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Amedisys and Humana sign national agreement to provide better home healthcare services

Amedisys Inc., one of America's leading home health nursing companies, today announced that it has signed a national agreement with Humana Inc. to provide home health services to Humana’s Medicare Advantage members effective Jan. 1, 2010.

20 Jan 2010

Vanguard Health Systems to implement and offer Dossia Personal Health Record to its employees

Dossia, a leading Personal Health Record Platform provider, today announced that Vanguard Health Systems, a leading healthcare provider that joined the Dossia Founders Group in June 2009, is the second Dossia Founder to implement and offer the Dossia Personal Health Record to its employees.

20 Jan 2010

Besides LDL, Lp(a) can also increase risk for heart disease

LDL isn't the only "bad boy" when it comes to cholesterol. According to a new study, a lipoprotein in the bloodstream called Lp(a) — pronounced "LP little A" — can be labeled "bad cholesterol."

20 Jan 2010

Dynamic mapping may help in detecting links between diseases and environmental exposures

A team of researchers has developed a dynamic mapping tool to gain a more nuanced view of the links between diseases and environmental exposures. The application of the method is illustrated by a number of examples of associations between environmental exposures and Salmonella infections among people in the US age 65 and over in 2002.

20 Jan 2010

LaserBand chooses Premier Purchasing Partners as sole source provider for proprietary patient IDs

LaserBand LLC, a worldwide leader in patient identification wristbands, was awarded a contract with Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P. to be the sole source provider for proprietary patient identification (ID) bands and related products.

20 Jan 2010

Bederra in preliminary discussions to acquire Home Healthcare Company

Bederra Corporation, a Houston, Texas-based, diversified medical services provider announced today that it is in preliminary discussions to acquire a Home Healthcare Company.

20 Jan 2010

News reports question health reform provisions, forecast legal issues

News reports explore remaining issues in Congress' health overhaul negotiations.

20 Jan 2010

Medicare, consumers face challenges when trying to make choices based on value

News outlets report on concerns about Medicare costs, problems with fraud in health care around the world, and the difficulties consumers face when trying to find value in their health services.

20 Jan 2010

Corventis' NUVANT MCT System for detecting non-lethal arrhythmias receives FDA marketing clearance

Corventis, Inc., a developer of wireless cardiovascular solutions, announced today that it has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its NUVANT™ Mobile Cardiac Telemetry (MCT) System for the detection of non-lethal arrhythmias. In addition, the company announced that its Monitoring Center has been approved by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as an Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF). Corventis has also received approval to bill for services provided to patients with Medicare and several commercial insurers, paving the way for the NUVANT MCT System to be available across the United States.

19 Jan 2010

Molina Healthcare enters into definitive agreement to acquire HIM business of Unisys

Molina Healthcare, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Health Information Management (HIM) business of Unisys Corporation.

19 Jan 2010

Bariatric procedures in Medicare population are associated with improved outcomes

Following a rule expanding coverage of weight-loss surgery under Medicare, bariatric procedures in the Medicare population were centralized to a smaller number of certified centers, were more likely to be minimally invasive and were associated with improved outcomes, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

19 Jan 2010

Psoriasis therapy costs outpace inflation

Findings from a cost model suggest that expenses for systemic psoriasis therapy appear to be increasing at a faster rate than inflation, and newer biologically derived treatments are more expensive than traditional systemic therapies, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

19 Jan 2010

Patients have few barriers to affordable health care, efficient care in post-Katrina primary care clinics

A new Commonwealth Fund survey of safety-net clinic patients in New Orleans finds that, despite being disproportionately low-income and uninsured, these patients had fewer problems affording care and fewer instances of medical debt and inefficient care than most U.S. adults.

18 Jan 2010

Medpac recommendation: Adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments to recoup overpayments

Modern Healthcare: "The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is recommending that Congress further adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments over three years to recover overpayments that have resulted from recent documentation and coding changes." MedPAC also "called for the same recommendation as last year: to increase payment rates for inpatient and outpatient hospital services at the full rate of inflation, concurrent with the implementation of a quality incentives program.

18 Jan 2010

Missouri best in using federal aid to combat Medicaid fraud, other states fight over federal rules

The Kansas City Star reports that Missouri led the country in 2008 in efficiency in using federal dollars to combat Medicaid fraud. "The state recovered almost $29.8 million in 2008, the most recent year for which comparative data are available, while receiving about $1.6 million in federal Medicaid fraud grants. That equates to $18.81 recovered for every dollar received — 43 cents better than the next-best state" (Noble, 1/12).

18 Jan 2010

As health reform win seems close, Reid struggling in Nevada re-election bid

The Wall Street Journal: "In the nation's capital, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is on the brink of pushing through a national health program that Democrats rank alongside the creation of Social Security and Medicare.

18 Jan 2010

Obama signals interest in reducing the protections for biologic drugs

Lobbyists for generic biologic drugmakers are fighting to undercut a provision in the proposed health overhaul that would protect brand-name pharmaceutical companies from lower-cost, generic competition over new products for 12 years, the Associated Press reports. The generic companies have friends in high places: "White House officials and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, are trying to reduce the curbs against competition to 10 years or less" (Fram, 1/14).

18 Jan 2010

Health care fraud is big business

Health care fraud has become a multi-billion dollar industry - up to $100 billion a year, according to estimates - for scammers and organized crime gangs, CNNMoney reports. In recent months health care identity theft has topped the list of crimes, a con in which criminals to tap real patient information to rack up fake charges.

18 Jan 2010

Minnesota County says state plan to cover costs of health care for the needy is unfair

In Minnesota, Hennepin County officials are saying a plan to charge counties extra to "cover health care for their neediest residents would have an unfair impact on the state's largest county and biggest public hospital."

18 Jan 2010

'Cadillac' tax deal in the works

"Unions tentatively struck a deal Tuesday to exempt collectively bargained healthcare plans from a tax on high-cost plans expected to be used to help raise revenue for the healthcare overhaul," CongressDaily reports.

18 Jan 2010

Medicare News and Research

Amedisys and Humana sign national agreement to provide better home healthcare services

Vanguard Health Systems to implement and offer Dossia Personal Health Record to its employees

Besides LDL, Lp(a) can also increase risk for heart disease

Dynamic mapping may help in detecting links between diseases and environmental exposures

LaserBand chooses Premier Purchasing Partners as sole source provider for proprietary patient IDs

Bederra in preliminary discussions to acquire Home Healthcare Company

News reports question health reform provisions, forecast legal issues

Medicare, consumers face challenges when trying to make choices based on value

Corventis' NUVANT MCT System for detecting non-lethal arrhythmias receives FDA marketing clearance

Molina Healthcare enters into definitive agreement to acquire HIM business of Unisys

Bariatric procedures in Medicare population are associated with improved outcomes

Psoriasis therapy costs outpace inflation

Patients have few barriers to affordable health care, efficient care in post-Katrina primary care clinics

Medpac recommendation: Adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments to recoup overpayments

Missouri best in using federal aid to combat Medicaid fraud, other states fight over federal rules

As health reform win seems close, Reid struggling in Nevada re-election bid

Obama signals interest in reducing the protections for biologic drugs

Health care fraud is big business

Minnesota County says state plan to cover costs of health care for the needy is unfair

'Cadillac' tax deal in the works

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