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Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center honored with HealthGrades' Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence

Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center has been identified by HealthGrades as a 2010 recipient of the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence. HealthGrades awards this title to facilities that rank in the top five percent in overall clinical performance.

30 Jan 2010

Single payer bill passes Calif. Senate; Other states consider smaller health care changes

California's state Senate Thursday voted for a bill creating a single-payer health system Thursday.

30 Jan 2010

Vanguard Health Systems closes $950M 8% Senior Notes offering

Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. ("Vanguard") announced the closing today of the private placement offering of $950.0 million aggregate principal amount of 8% Senior Notes due 2018 (the "Notes") co-issued by Vanguard's subsidiaries, Vanguard Health Holding Company II, LLC ("VHS Holdco II") and Vanguard Holding Company II, Inc. ("VHS Holdco II Inc." and, together with VHS Holdco II, the "Issuers").

30 Jan 2010

Republicans tout alternative health care reform plans, react to Dems

Following President Barack Obama's challenge to "let me know" if they had better ideas for a health overhaul, Rep. John Boehner, the House Republican leader, said that their plan, rejected last November by the Democratic majority in the House, would satisfy Obama's goals to "bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured" and improve Medicare, BusinessWeek reports. "The Republican ideas ... may have a bigger role in defining party differences this election year than in crafting a compromise on the health bill. That's because the gap between the two approaches is so wide."

30 Jan 2010

Healthcare Services Group declares cash dividend

Healthcare Services Group, Inc.: Our Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $ .21 per common share, payable on March 5, 2010 to shareholders of record at the close of business February 12, 2010. This dividend represents a 5% increase over the dividend declared for the 2009 third quarter and a 24% increase over the 2008 same period payment.

30 Jan 2010

White House wants to scale up war on Medicare fraud

The White House plans to ask Congress to increase funding for fighting Medicare fraud by 80 percent, in hopes of curbing billions of dollars in abuses, Dow Jones Newswires/NASDAQ reports. Already, "The administration has stepped up enforcement and prevention efforts targeting Medicare claims. Rather than rely on tips, it has begun combining Medicare claims data into a single, searchable database, making it easier to pinpoint suspicious claims among the more than $1 billion spent on such claims each day" (Burns, 1/28).

30 Jan 2010

Today's opinions and editorials

By not acknowledging America's concerns about health reform Wednesday night, the president appeared inflexible and incapable of real compromise (Dr. Marc Siegel, 1/28).

30 Jan 2010

Claims by Obama, leading Republican gain fact-checker attention

"Proponents of reform have lost control over the message because people think it's too complicated to understand. Confused about important details of the proposals, the public is susceptible to misrepresentations by opponents," CBS News reports.

29 Jan 2010

First Edition: January 29, 2010

Today's news highlights the Democrats' continuing struggle to find a way forward on health reform.

29 Jan 2010

National summit on coordinated effort to fight health care fraud

Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today joined private sector leaders, law enforcement personnel and health care experts for a landmark National Summit on Health Care Fraud. The summit is the first national gathering on health care fraud between law enforcement and the private and public sectors and is part of the Obama Administration's coordinated effort to fight health care fraud.

29 Jan 2010

Lebanon Cardiology Associates and The Good Samaritan Hospital team up to implement hypothermia protocol for improved cardiac care

Lebanon Cardiology Associates teamed with The Good Samaritan Hospital to implement one of the top 15% performing emergency cardiac catheterization teams treating heart attacks in the United States.

29 Jan 2010

ACP urges Congress to reach agreement on comprehensive health reform legislation

The American College of Physicians (ACP) today urged Congressional leaders to "reach agreement on a legislative pathway to provide affordable care to all Americans and ensure that they have access to primary care physicians and other specialties facing shortages."

29 Jan 2010

Thoratec reports revenues of $373.9M for fiscal 2009

Thoratec Corporation, a world leader in device-based mechanical circulatory support therapies to save, support and restore failing hearts, said today that a 30 percent growth in revenues from its Cardiovascular Division in fiscal 2009 led to a 19 percent increase in total 2009 revenues versus those in fiscal 2008.

29 Jan 2010

Annual spring conference to focus on behavioral health services for children, youth and young adults

Developing comprehensive behavioral health services for children, youth, young adults and families will be the subject of the annual spring conference of Community Care, a nonprofit behavioral health managed care organization that is part of UPMC and based in Pittsburgh.

29 Jan 2010

ECRI Institute publishes Health Devices guidance article for hospitals

Electronic health records (EHRs) are the future of medical record keeping. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) includes incentive payments for hospitals that adopt an EHR, but the timetable for implementation is especially tight.

29 Jan 2010

Patients with hearing, vision and speech disabilities to be provided with auxiliary aids and services

Patients with hearing, vision, and speech disabilities, who receive care at University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics, will be screened and provided with auxiliary aids and services as required by federal law under a Resolution Agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

29 Jan 2010

AHRQ and American College Of Cardiology team up to study risks and benefits of ICDs

A $3.5 million research project that will study the long-term benefits and risks of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) in patients at risk of death from ventricular fibrillation will be supported by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the American College of Cardiology, the two groups announced today.

29 Jan 2010

One in five nursing homes receive poor quality ratings, analysis finds

USA Today: "One in five of the nation's 15,700 nursing homes have consistently received poor ratings for overall quality, a USA Today analysis of new government data finds. More than a quarter-million patients live in homes given another set of low scores within the past year, according to data released today by Medicare, which first released the star ratings of the nation's nursing homes in late 2008.

29 Jan 2010

Obama appeals for health reform despite recent setbacks

The New York Times reports that "after spending 2009 emphasizing that a health care overhaul was his top domestic priority, Mr. Obama gave it much less prominence in his [State of the Union] address. He did not mention it until more than half an hour in — a sign of how imperiled the bill has become."

29 Jan 2010

NovaSom Diagnostic System approved for diagnostic evaluation of adults with OSA

Some 18-20 million Americans are at risk for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and of those, only 5 to 10 percent have been diagnosed. Studies prove that fatality is a major risk of undiagnosed and untreated OSA; however, once detected, OSA can be readily and successfully treated.

29 Jan 2010

Medicare News and Research

Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center honored with HealthGrades' Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence

Single payer bill passes Calif. Senate; Other states consider smaller health care changes

Vanguard Health Systems closes $950M 8% Senior Notes offering

Republicans tout alternative health care reform plans, react to Dems

Healthcare Services Group declares cash dividend

White House wants to scale up war on Medicare fraud

Today's opinions and editorials

Claims by Obama, leading Republican gain fact-checker attention

First Edition: January 29, 2010

National summit on coordinated effort to fight health care fraud

Lebanon Cardiology Associates and The Good Samaritan Hospital team up to implement hypothermia protocol for improved cardiac care

ACP urges Congress to reach agreement on comprehensive health reform legislation

Thoratec reports revenues of $373.9M for fiscal 2009

Annual spring conference to focus on behavioral health services for children, youth and young adults

ECRI Institute publishes Health Devices guidance article for hospitals

Patients with hearing, vision and speech disabilities to be provided with auxiliary aids and services

AHRQ and American College Of Cardiology team up to study risks and benefits of ICDs

One in five nursing homes receive poor quality ratings, analysis finds

Obama appeals for health reform despite recent setbacks

NovaSom Diagnostic System approved for diagnostic evaluation of adults with OSA

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