closures will be disastrous, says ACEP

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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