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HumanaOne expands individual Short Term health insurance product

In these difficult economic times, it is not unusual for people to find themselves temporarily without insurance, through no fault of their own. To fill this need, HumanaOne®, the individual health arm of Humana, is expanding its individual Short Term health insurance product to five additional states.

9 Jan 2010

Tech Roundup: Virtual visits, EMR loans and a new e-prescribing tool

The New York Times: "Telemedicine has the potential to improve quality of care by allowing clinicians in one 'control center' to monitor, consult and even care for and perform procedures on patients in multiple locations," Doctor and Patient columnist Pauline Chen writes. "A rural primary care practitioner who sees a patient with a rare skin lesion, for example, can get expert consultation from a dermatologist at a center hundreds of miles away."

9 Jan 2010

Hurdles to clear in the Senate's reform endgame, and possible 2010 consequences

President Barack Obama met Thursday with Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the chairmen who steered the Senate's version of the health overhaul through the finance and health committees, Roll Call reports. It is one sign of Obama becoming an increasingly active participant as the debate nears its endgame (Drucker and Koffler, 1/7).

8 Jan 2010

Health policy research roundup: Long-term care, diabetes disparities, health IT

Annals of Internal Medicine: Cultural Competency Training and Performance Reports to Improve Diabetes Care for Black Patients - In this study, researchers measure the effects cultural competency training and performance training for physicians has on the clinical outcomes for black patients with diabetes.

8 Jan 2010

About 3 million lose health coverage in California

About 3 million poor Californians lost health benefits or access to health care, and thousands more lost their jobs due to state budget cuts imposed six months ago, according to a report released Thursday.

8 Jan 2010

Centene announces financial guidance for the year 2010

Centene Corporation announced today its 2010 financial guidance. As previously disclosed in our December 10, 2009 press release, the discussions below reflect anticipated start-up costs associated with the new Mississippi contract, announced pharmacy carve-outs in Indiana and Ohio, and the impact of January 2010 rate changes; but do not reflect the potential impact of federal healthcare reform.

8 Jan 2010

New Jersey nonprofit bucks the trend of skyrocketing health insurance costs

One New Jersey nonprofit is bucking the trend of skyrocketing health insurance costs while Congress wrangles with health care reform. Through an entrepreneurial business model, self-insurance and the use of a Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA), Community Access Unlimited (CAU) has limited increases in health insurance costs to just 3.3 percent in each of the last five years and saved more than $1 million during that time. CAU will have a 0.0 percent increase in 2010 and will expand coverage.

8 Jan 2010

Growth and profitability of health insurers continue to be under pressure

As health insurers struggle with pricing resistance from employers and decreases in enrollment in group health employee benefit plans, health insurer growth and profitability continues to be under pressure, according to a new industry forecast by Conning Research & Consulting.

8 Jan 2010

King Center to host second annual 'Health and Wellness Forum'

The King Center announced that it will officially launch the 2010 MLK Birthday Observance on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010 by hosting and co-sponsoring its second annual “Health and Wellness Forum.” It is being co-sponsored by a $50,000 grant from Aetna, which also funded last year’s inaugural program.

8 Jan 2010

Study reveals members who had mental health diagnosis show improved outcomes

A recent study by Aetna Disability and Absence management of disability members who also had a mental health diagnosis showed that members spent an average of seven fewer days on disability when compared to an industry benchmark.

8 Jan 2010

Cinergy Health offers tips to prevent and combat obesity

Cinergy Health, a nationwide agency for guaranteed issue and short term major medical insurance programs, responds to a new statistic that shows obesity outranks smoking as the main concern in healthcare.

8 Jan 2010

Physicians can receive federal incentives for switching to electronic medical records

Chicago Tribune: "Beginning next year, physicians will be eligible for extra payments from federal health insurance programs upon implementing an electronic medical record system.

8 Jan 2010

Chamber of Commerce unleashes new health reform warning ads; other stakeholders emphasize affordability

"Business groups are continuing their air war against the health care overhaul efforts as Congressional Democrats inch closer to crafting the final plan." The coalition is led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which released new TV spots Thursday.

8 Jan 2010

Health care reform bill could penalize married couples

Various news organizations are detailing how specific provisions of the pending health overhaul bills could impact the budgets of states as well as some married individuals while also may be tweaked to make health coverage more affordable for the lowest earners.

8 Jan 2010

Nightingale Informatix and CPA sign license and distribution agreement

Nightingale Informatix Corporation ("Nightingale" or the "Company"), an application service provider (ASP) of electronic medical record (EMR) software and related services, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Canadian Patient Access Incorporated ("CPA") to offer health related services to Canadian patients, through doctors using electronic medical records in their practices.

7 Jan 2010

Uninsured patients struggle to access health care as hospitals end programs

Several news outlets report on uninsured patients and access to health care.

7 Jan 2010

Democrats 'very close' to health bill agreement

Reuters: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "said on Wednesday congressional Democrats were close to agreement on merging their healthcare bills but still faced challenges in blending the two approaches.

7 Jan 2010

Analysis: Medicare Part D has lessons for health reform

The Wall Street Journal: "Four years ago, the U.S. government offered subsidized prescription-drug insurance to 43 million elderly and disabled, the biggest expansion of government-backed health care in decades. Today, the program is working better than many expected."

7 Jan 2010

First Edition: January 7, 2010

Today's health policy news coverage focuses on the continuing efforts to blend together the House- and Senate-passed health reform bills and the key issues in play.

7 Jan 2010

Authors explain why health care reform initiative should include CER

The current health care reform bills approved by the House and the Senate seek to expand health insurance coverage while containing costs; however, the proposed policy changes are not guaranteed to improve health for individuals or society, according to a "Perspective" article by faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College in the Jan. 6 New England Journal of Medicine.

7 Jan 2010