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DST Health Solutions' latest version of CareAnalyzer released

Health plans, health management programs and healthcare providers can more accurately identify members, employees and patients who may benefit from targeted care management using the latest version of DSTHS CareAnalyzer®. Released today by DST Health Solutions, LLC, CareAnalyzer 4.1 is a comprehensive analytics software solution combining elements of patient risk, care opportunities and provider performance that helps organizations improve care management and meet reporting requirements for the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS).

9 Jun 2010

Premier health alliance honors Standard Register with Supplier Performance Award for 5th consecutive year

For the fifth consecutive year, Standard Register is being honored by the Premier health alliance with its Supplier Performance Award at the 2010 Premier Annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition in Washington D.C. The award ceremony is being held at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center today, June 9.

9 Jun 2010

HHS Secretary statement on new study that underscores urgency for reducing HAIs in ASCs

"Today, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which underscored the urgency behind the Obama Administration's efforts to reduce healthcare-associated infections.

9 Jun 2010

Lapses in infection control common in ambulatory surgical centers

An assessment of nearly 70 ambulatory surgical centers in three states found that lapses in infection control were common, including for practices such as hand hygiene, injection and medication safety and equipment reprocessing, according to a study in the June 9 issue of JAMA.

9 Jun 2010

HealthGrades ranks top hospitals in patient experience

Hospitals providing the best patient experience in the nation, according to surveys of their patients overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, were identified today by HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization, and posted to its website, www.healthgrades.com.

9 Jun 2010

Pelosi releases statement on the benefits of Affordable Care Act for America's seniors

Speaker Nancy Pelosi today released the following statement on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act for America's seniors. President Obama held a tele-town hall with seniors in Wheaton, Md. today on the legislation's provisions to strengthen Medicare, close the 'donut hole,' and protect seniors from fraud.

9 Jun 2010

Patient Home Monitoring to trade under ticker symbol "PHM" on TSX Venture Exchange

Patient Home Monitoring, a company focused on in-home cardiology healthcare services, today announced that it will begin trading under the ticker symbol "PHM" on the TSX Venture Exchange at the open of market today, Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

8 Jun 2010

Medicare bidding program will lead to 'suicide bidding', says Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers

Providers of home medical equipment and services across Pennsylvania are proposing a fiscally responsible alternative to the mislabeled "competitive" bidding scheme currently under way in Medicare that will actually discourage competition, reduce access to care for many of Pennsylvania's more than two million Medicare beneficiaries, and put hundreds of Pennsylvania's homecare providers out of business.

8 Jun 2010

UPMC Health Plan collaboration launches pediatric weight management program

A unique collaboration between UPMC Health Plan, Children's Community Pediatrics (CCP), and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC is utilizing a multidisciplinary team approach in the setting of the pediatrician's office to provide practical weight management strategies for children who are obese or overweight.

8 Jun 2010

CMI must implement payment initiatives to improve health care delivery, reduce spending: New article

The new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation must be inclusive and flexible in developing and implementing payment initiatives, continuously monitor their impact, and rapidly disseminate them if they appear to be successful, in order to realize the potential for improved health care delivery and reduced spending, according to a new Health Affairs article by Commonwealth Fund researchers.

8 Jun 2010

First Edition: News coverage on Dems' health reform campaign; Medicare fees; Medical marijuana

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, done in collaboration with The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes: "Will health care reform reduce spending on health care too little? Or too much? Over the last several days, one respected authority made a version of the former argument while another made a version of the latter--offering a reminder of why reform is so complicated and why the new law, for all its imperfections, is still an important step forward" (Kaiser Health News).

7 Jun 2010

Guardian Home Care Holdings, Cardiocom provide home telehealth technology to patients with chronic illnesses

Guardian Home Care Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of home care and hospice services, announced it has entered into a business relationship with Cardiocom to provide advanced home telehealth technology to patients with chronic illnesses. Cardiocom is a developer, manufacturer and clinical service provider of award-winning telehealth solutions.

7 Jun 2010

ACG-South Florida recognizes Continucare as Emerging Growth Company of the Year

Continucare Corporation today announced that it was named the Emerging Growth Company of the Year by the South Florida Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. The award recognizes South Florida's outstanding companies that are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses.

