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Tips to optimize your health care budget this year

You can help lower your out-of-pocket health care costs by understanding what your health plan covers, what it does not cover and how to make the most of every dollar spent on health care and health insurance.

13 Jan 2012

UBM Medica announces unique marketing and distribution partnership with HITECH Answers

HITECH Answers, a leading provider of educational resources on the HITECH Act, the ARRA stimulus benefits and Meaningful Use (MU) announced today a unique marketing and distribution partnership with UBM Medica.

13 Jan 2012

International health groups ally to fight cholera in Haiti; Officials emphasize need for sanitation infrastructure

"Unless steps are taken to eliminate cholera from Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic, the disease will likely resurge and could even spread to other parts of the Caribbean, international health officials said Wednesday," CQ HealthBeat reports.

13 Jan 2012

Hospital lobbyists prepare push against doc-owned facilities; SGR 'dilemma' could play into efforts to pass a 'doc fix'

A provision to loosen restriction on physician-owned hospitals found its way into the December tax extension bill, making the national hospital lobby wary that it may be included in the House-Senate negotiations for a long-term compromise. Meanwhile, as always, efforts to repeal Medicare's SGR are complicated.

13 Jan 2012

Racial discrimination may impact your health and wellness

Racial discrimination may be harmful to your health, according to new research from Rice University sociologists Jenifer Bratter and Bridget Gorman.

12 Jan 2012

Sutter Health enters two-year contract agreement with Aetna

Aetna and Sutter Health today announced that they have reached agreement on a two-year contract renewal maintaining network access for Aetna members in Northern California.

12 Jan 2012

Roundup: SEC pursuing managed care execs in Fla.; Minn. emergency medical assistance program ends; Ore. lawmakers consider reforming medical liability laws

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is going after some former WellCare Health Plans executives in federal civil court regarding their alleged actions concerning WellCare's managed-care contracts for behavioral health in the state of Florida. In 2010, WellCare agreed to pay about $334 million to settle legal actions with various entities related to an alleged $40 million, five-year pattern of fraud in those contracts without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.

12 Jan 2012

U.N. poised to take on challenge of global health

"In just over two decades, global health has gained a political visibility and status that some authors have called a political revolution," Ilona Kickbusch, director of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, writes in a U.N. Chronicle opinion analysis.

12 Jan 2012

HRSA's Wakefield talks about ACOs and community health centers

Joining me today is Dr. Mary Wakefield, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). An agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, HRSA is committed to improving access to healthcare services for some of our nation's most vulnerable citizens.

12 Jan 2012

Dermatologist suggests to follow four Rs to fend off signs of aging

Eyes are called the windows to the soul, but the fine lines around the eyes can be the mouth that shouts the reality of our age. In fact, crow's feet -the fine wrinkles around the eyes - can start showing up on a person as early as their late 20s.

12 Jan 2012

National Biosecurity Board to review state of bird flu research

Federal officials have asked the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) "to review the state of the science looking at human transmission of deadly bird flu, says panel chief Paul Keim of Northern Arizona University," USA Today reports.

12 Jan 2012

New ACS guidelines stress importance of social and physical environments

Updated guidelines on nutrition and physical activity for cancer prevention from the American Cancer Society stress the importance of creating social and physical environments that support healthy behaviors. The report includes updated recommendations for individual choices regarding diet and physical activity patterns, but emphasizes that those choices occur within a community context that can either help or hinder healthy behaviors.

12 Jan 2012

Few New Hampshire GOP voters cite health care as top concern

Exit polls from Tuesday's New Hampshire primary found the economy to be the highest ranking issue among voters. Meanwhile, as campaigns move on to South Carolina, GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is set to run a new ad about rival Mitt Romney's abortion positions.

12 Jan 2012

New research project in rehabilitation

Intelligent wheelchairs that automatically guide you to the correct store while avoiding obstacles, specific colors on the walls and stairs in order to obtain better contrasts which would likely prevent potential falls, personal guides with special training for different types of disabilities- These scenarios could soon become a reality at Place Alexis Nihon due a new ambitious research project in rehabilitation involving some of the best Quebec researchers in this area.

12 Jan 2012

As the nation's elderly population grows, so does concern for their care

They're weak, physically or mentally disabled or both, and often at the mercy of people they depend on the most: relatives and caretakers. They're the nation's fast-growing elderly population, and many are prime targets for abuse - physical, financial, sexual or emotional. Concern among the elderly and their advocates is mounting as the number of seniors soars and more of them live longer.

12 Jan 2012

States file briefs against health law's Medicaid expansion

In a brief filed Tuesday, the 26 states that are involved in a challenge to the health law argued the measure's Medicaid expansion is "unconstitutional coercion" and linked it to the individual mandate.

12 Jan 2012

Implementation efforts continue at the state level

In Virginia, Democratic lawmakers are pushing a proposal to establish a state-based exchange. These legislators see their plan, which is built on the argument that state action would keep the federal government from being involved, will draw support from others regardless of their feelings about the health law itself. Meanwhile, Montana's high-risk insurance pool is running out of cash.

12 Jan 2012

CDC, NIST develop two new SRMs for measurements of toxic environmental chemicals

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has developed two new Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) for measurements of human exposure to environmental toxins.

12 Jan 2012

New NIST clinical SRM can help in accurate CMV detection and treatment

A new clinical Standard Reference Material (SRM) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will help health care professionals more accurately diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common pathogen that is particularly dangerous for infants and persons with weakened immune systems.

12 Jan 2012

Advocates react to administration's draft framework to stop Alzheimer's

The organization USAgainstAlzheimer's applauded the plan's goal of eliminating the disease by 2025 but would like to speed the timeline for development of new prevention and treatment approaches.

12 Jan 2012