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Medicaid is the United States health program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states.

Healthyroads announces new partnership status with NAQC

Healthyroads, the wellness subsidiary of American Specialty Health Incorporated, announced its new partnership status with the North American Quitline Consortium and its approval to serve as an authorized quitline vendor in the state of Michigan.

19 Apr 2010

End-of-life care documentation helps in emergency treatment decisions

When Heather Rubesch was a teenager, her aunt died in need of a kidney transplant. In later family discussions, Heather's mother, Linda, expressed some of her views about end-of-life care—for instance, her belief in organ donation.

19 Apr 2010

Organogenesis to showcase study results of Apligraf product at SAWC / WHS 2010

Organogenesis, Inc. will have a substantial presence at the 23rd Annual Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society being held April 17-20 in Orlando, FL. Results from several clinical and scientific studies will be presented which will further the understanding of Organogenesis' bilayered living cellular construct technology.

19 Apr 2010

Access to NAbs testing important for MS therapy management

Teva Neuroscience today announced results at the 62nd American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting which demonstrated that eliminating barriers to neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) testing significantly impacted multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment choices in patients receiving interferon beta (IFNβ) therapies.

17 Apr 2010

Research roundup: Revamping NCI Clinical Trials, reducing malpractice suits, health disparities persist

A National Cancer Clinical Trials System For The 21st Century: Reinvigorating The NCI Cooperative Group Program - The "system for conducting cancer clinical trials in the United States is approaching a state of crisis," according to this report on inefficiencies and funding issues faced by the NCI's Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program - which comprises 10 groups, more than 3,100 institutions, 14,000 investigators and more than 25,000 patients in clinical trials each year.

17 Apr 2010

HHS and CMS announce grants to improve enrollment of eligible AI/AN uninsured children in Medicaid and CHIP

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced grants to 41 health programs operated by the Indian Health Service; tribes and tribal organizations; and urban Indian organizations. The grants will help improve outreach and enrollment of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) uninsured children eligible for, but not enrolled in, their state's Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP).

17 Apr 2010

Miami resident pleads guilty to role in fraudulent medical testing scheme

Miami resident Hans Lobato pleaded guilty today to engaging in a fraudulent medical testing scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).

17 Apr 2010

Open-heart surgery brings life back to 7-year-old boy

A 7-year-old boy who was brought to the United States to have his congenital heart defect repaired had successful open-heart surgery Thursday at the Children's Center at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento by pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon Teimour Nasirov, M.D., and assisted by Mohan Reddy, M.D., an internationally renowned pediatric heart surgeon from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.

17 Apr 2010

President's Executive Order supports bedside access to legally designated health care agent

Aging with Dignity President Paul Malley praised President Barack Obama's Executive Order dated April 15, 2010 in which he instructs hospitals participating in Medicare/Medicaid to allow bedside access to the patient's legally designated health care agent.

17 Apr 2010

Obama extends hospital visitation rights, medical decisions, to gays and other non-family members

The Washington Post: "President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients' choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them. ... The president directed the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation in a memo that was e-mailed to reporters ... while he was at a fundraiser in Miami."

17 Apr 2010

States gear up for implementation, others continue to fight overhaul

Chillicothe Gazette/Gannett: "The spotlight on health care has shifted from the federal government, which wrote the recently passed overhaul legislation, to states, which will be in charge of much of the implementation. States will oversee the expansion of Medicaid, enforce the new insurance reforms and set up and run the new insurance 'exchanges' for small businesses and people who aren't offered coverage through an employer.

17 Apr 2010

Emdeon achieves compliance with CAQH CORE Phase II rules

Emdeon Inc., a leading provider of healthcare revenue and payment cycle management solutions, today announced it has achieved compliance with the CAQH® Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE) Phase II rules. CAQH, a nonprofit alliance of health plans and trade associations, is a catalyst for industry collaboration on initiatives that simplify healthcare administration for health plans and providers, resulting in a better care experience for patients and caregivers. Emdeon achieved CORE Phase I compliance in March 2007.

16 Apr 2010

First Edition: April 16, 2010

Today's headlines highlight the passage of a temporary extension of jobless benefits -- including a COBRA subsidy -- and a directive issued by President Obama to extend medical rights for same-sex partners.

16 Apr 2010

Laquinimod may have neuroprotective properties in addition to anti-inflammatory effects for RRMS

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Active Biotech today announced results from several studies demonstrating that laquinimod, a novel, investigational once-daily oral immunomodulator for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) may have neuroprotective properties in addition to its anti-inflammatory effects.

16 Apr 2010

Seasonal flu tends to move in traveling waves: Researchers

An analysis of hospitalization records for adults age 65 and over found that seasonal flu tends to move in traveling waves, peaking earliest in western states such as Nevada, Utah, and California and working its way east. New England states such as Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire tend to have the latest peak in seasonal flu, according to public health researchers at Tufts University in Boston.

16 Apr 2010

Senate Democrats move closer to passing bill that will delay Medicare pay cut slated for doctors

MedPage Today: Senate Democrats on Wednesday won a "key vote" toward delaying a 21 percent cut in physicians reimbursements from Medicare. Those cuts officially went into effect on April 1. On a 60-40 vote, the Senate agreed to exempt a provision to delay the cuts by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., "from a Senate rule that says all spending legislation must be paid for."

16 Apr 2010

Private insurers seek to help states manage Medicaid expansion

The Wall Street Journal reports on plans by the health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. to issue a report Thursday on managed care strategies that "it says will help cash-strapped states solve budget problems and doctor shortages that hobble the government health-care programs for the poor."

16 Apr 2010

States continue budget struggles; Oklahoma nursing homes brace for funding cuts

Three Minnesota Democratic legislators are proposing that the state spend $1 billion from the state's special health care fund in an effort to get $1 billion in federal money. "A spokesman for Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty says the plan won't work because the special fund is already scheduled to run a deficit" (4/14).

16 Apr 2010

Watson Laboratories' ANDA for generic Toprol XL tablets receives FDA approval

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc. - Florida, has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration on its Abbreviated New Drug Application for metoprolol succinate extended-release tablets USP in the 100 and 200 mg strengths, the generic equivalent to AstraZeneca's Toprol XL® tablets.

16 Apr 2010

Ongoing Medicare physician payment dilemma

"Because of Congress's inability to find answers to the ongoing Medicare physician payment dilemma, physicians across the country are unable to accept and treat new Medicare patients," Joseph W. Stubbs, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians declared today as he considered the impending effects of the cut to the Sustainable Growth Rate.

16 Apr 2010