Health and Human Services News and Research

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Some Medicare recipients will see jump in premium costs next year

"The basic Medicare premium will shoot up next year by 15 percent, to $110.50 a month, federal officials said Monday," The New York Times reports. "The increase means that monthly premiums would top $100 for the first time, a stark indication of the rise in medical costs that is driving the debate in Congress about a broad overhaul of the health care system."

21 Oct 2009

Nationwide H1N1 Event Log to help ongoing challenges of flu pandemic

LiveProcess launched a nationwide H1N1 Event Log on October 1 designed to help regional healthcare organizations more effectively deal with the expected patient surge, consolidate the massive flow of disease-related communications and coordinate regional events with their constituent hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

21 Oct 2009

Eclipsys supports healthcare providers to meet the goal of ARRA

To support healthcare organizations in making the appropriate technology decisions to maximize federal stimulus dollar opportunity, Eclipsys Corporation®, The Outcomes Company®, today announced the multiple superior outcomes its client organizations are achieving today.

20 Oct 2009

ECRI Institute reports increase in request for medical technology acquisition support from its members

ECRI Institute(R), an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improve patient care and offers procurement support to more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals, reports a significant increase in requests by its members for medical technology acquisition support, a strong signal that the economy may be improving. ECRI Institute member hospital research requests typically precede medical capital technology purchases.

20 Oct 2009

Four Pharma companies underpay Medicaid rebate obligations, pay $124M to resolve allegations

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, UDL Laboratories, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical have entered into settlement agreements for a total of $124 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by failing to pay appropriate rebates to state Medicaid programs for drugs paid for by those programs, the Justice Department announced today.

20 Oct 2009

Vangent announces launch of the Health Information Exchange Open Source software tool

Vangent, Inc., a leading global provider of information management and strategic business process outsourcing solutions, announced today that it will provide an open source software tool known as Health Information Exchange Open Source (HIEOS™) making possible secure exchange of health information from multiple and disparate system and data sources.

19 Oct 2009

New NIH grants to develop Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System

The National Institutes of Health announced today that it is awarding 15 new grants to further develop and test the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS).

19 Oct 2009

Phase I clinical study of PENNVAX-B preventive DNA vaccine using electroporation technology

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) announced today the initiation of a phase I clinical study of Inovio’s PENNVAX-B preventive DNA vaccine delivered using its proprietary electroporation technology.

19 Oct 2009

PHARMACIA & UPJOHN COMPANY to pay the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S.

PHARMACIA & UPJOHN COMPANY, INC., a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. ("Pfizer") today was sentenced today in federal court for a felony violation of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, for misbranding the drug, Bextra, with the intent to defraud or mislead.

19 Oct 2009

Democratic lawmakers seek momentum, Republican votes as two versions of reform bills are combined

Democrats are seeking momentum and votes -- from both Democrats and Republicans -- as leaders work to combine the two versions of reform approved by Senate committees.

19 Oct 2009

SAMHSA honors contributors to mental health recovery at the 2009 Voice Awards

Writers and producers from The Soloist, "Grey's Anatomy," "United States of Tara," "90210," and others were honored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for increasing awareness of mental health issues and the power of recovery at the 2009 Voice Awards last night. The event was hosted by Academy Award-winning actor and mental health consumer Richard Dreyfuss at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.

15 Oct 2009

NFL, NDC launch 'Fuel Up to Play 60' to tackle childhood obesity

The NFL and National Dairy Council (NDC) today launch Fuel Up to Play 60, a new initiative aimed at tackling childhood obesity by giving youth a voice in changing the school nutrition and physical activity environment. The program will reach 36 million youth in 60,000 elementary, middle and high schools during the 2009/2010 school year.

15 Oct 2009

New tips to defend against medical identity theft

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Assistant Attorney General Tony West will highlight the Obama Administration’s work to fight Medicare Fraud and release new tips and information to help seniors and Medicare beneficiaries deter, detect and defend against Medical identity theft.

15 Oct 2009

Medicaid enrollments jump but states are trying to cut costs

Several states are noting significant increases in Medicaid enrollment, even as they look to find ways to create savings in the programs.

15 Oct 2009

Interim data from Sanofi Pasteur's Influenza A 2009 Monovalent Vaccine clinical trials in infants and children

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group, announced today an interim analysis of data from clinical trials of the U.S. licensed Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine in infants and children 6 months through 9 years of age. The data indicate the vaccine is immunogenic and that one dose may protect many children.

15 Oct 2009

Experts to discuss the safety of H1N1 flu vaccine

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will host a Know What to Do about the Flu Webcast on Wednesday, October 14.

14 Oct 2009

NY Senators co-sponsors bill to establish comprehensive program for lung cancer

Today, Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) hailed the support of Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) who have signed on as co-sponsors of a bill to establish the first ever multi-agency, comprehensive program targeted at lung cancer.

14 Oct 2009

Higher proportion of American adults prefer to place frozen human embryos with infertile couples

In a recent national public opinion survey, a significantly higher proportion of American adults would choose to place frozen human embryos with infertile couples for the purpose of bearing a child. Interestingly, the survey also revealed that twice as many Americans read or heard about human embryos in connection with stem cell research than in connection with embryo donation or adoption.

14 Oct 2009

Decreased expression of tumor suppressor gene PTEN transforms neurofibromas into cancer

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center showed for the first time that the loss or decreased expression of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN plays a central role in the malignant transformation of benign nerve tumors called neurofibromas into a malignant and extremely deadly form of sarcoma.

14 Oct 2009

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to support research in numerous health areas

As part of the $5 billion in grants announced by President Obama, the National Institutes of Health has granted Kaiser Permanente more than $54 million over two years through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to conduct health research on a multitude of critical public and clinical health areas.

14 Oct 2009

Health and Human Services News and Research

Some Medicare recipients will see jump in premium costs next year

Nationwide H1N1 Event Log to help ongoing challenges of flu pandemic

Eclipsys supports healthcare providers to meet the goal of ARRA

ECRI Institute reports increase in request for medical technology acquisition support from its members

Four Pharma companies underpay Medicaid rebate obligations, pay $124M to resolve allegations

Vangent announces launch of the Health Information Exchange Open Source software tool

New NIH grants to develop Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System

Phase I clinical study of PENNVAX-B preventive DNA vaccine using electroporation technology

PHARMACIA & UPJOHN COMPANY to pay the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S.

Democratic lawmakers seek momentum, Republican votes as two versions of reform bills are combined

SAMHSA honors contributors to mental health recovery at the 2009 Voice Awards

NFL, NDC launch 'Fuel Up to Play 60' to tackle childhood obesity

New tips to defend against medical identity theft

Medicaid enrollments jump but states are trying to cut costs

Interim data from Sanofi Pasteur's Influenza A 2009 Monovalent Vaccine clinical trials in infants and children

Experts to discuss the safety of H1N1 flu vaccine

NY Senators co-sponsors bill to establish comprehensive program for lung cancer

Higher proportion of American adults prefer to place frozen human embryos with infertile couples

Decreased expression of tumor suppressor gene PTEN transforms neurofibromas into cancer

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to support research in numerous health areas

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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

From Puberty to Menopause: Clue’s CEO, Audrey Tsang on the Power of Femtech

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