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White House deal with drug industry sparks Democratic revolt

ongressional Democrats are challenging the Obama administration's deal with the pharmaceutical industry to limit how much it would cut prices to contribute to a health care overhaul.

7 Aug 2009

Doctors create program to help providers adjust to rural work settings

group of doctors has created a post-doctorate program to provide rural communities with a pipeline of providers, The Iowa Independent reports.

7 Aug 2009

Reform could strain community health centers

While the health care reform debate rages on Capitol Hill, sitting just a mile away is the Walker-Jones Health Center in Northeast Washington, one of about 1,200 federally-qualified community health centers across the country that provide free and reduced-cost care to millions of Americans.

7 Aug 2009

Guided care reduces cost of health care for seniors with chronic conditions

The nation's sickest and most expensive patients need fewer health care resources and cost insurers less when they are closely supported by a nurse-physician primary care team that tracks their health and offers regular support, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

7 Aug 2009

West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency awards overpayment project to HMS

HMS today announced that it had been awarded a contract by the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency (WV PEIA) to perform provider credit balance reviews. The West Virginia Children's Health Insurance Program and AccessWV, the State's high-risk insurance coverage, will be joining with PEIA for these activities.

6 Aug 2009

Percutaneous vertebroplasty exposed as ineffective

A world-first study involving Monash University and the Cabrini Research Institute in Melbourne has revealed the injection of bone cement into broken vertebrae is not an effective treatment for patients suffering painful osteoporotic fractures.

6 Aug 2009

Senators move closer to centrist health reform bill

Lawmakers working on a bipartisan health care reform bill in the Senate Wednesday signed on some centrist Democrats who believe they could support the reform and sell it to constituents back home over the recess, The New York Times reports.

6 Aug 2009

Physician practices help Michigan become a leading adopter of e-prescribing

Hundreds of physician practices in Michigan have teamed with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to help a movement that has made the state one of the national leaders of e-prescribing.

6 Aug 2009

Obama to drug industry: We still have a deal

"Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion," The New York Times reports.

6 Aug 2009

Insurance industry speaks up on health reform

The insurance industry expresses what they want to get out of health care reform as efforts progress and attacks against them increase.

6 Aug 2009

Congressman’s visit to The American Legion beneficial to veterans

During a recent visit to The American Legion headquarters here, U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., said that the maintenance of high quality health care for veterans is at the very top of his list of priorities. Within a week, Filner, who is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, has demonstrated his advocacy and response to Legion concerns by introducing legislation long championed by the Legion that would materially aid Medicare-eligible vets.

6 Aug 2009

Checking in with health insurers' chief lobbyist Karen Ignagni

This has become an especially rough-and-tumble time for Karen Ignagni, the health industry’s chief lobbyist. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has denounced insurers as “villains,” and President Obama has criticized the industry for its “windfall profits.” Earlier this year, Ignagni pledged to work with Obama and Congress to pass major health care legislation this year, but relations have cooled as the White House and congressional Democrats have begun citing the industry’s practices as a top reason to pass an overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

6 Aug 2009

Consumer Reports ranks five affiliates of National Surgical Hospitals as "best in state"

National Surgical Hospitals today announced that five of its specialty hospitals achieved the highest rankings among all hospitals in their respective states in the Consumer Reports' Patient Experience of Care Ratings that were published on August 3, 2009.

6 Aug 2009

Neurosurgeons support new healthcare reform bill

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) announced their support for many of the provisions contained in H.R. 3400, the “Empowering Patients First Act,” which was unveiled in Congress last week.

6 Aug 2009

Seniors defend Medicare Advantage plans

USA Today reports that Medicare Advantage, which allows seniors to buy Medicare coverage through private insurance companies, could provide one of the largest spending cuts for Congress to pay for an overhaul of the health care system though "President Obama has called (it) a 'wasteful' subsidy for the health insurance industry

6 Aug 2009

Even while considering major overhaul, Democrats expand government role in public health

"As if hedging their bets on health reform, Democrats are emphasizing smaller but still significant health-related investments this year, from food safety and community health centers to a greater emphasis on rooting out abuses in Medicare and Medicaid," Politico reports.

6 Aug 2009

Checking in with health insurers' chief lobbyist Karen Ignagni

6 Aug 2009

Medicare proposes capping home health care agency payments

The Miami Herald reports: "Fueled by massive fraud, home healthcare providers in Miami-Dade County are raking in more Medicare money than their colleagues in the rest of the country combined -- thanks to bogus billings for patients with diabetes, authorities say.

5 Aug 2009

Less is more when it comes to blood transfusions

A new study suggests that blood transfusions for hospitalized cardiac patients should be a last resort because they double the risk of infection and increase by four times the risk of death.

5 Aug 2009

Health care reform must avoid conflicts-of-interest

As President Obama and Congress weigh changes in the nation’s health care system they must avoid creating a system where physicians are financially motivated to pressure patients into mandated treatments that conflict with their values and needs, two Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center physicians warn.

5 Aug 2009