7 Jun 2010

Humana sees strong future in Medicare; AHIP seeks more cost containment measures

The Louisville Courier Journal: "While private Medicare Advantage plans face funding pressure from Washington, Medicare 'is actually a very good place to be,' the chief executive of Louisville-based Humana said. 'The federal government "can be relied upon to pay their bills," Michael McCallister said at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions investor conference. 'Medicare is going to be a very big business in the future'"(6/5).

7 Jun 2010

Congress returns to controversy over COBRA, doctors' Medicare pay

CongressDaily reports that when members of Congress return to Washington Monday "they face a raft of unfinished business on tax 'extender' legislation. … The Senate will look to take up a $114.5 billion package of unemployment benefits, tax breaks, physician payments and other provisions this week amid calls from the right to scale it back, from the left to expand it and from businesses to mitigate its tax increases.

7 Jun 2010

Patient Home Monitoring completes acquisition of Stancap Holdings I and PHM DME Healthcare

Patient Home Monitoring, formerly International Health Partners Inc., a company focused on in-home cardiology healthcare services, today announced completion of the acquisition announced in October 2009 of all of the issued and outstanding shares of both Stancap Holdings I Limited and PHM DME Healthcare Inc. PHM also announced that it has completed a private placement of common shares for gross proceeds of $4,523,140.

5 Jun 2010

Research roundup: Evidence-based medicine consumer/expert divide; Pay for performance limitations; Improving community health centers

Health Affairs: Evidence That Consumers Are Skeptical About Evidence-Based Health Care - This survey of more than 1,500 patients with employer-based insurance found "there is a fundamental disconnect between the central tenets of evidence-based health care and the knowledge, values, and beliefs held by many consumers."

5 Jun 2010

Teva reports encouraging data from study assessing new lower-volume injection of Copaxone at 24th CMSC

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. today announced positive results from a study assessing a new lower-volume injection of Copaxone® (glatiramer acetate) containing the currently approved dose in half the injection volume.

5 Jun 2010

Sebelius defends Berwick for CMS post

The Wall Street Journal: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "Thursday rejected criticism of the Obama administration's nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid, saying Republicans were being unfair to Donald Berwick and she was confident he would be confirmed. Dr. Berwick, a Harvard pediatrician and health-quality advocate, has come under sharp attack from Republicans over his ties to Britain's national health system and past writings about how to make health care more efficient.

5 Jun 2010

Insurers, White House bound by need to make overhaul a success

Although the Obama administration and insurance industry had opposing views on aspects of the health bill that Congress eventually passed, they have now found their fortunes bound together as both work to make the overhaul successful, The New York Times reports. "The political fortunes of President Obama and Congressional Democrats depend on their ability to translate its promise into reality for voters, by reining in health costs and making insurance available to everyone at an affordable price.

5 Jun 2010

Medicare News and Research

DST Health Solutions' latest version of CareAnalyzer released

Premier health alliance honors Standard Register with Supplier Performance Award for 5th consecutive year

HHS Secretary statement on new study that underscores urgency for reducing HAIs in ASCs

Lapses in infection control common in ambulatory surgical centers

HealthGrades ranks top hospitals in patient experience

Pelosi releases statement on the benefits of Affordable Care Act for America's seniors

Patient Home Monitoring to trade under ticker symbol "PHM" on TSX Venture Exchange

Medicare bidding program will lead to 'suicide bidding', says Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers

UPMC Health Plan collaboration launches pediatric weight management program

CMI must implement payment initiatives to improve health care delivery, reduce spending: New article

First Edition: News coverage on Dems' health reform campaign; Medicare fees; Medical marijuana

Guardian Home Care Holdings, Cardiocom provide home telehealth technology to patients with chronic illnesses

ACG-South Florida recognizes Continucare as Emerging Growth Company of the Year

Humana sees strong future in Medicare; AHIP seeks more cost containment measures

Congress returns to controversy over COBRA, doctors' Medicare pay

Patient Home Monitoring completes acquisition of Stancap Holdings I and PHM DME Healthcare

Research roundup: Evidence-based medicine consumer/expert divide; Pay for performance limitations; Improving community health centers

Teva reports encouraging data from study assessing new lower-volume injection of Copaxone at 24th CMSC

Sebelius defends Berwick for CMS post

Insurers, White House bound by need to make overhaul a success

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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