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BCBSIL, IHA partner to reduce Illinois hospital readmissions through PREP initiative

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and the Illinois Hospital Association are joining forces to reduce Illinois hospital readmissions through a new quality initiative—Preventing Readmissions through Effective Partnerships.

5 Feb 2011

Recent releases in Global Health

"Africa should be one of the leading regions in shaping global food security policies and feeding the future instead of others shaping it for Africa. Developing practical, integrative and more small-scale solutions for agricultural inputs and outputs, farming, and for managing both land and water resources, will help Africa provide for future generations on the Continent and elsewhere," Robin Renee Sanders, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, writes in a Huffington Post blog post.

5 Feb 2011

At Global Chiefs of Mission Conference, Sec. Clinton, Shah discuss QDDR

As part of a week-long meeting with U.S. diplomats from around the world taking place in Washington, D.C., this week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday gathered with 300 U.S. diplomats from around the world to discuss "strategies to energize diplomacy and streamline development," the New York Times reports.

4 Feb 2011

Roundup: Medicaid worries in Texas, Ill., Pa.; California insurance exchanges; Kansas controversy on health law

The current state House and Senate budget proposals include a 10 percent cut in the rate that the state will pay Medicaid providers. Some health care lobbying groups say that when you add in the loss of the enhanced federal Medicaid match paid for by stimulus dollars that have now dried up, you get a 33 percent reduction overall.

2 Feb 2011

Prime Healthcare Services alleges extortion campaign by SEIU

Prime Healthcare Services (PHS), the largest for-profit hospital system in California and the only for-profit system among Thomson Reuters' Top 10 Health Systems in 2009, announced today that it has been the victim of an extortion campaign by the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU) over the past year.

1 Feb 2011

Awarepoint ends 2010 with 91 hospital sites contract containing RTLS network coverage

Awarepoint Corporation, a privately held San Diego-based corporation, today announced it ended 2010 with 91 hospital sites contracted consisting of 45,062,013 million square feet of real-time location system network coverage in U.S. hospitals and 135,265 healthcare assets under management.

29 Jan 2011

Georgia Hospital Association selects onFocus enterprise performance management solution

onFocus Healthcare, Inc. today announced that it is the exclusive enterprise performance management solution to the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) and its more than 200 hospitals. This partnership allows onFocus to extend its web-based software, onFocus|epm™, and performance optimization service programs through increased collaboration with GHA member hospitals and management teams.

28 Jan 2011

NHS reforms & proposed spending questioned

According to John Appleby, Chief Economist at the King’s Fund, deaths from heart attacks and cancer in the UK are falling despite lower spending on health than in countries such as France. This, he said calls attention to the Government’s claim that poor outcomes justify a £1.4 billion restructuring of the NHS that will pass control of budgets from managers to GPs. He said, “Comparing health outcomes across countries is complex and not simply down to healthcare spending, but these trends must challenge one of the government’s key justifications for reforming the NHS.”

27 Jan 2011

SDI releases 2011 rating of top 100 integrated healthcare networks

SDI announced today the release of the SDI 2011 Top 100 IHNs, the 14th edition of its annual assessment of the 100 most integrated healthcare networks (IHNs). SDI's report, regarded as the nation's premier rating system, evaluates IHNs on their performance and degree of integration.

25 Jan 2011

Viewpoints: Endorsing - and repudiating - health law repeal; Gov. Brewer on Ariz. Medicaid; Medical devices 'red tape'

The reason the GOP never got around to proposing a serious plan to expand coverage and control costs is because doing that is excruciatingly hard and politically dangerous. Look how long Democrats struggled to craft a measure and what happened to them after they passed it.

21 Jan 2011

Guardian online series explores global health worker issues

The Guardian reports, as part of an online feature about health care workforces worldwide done in association with the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), that "Africa is desperately short of doctors and nurses. So is much of Asia. In 57 countries, the situation is deemed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be at crisis point ... But in contrast to some other developing world problems, this is an issue that really does affect all of us. The world needs an estimated 4.2 million more health workers."

19 Jan 2011

Opinions: U.S. HIV funding; Global fund accountability; World food supply

President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative is "pitting AIDS against other diseases by making investments in new areas of global health contingent on flat funding for efforts to fight the HIV epidemic," HIV/AIDS advocate and Yale College student Gregg Gonsalves writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

18 Jan 2011

World marks Haiti earthquake anniversary

Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary since a massive earthquake struck Haiti, the Miami Herald reports.

14 Jan 2011

Health Care REIT completes $3.2 billion gross investments during 2010

Health Care REIT, announced today that it completed $3.2 billion of gross investments during calendar 2010. During the year, the company had dispositions of $196 million, resulting in 2010 net investments of $3.0 billion.

14 Jan 2011

Tenet says Community Health's hostile bid falls short of company's value; Caritas has national aspirations

News outlets details the ongoing back-and-forth as Community Health Systems continues its pursuit of rival hospital group Tenet Healthcare Corp. Meanwhile, The Boston Globe details what may be in store for Caritas' hospital system.

13 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 12, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about how the congressional health debate might proceed in the wake of last weekend's violence and more details on New York's Medicaid challenges.

12 Jan 2011

Race, ethnicity and geography influence colon cancer screening

New research from UC Davis Cancer Center has found that whether a person gets screened for colon cancer often depends on where they live in addition to their race or ethnicity.

11 Jan 2011

LSTM leads six year, £6 million international research consortium on rebuilding of health systems

LSTM is leading a six year, £6 million international research consortium to strengthen knowledge of how health systems which have been damaged in conflict situations are most effectively rebuilt.

11 Jan 2011

Impact of flu vaccine opt-out is being seen as A(H1N1) returns to Europe

As the UK and a number of European countries are now experiencing epidemics of influenza, including A(H1N1) which was the 2009 pandemic virus, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) warns that the consequences of non-vaccination could emerge as a new flu emergency and are calling for greater efforts to encourage vaccination, not only for at risk groups but also health care workers.

6 Jan 2011

HCI signs deal with VHA for Community Health Needs Assessment System

Healthy Communities Institute (HCI) announced today it recently signed a deal with VHA Inc. to make available the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) System to hospitals that belong to VHA Inc., the national health care network.

5 Jan 2011