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Obama adviser Plouffe, Rep. Ryan dispute Medicare, Medicaid reform

The Sunday talk shows brought out fundamental differences on what to do about entitlement programs.

11 Apr 2011

CRONA, Stanford and Packard Children's Hospital sign new contracts for nursing programs

Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital announced today that they have reached new contract agreements with the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement, the union which represents 2,700 of the hospitals' nurses.

11 Apr 2011

Government shutdown does not impact Medicare coverage to seniors

Medicare coverage will not be affected by the possible government shutdown that would begin at midnight tonight. Medicare is an essential service that does not need a congressional vote to function.

11 Apr 2011

Transitional care can improve health outcomes, reduce hospital readmissions

Currently, one in five elderly patients discharged from a hospital is readmitted within a month. Seeking to address the human and substantial financial burden of revolving door hospital readmissions, the Affordable Care Act proposes a number of initiatives to improve care and health outcomes and reduce costs for the growing population of chronically ill people in the U.S. While transitional care is a central theme in these provisions, there is little information available to guide those responsible for implementing these important opportunities.

11 Apr 2011

NCI, ASH, AMEH join to improve care for patients with AML

A workshop being held today will serve as the launch of a unique project that unites the American Society of Hematology, the Agrupaci-n Mexicana para el Estudio de la Hematolog-a, and the National Cancer Institute in pursuit of a common goal: improving the care of patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

11 Apr 2011

SpectraShield surgical respirator receives FDA clearance to reduce MRSA infections

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the SpectraShield 9500 N95 surgical respirator, a device that kills 99.99 percent of three different kinds of bacteria when exposed to its outer surface.

11 Apr 2011

VIGILAIR air cleaning technology greatly reduces HAI in NICU: Study

VIGILAIR Systems, an industry leader in Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation technology was instrumental in a newly published, and first of its kind hospital study that demonstrated a dramatic reduction in patient Hospital Acquired Infections with the application of VIGILAIR® air cleaning technology in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

11 Apr 2011

Opinions: Budget talks, foreign aid; making drugs more accessible to poor

"If the federal government shuts down at midnight on Friday - which seems likely unless negotiations take a sudden turn toward rationality - it will not be because of disagreements over spending. It will be because Republicans are refusing to budge on these ideological demands," argues a New York Times editorial, highlighting issues such as "foreign aid to countries that might use the money for abortion or family planning ... aid to the United Nations Population Fund, which supports family-planning services."

11 Apr 2011

Doctors, nurse and midwives bear brunt of NHS cuts

The Royal College of Nursing has also warned that hospital wards are becoming unsafe as there are just not enough frontline workers to look after patients or prevent the spread of infection. There are also fears that nurses are so overworked they are unable to carry out their most basic duties of care such attending to the needs of the vulnerable elderly.

10 Apr 2011

US should watch how UK adopts new, 'value-based pricing' policy

The United States should pay close attention to how the United Kingdom carries out plans to assess a new drug's worth using factors that go beyond clinical and cost effectiveness, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.

8 Apr 2011

'Every woman should know her breast density'

D.E.N.S.E. CA, breast cancer survivors advocating for breast density awareness, and Are You Dense, Inc., a non-profit breast cancer organization, kicked off a California-wide public awareness campaign today designed to increase awareness of the risks of dense breast tissue and its impact on the early detection of breast cancer.

8 Apr 2011

Reduction in alcohol prices increases alcohol-related mortality

Does a reduction in the price of alcohol result in an increase in deaths due to alcohol? This was the subject of a study following a significant reduction in taxes in Finland in 2004 (30% for spirits, 3% for wine).The abolition of import quotas by the EU in 2004 also made it possible to import from other member countries and this led to an increase of approximately 10% in alcohol consumption in Finland.

8 Apr 2011

Doctors backing single payer system fault Vermont's plan

Physicians for a National Health Program suggest the proposal in Vermont falls "far short" of their goals, The Hill Reports. Meanwhile, The Boston Globe has an interview with one of the architects of the Vermont plan.

8 Apr 2011

Revised definition of catastrophic impairment may result in reduction of benefits

The Alliance of Community Medical Rehabilitation Providers is urging the government to protect seriously injured car accident victims when it considers the report of the Catastrophic Impairment Expert Panel. The report is scheduled to be released next week.

8 Apr 2011

Giffords' case leads to push for brain-injury care to be 'essential benefit'

A letter from the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., urges HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to include such care in the health law's essential benefits package, despite budget pressures looming in Congress.

8 Apr 2011

Medicare doctor payments sometimes pit specialties against each other

One of the biggest disputes in the Relative Value Scale Update Committee came in 2005, when members clashed over primary-care groups' push for increases in the payments for doctor office visits, which are among the most commonly-billed Medicare services.

8 Apr 2011

Ryan's plan to reshape Medicare triggers cost, political concerns

News outlets report on how the plan to privatize Medicare may actually increase costs and how the GOP plan could turn out to be a "front-burner" issue during the presidential primary.

8 Apr 2011

Hospital-owned practices winning over physicians

[Many doctors] are giving up ownership of their practices to become part of hospital-owned practices or larger groups with multiple specialties. ... Young doctors in particular are choosing to work for larger organizations rather than starting their own practices, they say.

8 Apr 2011

Is the U.S. prepared for a nuclear emergency?

A blunt assessment circulating among American officials says "Current capabilities can only handle a few radiation injuries at any one time." That assessment [was] prepared by the Department of Homeland Security in 2010 ...

8 Apr 2011

NHIC to cover PTNS using Uroplasty's Urgent PC Neuromodulation System for overactive bladder

Uroplasty, Inc. announced that NHIC Corp., the Medicare carrier for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, will cover posterior tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) using Uroplasty's Urgent® PC Neuromodulation System for the treatment of overactive bladder and associated symptoms, effective May 22, 2011.

8 Apr 2011