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One billion non-Medicare billings are processed yearly, says expert

The U.S. remains on track to spend twice as much for health care as for food, yet millions are without insurance or uninsured.

17 Nov 2011

American Academy of Pediatrics expands sleep safety guidelines

Creating a sleep environment for a child is much more than choosing a pretty blanket; it truly can be a life-or-death decision. "Sleep is extremely important for all of us, but especially for infants. It's when kids grow. The nervous system gets a chance to rest and assimilate all the new experiences and information the baby has learned throughout the day," said Lisa Martin, MD, Loyola University Health System pediatrician and associate professor of pediatrics at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

17 Nov 2011

Loyola surgeon first in the Chicago to implant Esteem hearing device

Lesa Merlo's hearing loss was so severe she had to read her children's lips when they talked to her. Then Dr. Sam Marzo of Loyola University Medical Center implanted a new hearing device in her middle ear. "I could hear their real laugh for the first time since they were babies," she said. "It was different, clear, pure and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined."

17 Nov 2011

UTHealth study: Heart attack patients who call 911 are sicker

Cardiologists are quick to point to statistics showing that the "door-to-balloon" treatment time for heart attack patients has dropped significantly in the past few years. But a retrospective study reveals that those who call 911 are most likely to have suffered a severe heart attack and despite receiving treatment quickly, they are still dying at unacceptable rates, say researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

17 Nov 2011

Facing pressure from all sides, deficit panel keeps hands off health law

The sweeping 2010 health law has stayed largely intact even as super committee members struggle to slash the nation's deficit. Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick down toward the deadline even as more proposals are being floated.

17 Nov 2011

House subcommittee approves GOP-backed measure to repeal CLASS Act

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Tuesday voted to approve legislation that would repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act included in the healthcare reform law. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act tasked HHS with developing a benefit plan for CLASS, a voluntary long-term-care insurance program, that was financially sustainable and also met the legal requirements of the statute.

17 Nov 2011

CNN profiles Global Soap Project's work in sanitation

As part of its "CNN Heroes" series, CNN examines the Global Soap Project, started by Derreck Kayongo, a Ugandan war refugee and one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011. The organization works with more than 300 hotels in the U.S. to collect used bars of soap, clean them and reprocess them to be distributed in countries such as Haiti, Kenya, Swaziland and Uganda, CNN reports.

17 Nov 2011

Discovery of what triggers smoking could make interventions more effective

Discovering when and why students smoke might lead to the development of better intervention methods, according to researchers at the University of Missouri. In an article published in the journal Substance Use & Misuse, the researchers showed that partying, drinking and work prompted college students to recall their smoking experience, and that smoking occurred most often at the start of the semester and on weekends.

17 Nov 2011

Oregon Insurance Commissioner tapped to advise HHS on health exchanges

Oregon's top insurance regulator is joining the Health and Human Services Department to help implement insurance exchanges. Oregon Insurance Administrator Teresa Miller will start at HHS next month, according to a department email. She'll be a senior adviser on exchanges, working with state governments to get the new insurance marketplaces off the ground.

17 Nov 2011

Group launches effort to improve dental health

A group of advocacy organizations Tuesday launched the Campaign for Dental Health, an effort designed to promote oral health and to urge states and local governments to help prevent dental problems by investing in such prevention strategies as water fluoridation. Voices for America's Children, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Pew Children's Dental Campaign are spearheading this effort.

17 Nov 2011

Regardless of outcome, high court health law decision will be landmark ruling

As Barack Obama battled Hillary Rodham Clinton over health care during the Democratic presidential primaries of 2008, he was adamant about one thing: Americans, he insisted, should not be required to buy health insurance. … Now President Obama may wish he had stuck to those words. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to take up a constitutional challenge to his landmark health care bill, and a decision could come in the midst of Mr. Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

17 Nov 2011

Autism Speaks receives $100,000 Royal Arch Masons RARA grant

The General Chapter of Royal Arch Masons International presented Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism research and advocacy organization, with a $100,000 Royal Arch Research Assistance (RARA) grant in support of the Autism Speaks early diagnosis and early intervention initiative to investigate auditory processing disorders in children with autism.

17 Nov 2011

Health officials report more than 200 cases of typhoid in Zimbabwe's capital

"Health authorities say 207 cases of typhoid are being treated in Zimbabwe's capital after a prolonged spell of unusually hot weather amid acute water shortages," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. Prosper Chonzi, Harare city council health director, "said Tuesday the disease will be difficult to contain in impoverished townships relying on water from shallow, makeshift wells and marshlands," and that "humanitarian agencies have been asked to help provide clean water," the news service writes.

17 Nov 2011

NYU Langone recognized as leading cardiovascular hospital in the U.S.

NYU Langone Medical Center has been recognized as a leading cardiovascular hospital in the United States. The medical center received the Thomson Reuters Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospitals 2012 Award for its high-quality cardiovascular care and excellent performance in key clinical measures. The medical center is the only hospital in New York State to be honored with this year's award.

17 Nov 2011

Physicians want more palliative care despite barriers

A new poll shows that doctors believe that quality of life for dying patients is more important than working to extend that patient's life for as long as possible.

17 Nov 2011

IAC executive director wins ECBT Immunization Leadership Award

The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) is proud to announce that its executive director, Deborah Wexler, MD, has been selected as the honoree of the Every Child By Two Immunization Leadership Award. Every Child By Two (ECBT), founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and former First Lady of Arkansas Betty Bumpers, is dedicated to protecting all children from vaccine-preventable diseases.

17 Nov 2011

Mass. and Calif. insurers, health systems facing off

Tufts Medical Center and its doctors group say they will stop doing business with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts on Jan. 17 because the two sides can't agree on a new contract. The move could force tens of thousands of Blue Cross members to change doctors and compel employers across Massachusetts to consider switching to another insurer.

17 Nov 2011

Nursing home stocks fall

The stocks of nursing-home operators -; and the landlords that rent to them -; have fallen sharply since late July, when the federal government announced an 11.1 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements. The landlords were affected because investors reasoned that some nursing homes won't have enough cash to pay rent.

17 Nov 2011

Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increase by 50% from 2003 to 2010

Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased by 50 percent from 2003 to 2010, and the annual amount that employees pay toward their insurance increased by 63 percent as businesses required employees to contribute a greater share, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report that examines state trends in health insurance costs.

17 Nov 2011

Cholera outbreak hits Kenya's largest refugee camp

"Cholera has broken out in the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya, home to nearly 500,000 Somali refugees, the United Nations said on Tuesday," Reuters reports.

17 Nov 2011