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Continucare second quarter total revenue increases 7% to $80.3 million

Continucare Corporation today reported record financial results for its second quarter of fiscal 2011.

5 Feb 2011

In effort to find common ground, possible areas of agreement and disagreement emerge

During his State of the Union address, President Obama signaled an openness to working with Republicans on ways to improve — but not undo — the health law. An area that seems open to such an effort is fixing the overhaul's 1099 tax reporting provision, which is gaining bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. But in terms of medical malpractice reforms, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius noted key policy differences between the President and a GOP-sponsored House bill.

29 Jan 2011

President Obama rallies health overhaul supporters; Reports by Dems and GOP offer very different views on law's impacts

In a Friday morning speech, Obama was expected to offer a message to "fire up" health law supporters. Reports indicate a White House report will detail the positive effect the health law will have on health insurance premiums. Meanwhile, however, Republicans are citing a report of their own that shows the law's negative repercussions for child-only health plans.

29 Jan 2011

State of the Union address includes brief, but clear, defense of health law

President Barack Obama made clear that he is willing to tinker around the edges of the sweeping reform, but not return to the days before the measure became law. Media outlets analyzed the specifics of his comments and offered a big picture view of the impact of the entire speech, including fact-checking some of his related policy ideas and budget recommendations.

27 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 26, 2011

Reporting for KHN, in collaboration with Politico, Bara Vaida writes: "Lobbyists for doctors, hospitals and drug companies are urging lawmakers to derail a planned government panel that health industry officials fear will sharply curb Medicare spending -- a critical revenue source for them".

26 Jan 2011

GOP health agenda includes medical malpractice, cost concerns

The Republican House to-do list also includes action by oversight committees to investigate waivers given in regard to the health law. Meanwhile, KHN details six provisions from the sweeping measure that the GOP may seek to repeal or replace.

24 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

After vote, GOP's real work begins

Although the House repeal vote was a big-ticket item that gained a lot of media attention, the real work in the Republican effort to undo the health law will involve hearings, testimony, funding cuts and targeted legislative attempts to change specific provisions. The GOP will also work on crafting an alternative health plan. So far, specifics have been scarce.

21 Jan 2011

The long-term view: GOP hopes for scaled-back health plan; Dems see health care second-chance

News outlets report on the big-picture health policy goals of both parties. Republicans see the repeal effort as stretching far beyond today's House vote while the stretch of time may help Democrats.

20 Jan 2011

Roundup: Arizona Medicaid waiver?; 'Sweeping' Texas budget cuts; Wisconsin tort reform; Aspen's 'dismal' health coverage

The Legislature will meet in special session today to give Gov. Jan Brewer authority to seek a Medicaid waiver from the federal government, the first step to cutting health care for 280,000 Arizonans. Brewer and Republican lawmakers say the move is needed to balance the state budget and keep the rest of the state's Medicaid program intact.

20 Jan 2011

Poll shows opposition to health law softening; GOP and Dems gird for repeal vote

Ahead of a vote on repeal in the GOP-led House this week, strong opposition to the law stands at 30 percent, close to the lowest level registered in AP-GfK surveys dating to September 2009. ... The law expands coverage to more than 30 million uninsured, and would require, for the first time, that most people in the United States carry health insurance.

18 Jan 2011

Reuters: Surgical checklists reduce medical errors — and could cut malpractice claims

Surgical checklists not only save lives by preventing medical errors, they could also make a big dent in medical malpractice claims, according to a study in the Netherlands.

14 Jan 2011

Jury returns $7M verdict for failure to diagnose and treat cardiac tamponade in bypass surgery patient

A New York State Supreme Court Queens County jury returned a $7,000,000.00 verdict against Patrick Monteleone M.D. and Newell Robinson, M.D. where they failed to diagnose and treat cardiac tamponade (bleeding into the chest) in their patient who underwent cardiac bypass surgery on November 17, 2004.

23 Dec 2010

PRI receives CLO Gold award for online physician communication course

Physicians' Reciprocal Insurers, the second largest medical malpractice insurer in New York state, today announced that its physician communication course "Tuning In: Communication Skills for Partnering with Patients" has been honored as the winner of the 2010 Chief Learning Officer Gold Award in the "Excellence in E-Learning" category.

20 Dec 2010

Medisafe 1 to launch syringe locking device in Jerusalem hospital

Medisafe 1 Technologies Corp., a developer of patented technologies that physically prevent unauthorized administration of prescription medications, announced today that the company has engaged in preliminary discussions to launch a pilot of its syringe locking device, with a major hospital in Jerusalem.

30 Nov 2010

Policy of routine error disclosure may minimize impact of medical errors

People who believe their doctor or hospital would inform them if a medical error occurred are "far more forgiving" than those who doubt their health care provider would disclose the error, reports a study in the November issue of Medical Care.

24 Nov 2010

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan faces new lawsuits, GOP in Florida looks to malpractice reform to help draw doctors to Medicaid program

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is facing a wave of lawsuits across the state accusing the insurance giant of pocketing millions of dollars in hidden fees from local governments and others to administer their health care plans.

23 Nov 2010

The conservative way forward on health care

The landslide Republican victory, in taking the House and electing some strong conservatives to the Senate, can be interpreted as a mandate to rein in government spending, and specifically to repeal ObamaCare, as these issues were clearly behind the large turnout. There is still a very real possibility the Supreme Court will find the “individual mandate” to buy private insurance unconstitutional. If this provision is thrown out, it’s hard to see how the law survives, since the mandate is needed to finance it.

22 Nov 2010

Research roundup: Health IT and malpractice; Wide variation in hospital rates; Income and insurance offerings

New England Journal of Medicine: Medical Malpractice Liability In The Age Of Electronic Health Records - "Providers can expect a varied and shifting landscape of medical liability risks and benefits as the adoption of [electronic health records] EHRs unfolds," write the authors who explore the ways EHRs may bring about long-term changes in standard of care and affect the course of malpractice litigation.