Health and Human Services News and Research

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Immune reaction to dystrophin may contribute to muscle disease: Study

An immune reaction to dystrophin, the muscle protein that is defective in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, may pose a new challenge to strengthening muscles of patients with this disease, suggests a new study appearing in the October 7, 2010, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

7 Oct 2010

Indoor tanning beds can cause skin cancer

Back to school means new classes, clothes and schedules, including a heavy calendar of social events. Unfortunately, many young adults, particularly young women, head to indoor tanning salons in preparation for high school and college dances in the fall.

7 Oct 2010

ACF grants $4.5 million to domestic violence prevention organizations

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the award of $4.5 million in Family Violence Prevention and Services Act grants geared toward domestic violence victims and organizations.

7 Oct 2010

Feds agree to waive minimum health insurance requirement for 30 companies while 3 GOP congressmen begin probe of health law costs

The federal government has issued a waiver for 30 companies so that they do not have to abide by a provision of the new federal health law that would have required the companies to provide a minimum of $750,000 in health insurance coverage for covered employees, Bloomberg reports.

7 Oct 2010

GE Centricity Advance version 10.1 certified as Complete EHR

GE Healthcare is pleased to announce that GE Centricity Advance version 10.1 is 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a Complete EHR on October 1, 2010 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable eligible provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

6 Oct 2010

Group Health gets $2 million to study value-based insurance

The effectiveness of Total Health, a unique benefits program for Group Health Cooperative employees, is the subject of a four-year study that the federal Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently funded. It's part of a trend to integrate care, insurance, and wellness programs and base them on research findings. The goal is to help people stay healthier and control health care costs.

6 Oct 2010

Health overhaul implementation updates: States fret, Sebelius hits The Hill

In a congressional appearance Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked lawmakers to move beyond politics and focus on successfully reforming American health care.

6 Oct 2010

UCLA-led consortium receives $9.9M to compare wireless and telephone management after hospitalizations

A UCLA-led consortium of five University of California medical schools, plus Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, has received $9.9 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to research the use of wireless and telephone care management to reduce hospital readmissions for heart failure patients.

6 Oct 2010

Mass. hospital sale talks seeking to protect employee retirement plans; Conn. Gov. ask for waiver in preexisting insurance plan

Representatives of Caritas Christi Health Care, the private equity firm seeking to buy it, and the attorney general's office are working on a tentative agreement to protect the retirement plans of 13,000 employees and keep the chain's hospitals open for at least five years.

6 Oct 2010

HHS adds 1,000 companies to early retiree benefit program

Congress Daily: The federal government added 1,000 companies to the "early retiree benefit program established under the healthcare overhaul law, bringing the total number of companies participating to 3,000. The $5 billion program is a stopgap measure meant to help cover retired Americans over the age of 55 who are not eligible for Medicare."

6 Oct 2010

Sebelius: Medicare Advantage cuts won't hurt plans

Will the health law curb private Medicare insurance plans, known as Medicare Advantage, or won't it? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Monday that it won't, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. "Ms. Sebelius said the decision by a large Massachusetts insurer to leave the Medicare Advantage market is not a harbinger of the program's decline.

6 Oct 2010

CCHIT certifies Allscripts Professional EHR Version 9.2

Allscripts announced today that Allscripts Professional™ EHR, Version 9.2 is 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a Complete EHR on Sept. 30, 2010 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB), in accordance with the applicable eligible provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

5 Oct 2010

First Edition: October 5, 2010

Today's headlines include reports on the midterm elections and recent polls as well as the latest developments related to Medicaid expansion.

5 Oct 2010

Maternal influenza vaccination prevents flu in infants

Babies whose mothers who receive influenza vaccines while pregnant appear less likely to be infected with flu or hospitalized for respiratory illnesses in their first six months of life, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the February 2011 print issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

5 Oct 2010

New bill aims to promote federal agency collaboration on foreign aid, national security

House lawmakers recently introduced the 2010 Interagency National Security Professional Education, Administration and Development System Act in an effort to promote better "collaboration among federal agencies supporting security missions and foreign aid operations overseas," Government Executive reports.

5 Oct 2010

Drug companies accused of skirting requirement to submit prices

Drug makers frequently ignore a federal requirement that they submit "pricing data needed to calculate discounts on medications prescribed for poor people under Medicaid, federal investigators say in a new report," The New York Times reports.

4 Oct 2010

Health industry funding more Republicans than Dems, anti-reform political activity ramps up

Politico: "A new portrait of the health industry landscape has begun to take shape, with some of those major players shifting their dollars from the very Democrats who passed the law they seemingly endorsed at the White House. The insurance industry, for instance, has consistently donated more to Republicans than to Democrats ever since August 2009."

4 Oct 2010

NextGen Ambulatory EHR version 5.6 SP1 achieves ONC-ATCB 2011/2012 certification

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. and a leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, announced today that NextGen® Ambulatory EHR version 5.6 SP1 is 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a Complete EHR on September 30, 2010 by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable eligible provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

4 Oct 2010

NIH to award $64M under Transformative Research Projects program

The National Institutes of Health will award up to $64 million over five years to encourage exploration of exceptionally innovative and original research ideas that have the potential for extraordinary impact.

4 Oct 2010

OHSU CROET issues public alert on Brazilian Blowout hair straightening product

Oregon Health & Science University's Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET) is responding to concerns raised by Portland-area hair salons about a product used for hair straightening. CROET has issued two public alerts describing its findings on the possible negative health impacts of this product.

4 Oct 2010