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Tough economy adds stress to hospitals; Community health centers help fill gaps

Hospitals get mixed marks while many suffer from the effects of the struggling economy. Meanwhile, community health centers increasingly provide more care and help fill in health care gaps.

4 Feb 2010

Axway and Anakam to provide security and identity management offering for electronic health records

Axway, the Business Interaction Networks company, today announced a partnership with Anakam to provide a security and identity management offering for secure access and transmission of electronic health records (EHR) and personal health records (PHR).

3 Feb 2010

Lobbying, ads slow down on health reform

"Drugmakers, business organizations and other interest groups in the health care battle have dialed down expensive lobbying campaigns as they assess how last month's stunning Republican capture of a Senate seat from Massachusetts has altered Washington's political landscape...," The Associated Press reports.

3 Feb 2010

Lawmakers sound off on President's budget and health costs

While White House Budget Director Peter Orszag testified on Capitol Hill about President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget, some members expressed concern about health costs, McClatchy reports.

3 Feb 2010

AP offers advice on choosing Medicare Advantage plans

Consumers can switch from original Medicare plans to Medicare Advantage plans until March 31 and to help them understand the options, The Associated Press offers answers to frequent questions about Medicare Advantage plans.

3 Feb 2010

Innovative discharge program reduces congestive heart failure readmissions

An innovative discharge program developed by Saddleback Memorial Medical Center combining coordination of hospital and community resources, strong patient education and the IDEAL LIFE Bluetooth-enabled wireless remote health monitoring system has helped to reduce congestive heart failure (CHF) readmissions by 50 percent

3 Feb 2010

Banner Health to use Premier's Web-based labor benchmarking solution

Banner Health is expanding its relationship with the Premier healthcare alliance to include Premier’s OperationsAdvisor® (OA) Web-based labor benchmarking solution.

3 Feb 2010

Cognosante and Fox Systems announce merger

Fox Systems, a leader in Medicaid and HIPAA, and Cognosante, a leader in health information interoperability, today announced that the two companies have merged effective January 1, 2010. The combined company will be known as Cognosante, LLC, with Fox Systems operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cognosante.

3 Feb 2010

U.S. government to reimburse American hospitals that treat airlifted Haitian patients

"The federal government announced on Monday that it would reimburse American hospitals who treat Haitian earthquake victims with life-threatening injuries, making it possible for more hospitals in states outside Florida to consider taking those patients," the New York Times reports.

3 Feb 2010

Amedisys acquires De Queen Home Health Agency in Arkansas

Amedisys, Inc., one of America’s leading home health and hospice companies, today announced that it has acquired De Queen Home Health Agency located in De Queen, Arkansas, a Permit of Approval state.

2 Feb 2010

Obama's budget includes a tempered vision of health reform

Democrats' health overhaul efforts are stalled in Congress, but President Obama's 2011 budget offers a "modest" back-up plan, the Associated Press reports. "The budget released Monday contains lots of respectable ideas to squeeze savings, expand coverage and improve quality, but no ambitious change that launches the nation on a path to health care for all."

2 Feb 2010

Legislators set sights on temporary Medicare 'Doc fix,' again

Politico: "Doctors and seniors lobbying to stave off looming annual Medicare cuts have won a reprieve of sorts but are still pushing for a permanent fix. The Senate on Thursday passed so-called pay-go legislation that would require Congress to pay for much of its future spending without adding to the deficit, but it exempted $82 billion from the requirement to prevent reductions to doctors' Medicare reimbursement rates." The move could prevent five years of cuts, the longest such stretch lawmakers would have approved since 2002. "The cuts stem from a 1997 balanced budget bill" (Frates, 2/2).

2 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 2, 2010

Today's health policy headlines focus on highlights of President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request and how it treats health-related programs. Meanwhile, in the background, health reform chatter continues.

2 Feb 2010

Additional components of NDMS activated to help U.S. hospitals provide care to Haiti earthquake survivors

As part of the ongoing medical response to the Haiti earthquake, USAID, the agency coordinating the U.S. Government response, announced today that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has activated additional components of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) to help U.S. hospitals provide care to critically ill survivors.

2 Feb 2010

Consumer Watchdog outlines key proposals for expanding coverage and curbing insurance company abuses

Consumer Watchdog issued a warning today in a letter to President Obama and Congressional leaders against the health reform fallback proposals of some Congressional moderates, including deregulated national insurance plans and malpractice restrictions, calling them "the wish list of the insurance and medical industries."

2 Feb 2010

Some sectors of health care industry are booming

The Sacramento Bee: "The gleaming new tower at Mercy San Juan Medical Center bustles with patients, nurses and doctors. ... Opened a month ago, Mercy's tower was cited in a recent report ranking Sacramento as the nation's fastest growing market for health care jobs. The six-story project added 110 beds and nearly 200 new jobs to the hospital. ... Already, the health care sector accounts for a fifth of the region's payroll." That could be poised to grow: "Aging baby boomers, coupled with the region's population growth, virtually guarantee that the demand for health services won't diminish" (Caina Calvan, 2/1).

2 Feb 2010

Health and Human Services would get boost under Obama's 2011 budget plan

News outlets report on how Health and Human Services fares under Obama's 2011 budget request.

1 Feb 2010

Congress faces one-month deadline on doctor payment fix

The doctor payment fix and several marketplace issues, such as insurance red tape and malpractice cases, continue to loom while health care reform efforts stall.

1 Feb 2010

Humana announces consolidated revenues of $7.63 billion for fourth-quarter 2009

Humana Inc. today reported diluted earnings per common share (EPS) for the quarter ended December 31, 2009 (4Q09) of $1.48, as compared to $1.03 per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 (4Q08), reflecting lower PDP claim expenses in 4Q09 than in 4Q08.

1 Feb 2010

Vanguard Health Systems announces expiry of tender offers

Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. ("Vanguard") announced today that in connection with the previously announced tender offers and consent solicitations (the "Tender Offers" and "Consent Solicitations") by Vanguard Health Holding Company II, LLC ("VHS Holdco II") and Vanguard Health Holding Company I, LLC ("VHS Holdco I"), the extended early tender period in respect of each of the Tender Offers expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 29, 2010 (the "New Consent Payment Deadline").

30 Jan 2010