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Health reform implementation: Risk pool nears enrollment date; Seniors anxious about Medicare changes; Benefits reportable

As high-risk insurance pools are preparing to enroll the chronically ill July 1, officials should heed the Florida experience. "Plagued by exorbitant medical costs and skimpy revenue, the Florida Comprehensive Health Association, by order of the Legislature, stopped accepting new enrollees in 1991, eight years after it was created." The pool once covered about 7,000 Florida residents; now only a few hundred remain as premiums are double the standard rate.

22 Jun 2010

Congressional hearing examines administration's crack down on health care fraud

The feds have promised to turn up the heat on providers, real and phony, who steal from and game the system. ... Lawmakers and President Barack Obama are demanding that the CMS and their partners in law enforcement do more to stem the wasted healthcare dollars gushing out of the Treasury like oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

22 Jun 2010

Hospitals and researchers test programs to stop readmissions

The Boston Globe reports on hospital readmissions: "In Massachusetts, more than 10 percent of patients are back in the hospital for the same or unrelated complaints within a month, according to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a Cambridge-based nonprofit think tank. Over two years, more than a quarter of all patients end up paying a repeat visit to the hospital, a new 12-state study by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found.

21 Jun 2010

Positron sells four Attrius PET scanners

Positron Corporation, a leader as a molecular imaging and solutions company specializing in the field of Nuclear Cardiology, announces the sales of four Attrius™ PET scanners to prominent cardiology practices and orders six Attrius™ PET scanners from its joint venture, Neusoft Positron Medical Systems for immediate delivery.

21 Jun 2010

Doctors, Pelosi pan Senate-passed 'doc fix' plan

USA Today: Doctors are limiting the number of new Medicare patients they are seeing, concerned about reimbursements pay from the federal program. "Recent surveys by national and state medical societies have found more doctors limiting Medicare patients, partly because Congress has failed to stop an automatic 21% cut in payments that doctors already regard as too low.

21 Jun 2010

Today's OpEds: Medicare reimbursements threaten health care; Battling health care fraud; A national standard on nurse-patient ratios

The Senate on Friday passed the annual "doc fix" -- but this short-term stay on the reimbursement rates for physicians who treat Medicare patients does not resolve the underlying problem: Those reimbursements are woefully below market. And if Congress does not address this, the much-heralded health-care reform is at risk (Dr. Michael Newman, 6/19).

21 Jun 2010

Select Medical to acquire Regency Hospital

Select Medical Holdings Corporation, the parent of Select Medical Corporation, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding equity securities of Regency Hospital Company, L.L.C., an operator of long-term acute care hospitals, for approximately $210 million, including certain assumed liabilities. Regency is a portfolio company of Waud Capital Partners.

21 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 21, 2010

Today's news includes an exploration of the impact of Medicare payment rates on physicians, an analysis of the fate of the COBRA subsidy and how an innovation may offer a medical malpractice fix.

21 Jun 2010

MediConnect Global's PHR system now compatible with a wide array of mobile devices

MediConnect Global Inc. today announced its popular consumer web-based personal health record system is now compatible with a wide array of mobile devices including the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and most Google Android and HP/Palm WebOS smartphones.

21 Jun 2010

Thomson Reuters identifies top 10 U.S. health systems from second annual study

Thomson Reuters today released its second annual study identifying the top 10 U.S. health systems based on their clinical performance.

21 Jun 2010

Consumers can now access high quality health and medical information on Internet using Medgateway.com

With the vast amount of medical information on the Internet, consumers can spend long hours looking for health and medical information. Consumers can access reliable, high quality health and medical information on the Internet using Medgateway.com. Medgateway provides links to numerous health and medical web sites.

21 Jun 2010

AORN supports Pennsylvania's signing of HB 1641 requiring perioperative RN during surgery

As advocates for patient safety in the operating room, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, (AORN), announced support for Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's signing of HB 1641 requiring the presence of a circulating nurse in certain operating rooms. The bill, signed into law on June 16, applies to any hospital or class C ambulatory surgical facility.

