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An unexpected ally for health reform: The restaurant industry

"While many small businesses are fighting to block passage of health care reform, restaurant owners have decided to work for something they can support," Politico reports.

8 Dec 2009

Brazil: The largest emerging pharmaceutical market for hepatitis C virus

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that at approximately $120 million, the hepatitis C virus drug market in Brazil is among the largest emerging pharmaceutical markets for the disease.

8 Dec 2009

Nightingale Informatix to provide its EMR system to Uptown Health Centre

Nightingale Informatix Corporation, an application service provider (ASP) of electronic medical record (EMR) software and related services, announced today that it has been selected to provide its electronic medical record (EMR) system hosted at eHealth Ontario to all three Uptown Health Centre locations.

8 Dec 2009

First Edition: December 8, 2009

Today's headlines highlight how Senate consideration of the health bill could become even messier with amendments pending on abortion funding restrictions and the reimportation of prescription drugs. All the while, Senate Dems continue to work to find common ground on the public option.

8 Dec 2009

New iPhone application to help find the top doctor

Have no fear during holiday travel this year — if you’re in a strange city, feel flu-like symptoms coming on and want to find a doctor, there’s a new iPhone App that will find one for you. The i Need a Doctor™ (www.ineedadoc.net) app is a joint venture between The Paladin Group LLC, the app developer, and two of the most respected doctor-rating services in the United States — the health care research organization Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. (www.castleconnolly.com) and the physician rating site DrScore (www.drscore.com).

8 Dec 2009

Consumer Watchdog: Opponents of health reform are fear-mongering relentlessly during Senate debate

Opponents of health reform are fear-mongering relentlessly during prolonged Senate debate, said Consumer Watchdog, spinning endlessly the lobbying messages of the insurance industry.

8 Dec 2009

Excess radiation exposure during CT perfusion imaging: FDA issues interim recommendations

As part of an ongoing investigation into cases of excess radiation during CT perfusion imaging of the brain, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today provided imaging facilities and practitioners with interim recommendations to help prevent additional problems.

8 Dec 2009

MicroPhage obtains CE mark to market MRSA/MSSA Blood Culture Test in Europe

MicroPhage announced today that it has obtained its CE Mark to market in Europe the first of its instrument-free, rapid tests based on its patented Bacteriophage Amplification technology.

8 Dec 2009

H1N1 virus produces pulmonary damage similar to earlier flu pandemics

In fatal cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza, the virus can damage cells throughout the respiratory airway, much like the viruses that caused the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemics, report researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

8 Dec 2009

Deaths from opioid use in Ontario have doubled, according to new study

Deaths from opioid use in Ontario have doubled-from 13.7 deaths per million residents in 1991 to 27.2 deaths per million residents in 2004-according to a new study led by physicians at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto.

8 Dec 2009

Group Health selects Avaya contact center solutions to improve patient service operations

Group Health Cooperative, one of the nation's largest consumer-governed, non-profit health care systems, selected Avaya contact center solutions to achieve greater efficiencies and faster service in their patient service operations.

8 Dec 2009

Opioids can be a safe and effective treatment for pain, shows study

A study published in the current issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) by Dhalla et al. has reviewed opioid-related deaths in Ontario from 1991 to 2004. The Canadian Pain Society (CPS) is very concerned that a small percentage of the population is misusing opioid analgesics, also called narcotic pain killers, resulting in harm and even death.

8 Dec 2009

U.S. bishops recommend the Senate to support Nelson-Hatch-Casey amendment

The U.S. bishops have voiced support for the Nelson-Hatch-Casey Amendment to the Senate health reform bill and have asked voters to back it.

8 Dec 2009

The big health reform issues bedeviling Harry Reid

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey reports on the outlook in the Senate during its weekend session and Majority Leader Harry Reid's continuing efforts to advance the cause.

8 Dec 2009

Workforce Alliance receives $134,790 grant to fund workforce training program

Workforce Alliance was awarded a $134,790 grant by the State of Florida to fund a workforce training program aimed at meeting the high need for skilled health care workers in Palm Beach County.

8 Dec 2009

Snowe becomes less prominent in health debate, McCain more partisan

News outlets report on some of the key players in the health care debate, including Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Colorado Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Democrats, and Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif.

8 Dec 2009

Multi-institutional team explores regenerative techniques for injured spinal cords

For more than 400 years, scientists have studied the amazing regenerative power of salamanders, trying to understand how these creatures routinely repair injuries that would usually leave humans and other mammals paralyzed - or worse.

8 Dec 2009

Small businesses recast reform role in hopes of health care cost relief

The small business lobby is retooling its image as it considers how health care reform will affect its standing, CQ Politics reports. For the National Federation of Independent Business the "health care overhaul, more than any other political issue, is how the trade association made its name.

8 Dec 2009

States struggle with budget cuts and Medicaid funding issues

News outlets report on a variety of health issues at the state level especially budget cuts and Medicaid funding issues.

7 Dec 2009

Senate Democrats seek agreement on public plan alternative

The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones: "Senate Democrats appear ... closer to reaching agreement on an alternative to a government-run health-insurance plan in health-care overhaul legislation, even as they dealt with disagreement within their party on abortion. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, (D., Mich.) told reporters Monday that Democrats are 'rapidly coming to a conclusion' on language within the bill, including a public-plan alternative."

7 Dec 2009