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Pharmacists can help solve the health care puzzle by reducing overall health care costs

Choosing your pharmacist as carefully as you choose your doctor is becoming more and more important to overall health. In the United States, we spend 53% more per person on health care than any other industrialized nation, yet our patients do not fair any better.

13 Oct 2009

Virginia Health Information releases HMO quality and satisfaction reports

Virginia Health Information (VHI), a nonprofit health information company, reports HMO quality and satisfaction reports at www.vhi.org.

13 Oct 2009

First Edition: October 13, 2009

All eyes are watching for the outcome of today's Senate Finance Committee health bill vote. Will the measure pass? How will Sen. Olympia Snowe vote? And what about that insurance industry report?

13 Oct 2009

Psoriasis patients taking immunosuppressive drugs at increased risk of H1N1 flu viruses

People with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis who are taking biologic or non-biologic immunosuppressive medications should receive the inactived forms of both seasonal influenza and H1N1 (swine flu) vaccines as soon as possible, according to a recommendation from the National Psoriasis Foundation.

13 Oct 2009

Campaign to address rising health care costs

What if you could not find the price for anything at the grocery store, even the most basic items? What if the check-out clerk offered to mail you a bill, but could not tell you what your total amount would be?

13 Oct 2009

Renowned physicians encourage women to go for regular breast examinations

Doctors Ritu Chopra and Andrew Ordon, respected physicians with practices in Rancho Mirage and Beverly Hills, are encouraging Coachella Valley women to obtain regular breast exams and to be aware of their general breast health.

13 Oct 2009

Women abused by intimate partners suffer higher rates of medical maladies

Women abused by intimate partners suffer higher rates of a wide variety of doctor-diagnosed medical maladies compared to women who were never abused, according to a new study of more than 3,000 women.

13 Oct 2009

News outlets examine efforts to improve sanitation worldwide

The Washington Post examines how the "No Toilet, No Bride" campaign in India is helping to increase access to home toilets in rural India. According to the newspaper, "About 665 million people in India -- about half the population -- lack access to latrines." Yet, since the campaign launched two years ago, "1.4 million toilets have been built here in the northern state of Haryana, some with government funds, according to the state's health department" - a movement that women's rights activists hail as "a revolution."

12 Oct 2009

VirtualHealth Technologies, Wound Care Innovations enter licensing agreement to use Cifra healthcare platform

VirtualHealth Technologies, Inc., a provider of secure technology for electronic health records and connectivity for web-based healthcare solutions, announced today that its subsidiary Secure eHealth has entered into an agreement with Wound Care Innovations, LLC, a subsidiary of Wound Management Technologies Inc., to use its Cifra secure healthcare platform.

12 Oct 2009

Physician shortage worries rural communities but gets little attention in health bills

Garfield Memorial Hospital in Pomeroy, Wash., has been struggling to make ends meet for years - through patient revenues and property taxes that helped cover a $70,000 roof repair - the Seattle Times reports. Many rural hospitals face similar problems, and in the case of Pomeroy, if the hospital closed, residents would have to travel miles to find other choices.

12 Oct 2009

'Modern' patients help drive up health care costs

Patients who request specific medications and procedures, even though they may not need them, help to drive up health care costs, NPR reports.

12 Oct 2009

State representatives to announce patient-centered plan for health care reform

On Tuesday, October 13, in response to national calls for an alternative to Obamacare, representatives from 33 state think tanks will announce their "patient-centered" plan for health care reform.

12 Oct 2009

First Edition: October 12, 2009

With the Senate Finance Committee scheduled to vote Tuesday on its sweeping health overhaul measure, the insurance industry is launching its attack.

12 Oct 2009

New law lets injured or ill college students keep parents' health insurance

A new federal law took effect Friday, allowing seriously ill or injured college students to keep their parents' insurance for up to a year while they take time off from school.

12 Oct 2009

Common myths about children's eye health and the medical reality behind them

Many parents grew up with medical adages or advice that have since been proven by scientists to be incorrect or outdated. Here are five common myths about children's eye health and the medical reality behind them, prepared by the physicians at The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

12 Oct 2009

Caring for Alzheimer's patients proves costly

Newsday reports that the high cost of caring for Alzheimer's patients "can easily deplete even the deepest bank account. Because the disease lasts so long - anywhere from two to 20 years, depending on the stage at diagnosis - and because the type of care needed often falls beyond the scope of government health care programs, families find themselves scrambling to find the money needed to maintain care for their loved one."

9 Oct 2009

Arizona clinic stops accepting Medicare, some Penn. Medicare Advantage plans cancelled

The Arizona Republic reports: "One of the Mayo Clinic's two family-medicine practices in Arizona soon will stop accepting Medicare, leaving thousands of patients to pay out of pocket for routine doctor's visits or find a new physician." The changes go in effect on Jan. 1 and apply to primary-care services at the Mayo Clinic Family Medicine-Arrowhead.

9 Oct 2009

Patients sue insurers for denying transplants

The Los Angeles Times has a two-part series on patients who have sued their insurers for denying potentially life-saving transplants.

9 Oct 2009

SCAA to host Survivor Celebration event to mark SCA Awareness Month

A nationwide gathering of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) survivors will mark SCA Awareness Month with a Survivor Celebration on Friday, October 9th at 7 p.m. in Chicago. This survivor event, hosted by the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association (SCAA) at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, 9300 Bryn Mawr Avenue in Rosemont, is part of three-day program that will make up the organization’s annual meeting.

9 Oct 2009

AMHN to air new healthcare video segments of Saddle Ranch Productions on its network

AMHN, Inc., parent company of America’s Minority Health Network, Inc., announced today that Saddle Ranch Productions, Inc. ("Saddle Ranch Productions") completed new healthcare video segments to be immediately aired on its network.

9 Oct 2009