19 Jun 2010

Teradata congratulates CMS team for receiving 2010 CIO Council Leadership Award

Teradata Corporation, the world's largest company solely focused on data warehousing and enterprise analytics, today extended congratulations to the team led by Julie Boughn, Chief Information Officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, for prestigious recognition by the Federal CIO Council. The 2010 CIO Council Leadership Award was presented to the CMS team at the 2010 IRMCO Conference for its innovative use of information technology to improve transparency and engagement with the public.

19 Jun 2010

ExonHit Therapeutics informs shareholders about Highmark's intention to discontinue coverage of PathFinderTG

ExonHit Therapeutics today informs its shareholders that it learned on June 16, 2010 from RedPath Integrated Pathology that Highmark (the Medicare reimbursement regional antenna for the states of Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) announced its intention to discontinue coverage of PathFinderTG - Pancreatic cancer, contingent to a complementary assessment of the utility of the product.

19 Jun 2010

ASHP communicates support for Berwick nomination to Senate

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) communicated its strong support for the nomination of Donald M. Berwick, M.D., as administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

19 Jun 2010

Medicare begins 21% payment cuts to physicians

Today, Medicare begins processing physician payments with the drastic 21 percent cut that Congress failed to stop, and now seniors and physicians are paying the price of Congress' Medicare mismanagement.

19 Jun 2010

Medicare payment cuts to doctors loom as Republicans reject slimmed-down 'extenders' package

Republicans were successful in blocking a "slimmed-down package of jobless benefits and state aid late Thursday" as Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., voted with them, The Washington Post reports.

19 Jun 2010

Research roundup: Medical homes working in poor areas, designing insurance exchanges, health law's effects

Moving Forward On Health Reform - This edition explores the issues relating to the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, including the impact of the law on health insurance as well as state and federal governments, large employers and public opinion and opportunities for small physician practices to pool resources in order support medical homes, among others (June 2010).

19 Jun 2010

Senate reaches deal, passes short-term "doc fix"

The Senate passed a bill Friday to block the 21 percent cuts to Medicare physician pay for six months, after failing Thursday to pass a larger bill extending tax and jobless benefits that also included the Medicare provision, The Hill reports.

19 Jun 2010

HBSS reaches $103M settlement with Astra Zeneca

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro (HBSS) today announced it has reached a proposed $103 million settlement with Astra Zeneca (AZ) on behalf of consumers and third party purchasers. The class-action lawsuit claimed Astra Zeneca inflated the Average Wholesale Price (AWP), which is used as a benchmark for almost all prescription drug sales in the United States.

19 Jun 2010

Medicare News and Research

Health reform implementation: Risk pool nears enrollment date; Seniors anxious about Medicare changes; Benefits reportable

Congressional hearing examines administration's crack down on health care fraud

Hospitals and researchers test programs to stop readmissions

Positron sells four Attrius PET scanners

Doctors, Pelosi pan Senate-passed 'doc fix' plan

Today's OpEds: Medicare reimbursements threaten health care; Battling health care fraud; A national standard on nurse-patient ratios

Select Medical to acquire Regency Hospital

First Edition: June 21, 2010

MediConnect Global's PHR system now compatible with a wide array of mobile devices

Thomson Reuters identifies top 10 U.S. health systems from second annual study

Consumers can now access high quality health and medical information on Internet using Medgateway.com

AORN supports Pennsylvania's signing of HB 1641 requiring perioperative RN during surgery

Teradata congratulates CMS team for receiving 2010 CIO Council Leadership Award

ExonHit Therapeutics informs shareholders about Highmark's intention to discontinue coverage of PathFinderTG

ASHP communicates support for Berwick nomination to Senate

Medicare begins 21% payment cuts to physicians

Medicare payment cuts to doctors loom as Republicans reject slimmed-down 'extenders' package

Research roundup: Medical homes working in poor areas, designing insurance exchanges, health law's effects

Senate reaches deal, passes short-term "doc fix"

HBSS reaches $103M settlement with Astra Zeneca

Event guide: 4th Extra-Hepatic Lipid-Based Nanoparticles Delivery Summit eBook

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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