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Frustration with Minn. insurance exchange mounts as officials race to remedy problems

Problems with Minnesota's online health insurance exchange -- long wait times, technology problems and security issues -- are getting extra scrutiny as officials push to fix the website ahead of the new year when coverage is slated to begin for many.

13 Dec 2013

Unnecessary cesarean section rates rising at both rural and urban hospitals

Rates of unnecessary cesarean section and other potentially risky obstetric procedures show some significant differences between rural and urban hospitals in the United States, reports a study in the January issue of Medical Care. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

13 Dec 2013

ACS, BCBSIL and Northwestern Medicine join to improve quality of surgical care in Illinois

The Illinois chapters of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL), and Northwestern Medicine- have come together to offer selected hospitals across Illinois the opportunity to join the Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative (ISQIC), a three-year effort to improve the safety and quality of surgical care in Illinois.

13 Dec 2013

Psychiatrists increasingly refuse to accept private insurance as payment

Access to mental health care has become a prominent issue in Congress following mass shootings around the country. But a new study in JAMA Psychiatry, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, suggests that unless those in need of help have deep pockets, they might have a hard time finding a psychiatrist that will provide the needed services.

13 Dec 2013

Michigan to require separate abortion coverage on public and private policies

Michigan will join more conservative states in requiring residents who want health insurance coverage for abortions to buy an extra policy, after Republican legislators passed the law Wednesday over the objections of Democrats who pleaded for them to take the issue to voters instead.

13 Dec 2013

Cinnamon, nutmeg, marshmallows provide more than taste of holiday spice

Cinnamon, nutmeg and marshmallows provide more than a taste of holiday spice or a sugar rush. They are the ingredients for recipes for trendy risky games played by many to disasterous consequences.

13 Dec 2013

Study: Almost half of psychiatrists don't accept health insurance

The findings were published yesterday in JAMA Psychiatry.

13 Dec 2013

NY frustrated by long wait for Medicaid waiver

Gov. Cuomo says he wants to help struggling hospitals. In Florida, Gov. Scott wouldn't say if he still supports expanding Medicaid eligibility to poor Floridians.

13 Dec 2013

House GOP appear to be warming to $85 billion budget deal

CQ HealthBeat reports that Medicare providers would face an added two years of automatic spending ucts under the agreement.

13 Dec 2013

Nearly 98% of Massachusetts residents now have Medicaid coverage

Nearly 98 percent of Massachusetts' 400,000 residents now have coverage—either through individual purchase or expanded Medicaid coverage for children and low-income residents. And while the reform was initially met with controversy, it has gained popularity in the past 5 years.

13 Dec 2013

U.S. health care system ranks 22nd in health care spending

A new study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and McGill University in Montreal reveals that the United States health care system ranks 22nd out of 27 high-income nations when analyzed for its efficiency of turning dollars spent into extending lives.

13 Dec 2013

New enrollment figures give clearer view of exchange efforts in states

Officials in California, Maryland, Illinois, Kansas and Georgia give status checks on their online health insurance exchanges. In the meantime, officials in Oregon are pressuring their website contractor, Oracle, to speed up fixes to the marketplace as insurers consider extending deadlines there.

13 Dec 2013

Health expenditures show stronger link with gains in life expectancy for males than for females

Health care spending is a large - and ever increasing - portion of government budgets. Improving its efficiency has therefore become critically important. In the first-ever study to estimate health spending efficiency by gender across 27 industrialized nations, researchers discovered significant disparities within countries, with stronger gains in life expectancy for men than for women in nearly every nation.

13 Dec 2013

UCSF receives $15M grant to help three dozen countries eliminate malaria

UC San Francisco's Global Health Group has received a $15 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a pioneering effort to help nearly three dozen countries eliminate malaria within their borders.

13 Dec 2013

Study shows many clinicians are unfamiliar with use of e-cigarettes with their young patients

The use of electronic cigarettes, battery operated devices that often look like cigarettes and deliver vaporized nicotine, is on the rise, including among minors. In a survey between 2011 and 2012, 10 percent of high school students reported ever using an e-cigarette.

13 Dec 2013

Health law presents new challenge for small businesses

Large numbers of small entrepreneurs have not yet focused on the law, and their responses for employee coverage are expected to vary. Meanwhile, news outlets examine some of the issues around paying premiums and other insurance issues.

13 Dec 2013

Exercise may slow kidney function decline in kidney disease patients

Increased physical activity may slow kidney function decline in patients with kidney disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. The findings suggest that exercise could have a powerful effect on maintaining patients' health.

13 Dec 2013