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Budget battle frames election campaigns

The budget debate focuses on competing priorities -- spending on defense versus the health law or making chocies between tax cuts for business or safety net programs. Also in the news, spending bills continue to percolate in Congress.

21 Apr 2012

State roundup: Mass. seeks to improve medical malpractice system; Health exchange legislation progresses in Ala.

Seven Massachusetts hospitals plan to offer patients harmed by medical errors a prompt apology and financial settlements before they resort to lawsuits, part of a major new initiative to improve the state's cumbersome medical malpractice system. A coalition of physician, hospital, and patient groups planned to release details Wednesday of the initiative, called "Road Map to Reform,"' which they predict will increase reporting of medical mistakes and cut down on lengthy litigation that drives up health care costs and fuels distrust between caregivers and patients.

19 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Santorum pushed Romney on health care; GOP's 'classic male mistake'; ACOs and the anti-trust challenge

The Pennsylvanian was also by far the most effective Republican critic of RomneyCare. When he stood on stage in a debate and took apart the Massachusetts health law as a prototype for ObamaCare, Mr. Romney realized he couldn't coast to the nomination. That's when the former Massachusetts Governor came out with his own tax cut and tax reform plan to appeal to economic conservatives.

12 Apr 2012

Longer looks: Berwick calls for leaders to rise above 'political catechism'; Convincing the healthy to feel sick

Between July 2010 and December 2011, Dr. Donald Berwick was head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that runs the government's health insurance programs. In a sane world, he would be still. But Senate Republicans refused even to let his confirmation come up for a vote ... A pediatrician by training and a widely respected expert in health care policy, Berwick should have been a lock for the CMS job. But he was a backer of Obamacare; a believer in data and science; a proponent of universal health care.

6 Apr 2012

Woman left unattended burnt in a hospital shower

Deputy State Coroner Anthony Schapel is hearing evidence about the circumstances of Ms Proctor's death on February 22 - a week after she was first admitted. The court heard Ms Proctor was suffering from multiple illnesses including alcoholic liver disease and her mobility was severely restricted by the time she was hospitalized. She required assistance to move.

4 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Ryan's budget called 'cruel' or 'sophisticated'

In February, after embarrassing himself by saying he was "not concerned about the very poor," Mitt Romney explained that the government's safety net would take care of them, and he promised to repair any holes in the net. That promise didn't last very long. On Thursday, House Republicans approved, on a party-line vote, a disastrous new budget that would leave millions of struggling families desperate for food, shelter and health care -; and Mr. Romney has embraced it.

31 Mar 2012

State roundup: Georgia's child-only insurance policies; N.Y. exchange impasse

The Senate's Republican majority refused to agree to create a "health exchange," or state-based health insurance market required under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, for individuals and small businesses to insure more Americans.

29 Mar 2012

House approves bill to kill Medicare cost panel

In what is viewed as a largely symbolic move, the GOP-led House passed a bill that would undo the health law's Medicare cost control board. Though the measure initially drew some Democratic support, those votes all but disappeared after the repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board was linked to medical malpractice legislation.

23 Mar 2012

House preps pre-SCOTUS IPAB repeal vote with eye on doc relationship

Republicans are not united in their attempted repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which will come up for a vote in the House this week. In the meantime, the GOP is attempting to mend fences with the American Medical Association by offsetting the cost of repeal with medical malpractice tort reforms.

22 Mar 2012

Malpractice reform, IPAB repeal, NIH funding among hot topics on Capitol Hill

News outlets report on various legislative proposals and planned funding cuts, and what kind of reactions they are drawing.

21 Mar 2012

47,000 UK women have faulty PIP breast implants

According to Britain's health ministry an additional 7,000 women were fitted with potentially faulty French-made breast implants, raising the total in the U.K.to about 47,000.

18 Mar 2012

House IPAB repeal linked to tort reform legislation

Joining the two measures is causing some Democrats who back the repeal of the health law's Independent Payment Advisory Board to change their positions.

15 Mar 2012

IPAB opponents eye curbs on medical malpractice lawsuits as means to pay for repeal

This idea has drawn support for some GOP lawmakers seeking to get rid of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, but trial lawyers are already lining up against it. Meanwhile, a new Congressional Budget Office estimate indicates that because Medicare spending is slowing, the board may never actually have to spring into action.

14 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 14, 2012

Today's headlines feature coverage of the Congressional Budget Office's latest estimates regarding the health law's costs and the nation's deficit.

14 Mar 2012

State legislatures take on ultrasound mandate costs, employee health plans, Medicaid reform, malpractice

Democrats in the state Senate have sent Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell a list of conditions they want addressed before allowing a new state budget necessary to fund state services and operations to pass. … They want the state to pay for the ultrasound exams now mandated for women seeking abortions under a bill McDonnell signed Wednesday. ... And they want Medicaid eligibility restored for about 4,500 nursing home residents.

9 Mar 2012

ERH wins PRI's 2012 Best Practices in Risk Management and Patient Safety Award

Physicians' Reciprocal Insurers (PRI), the second largest medical malpractice insurer in New York state, today presented Ellenville Regional Hospital with its 2012 Best Practices in Risk Management and Patient Safety Award.

7 Mar 2012

Texas doctor caught in a $375 million fraud

A Texas doctor has been accused of running a massive health fraud care scheme with thousands of fraudulent patients and intermediaries allegedly offering cash, food stamps or free groceries, to cheat the Medicare and Medicaid of nearly $375 million.

29 Feb 2012

Study sheds light on why physicians mistakenly believe that poor people sue more often

Contrary to the common perception among physicians that poor people sue doctors more frequently, Ramon L. Jimenez from the Monterey Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Institute and his team demonstrate that socioeconomically disadvantaged patients, in fact, tend to sue physicians less often.

28 Feb 2012

Longer looks: The Obama memos on health reform, Romney's Medicare mistake?, Flu 2012

The President's caution, and his concern about business, can be seen in the way he dealt with major interest groups. ... His health-insurance bill was crafted by building support from a delicate alliance of interest groups, and Obama personally guided the effort.

27 Jan 2012

Link between genetic abnormalities and cerebral palsy

For years it was thought that a difficult birth and other perinatal factors were the leading causes of cerebral palsy (CP), a group of disorders that can involve brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing and thinking. Now, researchers at Geisinger Health System find that the majority of cerebral palsy causes may in fact be caused by genetic abnormalities.

27 Jan 2012