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Private health insurance around the world may be making health care problems worse

The Economist offers an analysis of private insurance around the world. "Governments are increasingly turning to private insurance in order to widen access to health care and make it more efficient. Are they expecting too much?"

20 Feb 2010

Rockefeller Foundation to support implementation global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa

The Rockefeller Foundation has awarded a $630,100 project support grant to the American Medical Informatics Association to support the initial implementation this year of a global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa designed for primary care providers, technical staff and health policy-makers.

20 Feb 2010

NBCH's annual report: How America's health plans are doing to improve care and control costs for diabetes

Today the National Business Coalition on Health issued its annual report on how America's health plans are doing to improve care and control costs for diabetes. The analysis is based on health plan survey data from NBCH's eValue8™ program, the nation's leading Request for Information (RFI) tool used by employers, coalitions and their purchaser members to set expectations and measure health plan performance.

19 Feb 2010

Ventas reports 7.8% increase in normalized FFO for year ended December 31, 2009

Ventas, Inc. said today that normalized Funds From Operations (“FFO”) for the year ended December 31, 2009 increased 7.8 percent to $409.0 million, from $379.5 million for the comparable 2008 period.

18 Feb 2010

CMC-NorthEast chooses Premier’s QualityAdvisor solution for improving patient care

The Premier healthcare alliance today announced that Carolinas Medical Center NorthEast (CMC-NorthEast) of Concord, N.C., selected Premier’s QualityAdvisor™ solution to improve delivery of patient care and safely reduce costly avoidable patient events.

18 Feb 2010

Media examine fight against counterfeit drugs

The Wall Street Journal reports on the recent shutdown of a counterfeit drug ring in Syria, while highlighting a broader problem with counterfeit medicines in the Middle East. Authorities intercepted "millions of dollars worth of breast cancer, leukemia and other medicines … At least 65 people were detained; it couldn't be learned if they were charged. A trial date hasn't yet been set," according to the newspaper, which notes that the drug ring distributor's activities had also penetrated into some public health systems, "particularly in Iraq."

18 Feb 2010

LUMEDX completes extensive cardiovascular PACS deployment at IHS

LUMEDX Corporation, a leading provider of vendor-agnostic, integrated medical imaging and information systems, announced the completion of an extensive cardiovascular PACS deployment at Iowa Health Systems (IHS). Working together with IHS, a team of technical and clinical experts implemented CardioPACS multi-modality imaging system at ten affiliate hospitals across Iowa and western Illinois in under six months’ time. The first site, Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge, went live July 3, 2009; by December 16, all ten sites were using CardioPACS.

17 Feb 2010

Loyola University Chicago MNSON to celebrate its 75 years of contribution to nursing profession

Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing (MNSON) will celebrate its 75th anniversary this year. The 75 years of nursing celebration kicked off at the Second Annual Alumni Awards Brunch earlier this month and will culminate in a gala on Friday, Oct. 1, 2010, at The Drake Hotel in Chicago.

16 Feb 2010

Freeland Systems prohibited from selling Kardia Health Systems' software and customer lists

Today, the United States District Court enjoined Freeland Systems, LLC, from conducting a sale of Kardia Health Systems' (Kardia) software and customer lists developed since May 2008.

15 Feb 2010

Research roundup: Bundled payments, PTSD incidence, cost of treating immigrants

This paper examines the spending for health care of adult naturalized citizens and immigrant noncitizens (including some undocumented immigrants) compared to U.S. natives, as documented in data from the 1999-2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS): "inflation and age-adjusted health care expenditures among noncitizen immigrants were consistently … lower than those of naturalized citizens and U.S. natives during 1999-2006."

15 Feb 2010

Quality Systems enters into agreement to acquire Opus Healthcare Solutions

Quality Systems, Inc. (“QSI”), a leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, today announced that QSI has entered into an agreement to acquire Opus Healthcare Solutions, Inc.

11 Feb 2010

Altarum Institute re-vamps Health Policy Forum “blog” for 2010

Altarum Institute, a nonprofit health systems research and consulting organization, has re-vamped its Health Policy Forum “blog” for 2010. With a fresh look and new content, the blog is now tailored to the interests of journalists and health policy experts looking for thought-provoking commentary and analysis of the most pressing issues in health care today.

