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Annual EUROECHO Congress to showcase development in ultrasound diagnostics for cardiovascular disease

The European Association of Echocardiography expects to welcome over 3,000 international delegates to its annual EUROECHO Congress, to be held this year in Copenhagen between 8 and 11 December 2010.

17 Nov 2010

Maine has most improved health care quality; Kansas needs more dentists

Maine Public Broadcasting Network News: "Nationwide, Maine is most improved when it comes to health care quality, according to 2009 statistics from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In one year, Maine jumped from 12th place to fourth best in categories ranging from cancer to patient safety, from maternal and child health to long-term care.

17 Nov 2010

Researchers explore interplay between pain and anxiety

Disability from chronic pain in adolescents can be exacerbated by high levels of anxiety, according to research reported The Journal of Pain, the peer review publication of the American Pain Society.

17 Nov 2010

Changes to flexible spending accounts; High co-pays prompt abandoned prescriptions

Minnesota Public Radio: "[T]he federal health care reform law is cutting back on what [flexible spending] accounts will cover and how much workers can put into them. … These two changes are designed to raise more tax revenue to help pay for insuring another 32 million Americans beginning in 2014.

16 Nov 2010

Color of tablet appears to be integral component for OTC product

According to recent research the color, shape, taste and even name of a tablet or pill can have an effect on how patients feel about their medication. Choose an appropriate combination and the placebo effect gives the pill a boost, improves outcomes and might even reduce side effects. Now, researchers at the University of Bombay, New Mumbai, India, have surveyed users of over-the-counter (OTC) medication to find out just how much the color of a tablet influences patient choice.

16 Nov 2010

Size of hippocampus may be linked to early dementia

The size of the part of the brain known as the hippocampus may be linked to future dementia, reveals a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

16 Nov 2010

New 3M Littmann auscultation device can transfer digitally captured patient sounds

With new technology announced today by 3M, a doctor in Minnesota can in real-time detect a murmur in the heart of a child in rural Arizona. Through the new 3M Littmann Scope-to-Scope Tele-Auscultation System, clinicians can transfer digitally captured patient sounds in real-time, from one stethoscope to another, no matter the distance.

16 Nov 2010

Employees will see changes in 2011 health benefits

"Workers who have received their annual enrollment packets for insurance benefits" should expect slight changes to their plans this year due to the health care overhaul. Most employees can expect to pay more next year, due in part to the 1 to 2 percent increase in insurance costs brought about by the law.

16 Nov 2010

Medicare open enrollment period starts today

Coming changes to Medicare will benefit some recipients but will make coverage more expensive for people with higher incomes. Thanks in part to this year's health care overhaul, everything from benefits and enrollment rules to the number of choices available will be affected beginning Jan. 1.

16 Nov 2010

Medicare's annual open-enrollment period starts in Idaho

Today marks an important day for roughly 15% of Idaho's population, it's the start of Medicare's annual open-enrollment period, the only time of the year beneficiaries can drop or change prescription drug and health care plans for 2011.

16 Nov 2010

Physician-owned hospitals gear up to fight health law restrictions

Doctors are challenging provisions of the new health law that seemed to spell the demise of physician-owned specialty hospitals, a fast-growing phenomenon in states such as Texas where hospital growth is largely unregulated.

15 Nov 2010

World's first remote heart procedure using robotic arm alongside 3-D mapping

The world's first remote heart procedure, using a robotic arm alongside 3-D mapping, is due to take place at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester.

15 Nov 2010

Prolonged use of cell phone increases nickel allergy

Chatting endlessly on your cell phone can lead to an allergic reaction to the nickel in your phone, according to allergists at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in Phoenix, Nov. 11-16. From cosmetics to jewelry, body piercings to tattoos, allergies can lurk in unlikely places, allergists say.

15 Nov 2010

Study shows patient-specific factors delay skin cancer treatment

If detected early, nonmelanoma skin cancers (primarily basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the two most common forms of skin cancer) can be easily treated. But when left untreated, these skin cancers can grow and even spread, causing considerably more harm than if they were treated upon initial detection. Now, a new study finds that denial is the top reason why patients delay seeking treatment for skin cancer and shows that this delay results in larger, more serious, skin cancers.

15 Nov 2010

State roundup: Calif. speeds ahead on health reform; Nebraska abortion provider expanding clinics; Ky. hospital merger

California has moved quickly to implement key provisions of the federal health care overhaul law, including a health benefits exchange, but the exchange and California's plans could be vulnerable as House Republicans threaten to starve the federal health program of funding.

15 Nov 2010

States and providers threaten to drop Medicaid; shortage of providers threatens Medicaid managed-care networks

After Republicans in the Texas legislature floated a radical cost-saving proposal to opt out of Medicaid last week, experts are trying to determine how serious they are, and whether other states are likely to follow suit, Kaiser Health News reports.

15 Nov 2010

Research on E.Coli bacteria could help develop new vaccine for urinary tract infection

Urinary tract infections are a painful, recurring problem for millions of women. They are also getting more dangerous as bacteria develop resistance to the most common treatments.

15 Nov 2010

Research roundup: Doctors' industry ties; Patient safety and residents' hours; Designing a medical home

Archives of Internal Medicine: Physician Professionalism And Changes in Physician-Industry Relationships From 2004 to 2009 -"During the last 6 years a number of efforts have aimed to reduce, and in some cases eliminate, certain types of physician-industry relationships (PIRs)," including policies "that forbid physicians from accepting samples and receiving food and beverages in offices, limiting company representatives' access to physicians' offices and clinical areas, and banning faculty participation in speaker bureaus and other forms of promotional activity," write the authors.

12 Nov 2010

Changes to flexible spending accounts raise concerns

NPR reports on the upcoming change to flexible spending accounts, when "you'll no longer be able to set aside pretax dollars in that account to use for medicines bought without a doctor's prescription," and looks at the "loophole" that may allow consumers to use FSA dollars on over-the-counter medication if they obtain a prescription for it.

12 Nov 2010