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State roundup: Minn. defends Medicaid billing; Cigna, N.H. Group form joint venture; Health coupons in Mass.

Top Minnesota health officials pushed back Tuesday against a congressional committee probing allegations that the state overbilled federal taxpayers for Medicaid services to cover losses from in other state-run public health programs. In a letter to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Minnesota Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson defended reforms implemented under DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, saying "our focus has been on changing course rather than investigating the past."

31 May 2012

International conference: 'Preventing Overdiagnosis'

Overdiagnosis poses a significant threat to human health by labeling healthy people as sick and wasting resources on unnecessary care, warns Ray Moynihan, Senior Research Fellow at Bond University in Australia, in a feature published on bmj.com today.

31 May 2012

Texas hospital selects Spacelabs for patient monitoring and connectivity solutions

OSI Systems, Inc., a vertically integrated provider of specialized electronic products for critical applications in the security and healthcare industries, today announced that its Healthcare division, Spacelabs Healthcare, has received an approximate $4 million contract to provide its state-of-the-art solutions to a Texas hospital's new Telemetry, Intensive Care and Emergency Departments.

31 May 2012

Acorda Therapeutics launches Ampyra Dialogues on World MS Day

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., makers of Ampyra (dalfampridine), today announced the launch of Ampyra Dialogues, the first-ever online talk show where patients and medical experts talk about how walking problems affect people living with MS.

31 May 2012

In new models for care, seniors look at co-housing options while patients elsewhere get hospital care at home

Some elderly residents of North Carolina are exploring co-housing options to avoid having to leave their homes. Meanwhile, in a few spots health leaders are instituting the "hospital at home" concept.

31 May 2012

Dehydration: how much should we drink per day?

As the northern hemisphere approaches the summer months, many of us begin to think about drinking more to prevent dehydration. But exactly how much should we be drinking a day? Does the amount vary depending on what we are drinking? And what happens if we don’t drink enough fluid?

30 May 2012

Specialty doctor groups ask feds to delay managed care move for dual eligibles

Several organizations have asked the federal government to slow down implementation of a health law provision that would move people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid into managed care.

30 May 2012

USAID announces Food Security Open Data Challenge

Following President Barack Obama's announcement of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition at a food security summit last week, "USAID launched a Food Security Open Data Challenge that invites technologists, agriculture stakeholders, entrepreneurs, academics, and others to determine the most creative and wide-reaching use of open data for food security solutions and better, cheaper, and faster results," Maura O'Neill, chief innovation officer at USAID, and Kat Townsend, special assistant for engagement at USAID, write in a post in the agency's "DipNote" blog (5/27).

30 May 2012

Funding alone will not reduce maternal and child mortality rates

The statistics on maternal, newborn, and child mortality around the world are staggering: 265,000 maternal deaths, 880,000 stillbirths, 1.2 million neonatal deaths, and 3.2 million infant and child deaths annually, the vast majority occurring in low-income countries.

30 May 2012

'Silo' effect of western health aid to Africa damaging continent's future

In a two-part series in his Slate blog "The Reckoning," author Michael Moran examines the "silo" effect of Western aid to improve health in Africa, writing in the first part, "Charities know that raising money for exotic disease eradication in the West is a good deal easier than, say, funding upgrades to substandard cardiac facilities.

30 May 2012

Law aims to illuminate financial links between doctors and pharmaceutical companies

A Colorado School of Public Health researcher has found that laws designed to illuminate financial links between doctors and pharmaceutical companies have little or no effect on what drugs physicians prescribe.

30 May 2012

New mentorship scheme for healthcare researchers launches in Europe

A new mentorship scheme to develop world-class researchers across the healthcare professions in England has been launched. Funded for three years by the Department of Health, the Chief Nursing Officer and the Chief Scientific Officer, the scheme provides high quality mentorship to healthcare researchers awarded with national research fellowships.

30 May 2012

Insurers make patients pay hundreds more for cancer, arthritis drugs

Thousands of patients taking costly drugs for ailments such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis are being asked to shoulder a greater share of the expense. In other news, consumers are demanding access to their medical device data. Others are harnessing the internet to jumpstart medical research and share important experiences, including serious illnesses, with family and friends.

30 May 2012

IACFS/ME releases new guidelines for chronic fatigue syndrome

The International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME), the largest group of physicians and researchers dedicated to chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), has released updated care guidelines directed at primary care physicians and other health care providers.

30 May 2012

EWMA: International consensus on appropriate usage of silver dressings in wound care launched

An international consensus on the appropriate usage of silver dressings in wound care was launched this month at the European Wound Management Association (EWMA)'s Conference in Vienna. The guidelines brought together 12 expert clinicians from 10 different countries to respond to recent evidence reviews that have questioned the widespread use of silver in advanced wound care.

30 May 2012

Beike stem cell bank in China granted AABB accreditation

Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd announced that it has been awarded AABB accreditation for cord blood and cord tissue banking. This accreditation has been granted following an intensive on-site assessment by AABB assessors and establishes that the level of medical, technical and administrative performance within the facility is in accordance with the AABB standards or exceeds those set by AABB.

30 May 2012

For many prostate cancer patients, new guidance is confusing

The recommendation that fewer men get screened for the disease goes against what many people believe should be appropriate, NPR reports.

30 May 2012

People afraid of dying badly rather than actually dying

"What people are afraid of is dying badly rather than actually dying". I-aki Olaizola has observed how Basque society feels about euthanasia and the process of dying, and how the perception has changed since the 1970s.

30 May 2012

Fluke Biomedical receives RoHS E Environmentally-Friendly label for SPOT Light test device

Fluke Biomedical announced today the new ProSim SPOT Light SpO2 Functional Tester is the first biomedical test tool on the market to achieve the RoHS E Environmentally-Friendly label. Short for Restriction of Use of Hazardous Substances, RoHS regulations are designed to limit or eliminate substances that are dangerous to the environment and to people.

30 May 2012

Breathe Technologies earns Medical Design Excellence Award for NIOV System

Breathe Technologies, Inc. today announced that their Non-Invasive Open Ventilation (NIOV) System has been awarded a prestigious Medical Design Excellence Award (MDEA).

30 May 2012