11 Feb 2010

Allscripts clinical and practice management IT solutions to be implemented at NuHealth

Allscripts announced today that NuHealth will implement Allscripts clinical and practice management IT solutions across its network of hospitals and employed physicians, enhancing the quality of care, improving patient communications, and better managing the cost of care delivery. The agreement, valued in excess of $5 million, is the central component of NuHealth's connected healthcare strategy, enabling health information exchange and collaboration among all the members of a patient's care team, inside and outside the health system.

10 Feb 2010

As health overhaul stalls, hospitals face rising cost of uncompensated care

For American hospitals, "the cost of doing nothing in Washington translates into tens of billions of dollars each year in medical bills that go unpaid by patients with little or no insurance," The New York Times reports.

9 Feb 2010

Orlando Health implements MedeAnalytics’ QCA solution

MedeAnalytics, a leading provider of healthcare performance management solutions, announced that Orlando Health has added Quality and Compliance Analytics (QCA) to their suite of MedeAnalytics solutions.

9 Feb 2010

Coventry Health Care reports revenues of $3.4 billion for fourth-quarter 2009

Coventry Health Care, Inc. today reported consolidated operating results for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Operating revenues totaled $3.4 billion for the quarter with net earnings of $109.1 million, or $0.74 earnings per diluted share (EPS). For the year ended December 31, 2009, total revenues from continuing operations were $13.9 billion with net earnings from continuing operations of $315.3 million, or $2.14 per diluted share.

9 Feb 2010

Analysts: If health reform fails, expect more industry mergers

BusinessWeek: "With Congress' sweeping overhaul of the health system stalled, industry will seek its own answers to a push by government and the private sector to rein in costs, said Curtis Lane, senior managing director at MTS Health Partners, a New York-based equity fund."

9 Feb 2010

AmerisourceBergen offers rapid implementation methodology for meaningful use of EHRs

AmerisourceBergen announced a unique offering designed to help hospitals and health systems achieve meaningful use readiness for electronic health records (EHR), regardless of the technology they are using.

8 Feb 2010

AMIA members lead authorship of articles on global e-health

Five articles, whose lead or senior authors are nationally known informatics leaders and members of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), appear in the Feb. 2010 issue of Health Affairs and provide a glimpse into the future of health care delivery in an increasingly information-driven era of health care in the developing world.

6 Feb 2010

N.J., Tenn. and Florida battling growing Medicaid costs; need for health care for parolees in Calif.

Medicaid costs in many states are expanding deficits while lawmakers and the public struggle to keep up with the growth in health costs.

6 Feb 2010

Health Systems News and Research

Private health insurance around the world may be making health care problems worse

Rockefeller Foundation to support implementation global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa

NBCH's annual report: How America's health plans are doing to improve care and control costs for diabetes

Ventas reports 7.8% increase in normalized FFO for year ended December 31, 2009

CMC-NorthEast chooses Premier’s QualityAdvisor solution for improving patient care

Media examine fight against counterfeit drugs

LUMEDX completes extensive cardiovascular PACS deployment at IHS

Loyola University Chicago MNSON to celebrate its 75 years of contribution to nursing profession

Freeland Systems prohibited from selling Kardia Health Systems' software and customer lists

Research roundup: Bundled payments, PTSD incidence, cost of treating immigrants

Quality Systems enters into agreement to acquire Opus Healthcare Solutions

Altarum Institute re-vamps Health Policy Forum “blog” for 2010

Allscripts clinical and practice management IT solutions to be implemented at NuHealth

As health overhaul stalls, hospitals face rising cost of uncompensated care

Orlando Health implements MedeAnalytics’ QCA solution

Coventry Health Care reports revenues of $3.4 billion for fourth-quarter 2009

Analysts: If health reform fails, expect more industry mergers

AmerisourceBergen offers rapid implementation methodology for meaningful use of EHRs

AMIA members lead authorship of articles on global e-health

N.J., Tenn. and Florida battling growing Medicaid costs; need for health care for parolees in Calif.

Achieving and maintaining ISO 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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