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First comprehensive guide to hospital emergency preparedness exercise development

With the publication of the nation's first comprehensive, federally funded guide to hospital emergency preparedness exercise development, Dr. Nathaniel Hupert at Weill Cornell Medical College and his collaborators have provided a new toolset for strengthening hospitals' ability to protect communities nationwide against public health disasters, such as creating care centers during an influenza pandemic or treating casualties in the wake of a bioterrorism attack.

17 Dec 2010

Reuters rates hospitals' cardiovascular program

Loyola University Hospital's mortality rate from heart-bypass surgery is 74 percent lower than the mortality rate at peer hospitals, according to Thomson Reuters Cardiovascular Benchmarks Report.

17 Dec 2010

White House to hold meetings with stakeholders on overhaul implementation

News outlets offer reports about action on the implementation front, including White House stakeholder meetings and a vote by state insurance officials regarding the information health plans should provide consumers.

17 Dec 2010

Iowa moves forward on health exchange; Texas medical school highlights geriatrics; Concerns grow about prisoners' mental health needs

Republican lawmakers on the state level are largely against the new health reform law—but they aren't against all of the behemoth legislation. Virginia dominated headlines this week when a federal judge ruled the individual mandate to buy insurance unconstitutional on Monday. Much less noticed: the very next day, a task force appointed by Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell recommended that the state implement a health insurance exchange earlier than federal guidelines require (Kliff, 12/16).

17 Dec 2010

Florida Judge hears arguments in 20-state health law challenge; says ruling will take time

The Associated Press: Attorneys for 20 states involved in a challenge to the new health law argued Thursday morning before U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson that it will "expand the government's powers in dangerous and unintended ways." The states were seeking "a summary judgment throwing out the health care law without a full trial. They argue it violates people's rights by forcing them to buy health insurance by 2014 or face penalties."

17 Dec 2010

Collaboration seeks to uncover the best strategies to improve health care, lower costs

A group of health care organizations are joining forces to compile evidence on the strategies the work best to address a variety of common, and usually expensive, medical conditions. Meanwhile, the nation's new Medicare chief is hitting the road to hear ideas about improving the health care system.

17 Dec 2010

Holder, Sebelius convene day-long summit on health care fraud

High-ranking Obama administration officials are convening a day-long meeting in Massachusetts to brainstorm about ways to prevent health care fraud and abuse. In other news, a federal district judge upholds the prohibition on three former executives from the company that made the painkiller OxyContin — they will continue to be barred from involvement with any government-financed health care program.

17 Dec 2010

Clinton outlines QDDR recommendations at launch event

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton released the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) on Wednesday at the State Department, "pledging to focus more on conflict prevention and elevate the roles of U.S. ambassadors in coordinating the work of all U.S. agencies working abroad," the Washington Post reports (Sheridan, 12/16).

17 Dec 2010

Positive economic signs evident in health sector

News outlets report that the health care sector has recently been posting more jobs and been the focus of more private equity investment interest.

17 Dec 2010

Houston Chronicle: Testing flex money limits

The IRS hasn't officially weighed in. Neither has Congress. But it looks as if most — if not all — of the annual retainers people are paying for special attention from their doctors is not reimbursable under flexible spending accounts.

17 Dec 2010

High-dose rate brachytherapy procedure to treat prostate cancer

Beaumont Hospital radiation oncologists have launched a research study to treat men with low to intermediate risk prostate cancer with a single dose of radiation.

17 Dec 2010

Health law challenges shift to Florida courtroom

Today marks a "new day in court" as oral arguments will be heard in a Florida courtroom regarding the 20-state legal challenge. This lawsuit includes issues surrounding the health law's individual mandate and Medicaid expansions. Meanwhile, analysis continues regarding Monday's decision by a federal court judge in Virginia and a new round of debate regarding whether the health overhaul lawsuits bring to light issues of judicial bias.

16 Dec 2010

Today's Opinions: Health law spending; Funding threats undercut U.S. legal tradition; Medicaid falls short

Rising entitlement spending is already driving the federal budget off a cliff. But Obamacare would add fuel to the fire with the largest entitlement expansion since the 1960s. So it takes a special kind of audacity for Obamacare's apologists to continue to insist that the new law will cut the projected budget deficits.

16 Dec 2010

Guardian 24/7 selects Glowpoint's video managed services for remote diagnosis and patient collaboration

Glowpoint, Inc., a provider of cloud-based managed services for telepresence, video conferencing and collaboration, today announced that Guardian 24/7, a health care provider for high-profile executives, has selected Glowpoint's video managed services for providing remote diagnosis and patient collaboration using high-quality video conferencing.

16 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 16, 2010

In today's headlines, continuing analysis of how the health law is faring in the courts and what the sweeping measure's future might look like.

16 Dec 2010

RAD to restore SCI's Radiation Treatment Center

Swedish Cancer Institute (SCI) has embarked on a bold approach to rapidly restore community-based radiotherapy cancer treatment in the Ballard community utilizing state-of-the-art building technology that is swift and green.

16 Dec 2010

PCSBI issues 18 recommendations in emerging field of synthetic biology

The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues today released its first report-a wide-ranging review of the emerging field of synthetic biology-issuing 18 recommendations including a call for coordinated federal oversight of scientists working in both large institutions and smaller settings.

16 Dec 2010

MedicAlert Foundation's 'Code of Conduct' helps evaluate integrity of emergency medical information

The non-profit MedicAlert Foundation published a "Code of Conduct" in an effort to help consumers evaluate the integrity of organizations providing emergency medical information and identification services. In addition, as part of the "Code of Conduct" the Foundation has established business practice standards for medical information and identification service organizations that house consumer health information. Across the country millions of consumers are using personal health records, emergency medical information services, personal medical alarms systems or medical identification jewelry services.

16 Dec 2010

Determinants of health have stronger impact on Canadians' health than healthy lifestyle

A report released today by the Health Council of Canada declares that unless governments change their approach to addressing the needs of poorer and socially disadvantaged Canadians, we are destined to continue to spend large amount of dollars on our health care system. Governments must expand their approach to health promotion in order to tackle the major societal factors that lead to poor health and to take pressure off health care budgets.

16 Dec 2010

WHO report shows significant progress in global malaria fight, highlights need for continued funding

Since 2008, global malaria control efforts have "helped reduce infections across Africa and [eliminate] the disease in Morocco and Turkmenistan, but a slowdown in funding risks undoing those achievements," according to the WHO's annual malaria report, which was released on Tuesday, Reuters reports (Nebehay, 12/14).

16 Dec 2010

Healthcare News

First comprehensive guide to hospital emergency preparedness exercise development

Reuters rates hospitals' cardiovascular program

White House to hold meetings with stakeholders on overhaul implementation

Iowa moves forward on health exchange; Texas medical school highlights geriatrics; Concerns grow about prisoners' mental health needs

Florida Judge hears arguments in 20-state health law challenge; says ruling will take time

Collaboration seeks to uncover the best strategies to improve health care, lower costs

Holder, Sebelius convene day-long summit on health care fraud

Clinton outlines QDDR recommendations at launch event

Positive economic signs evident in health sector

Houston Chronicle: Testing flex money limits

High-dose rate brachytherapy procedure to treat prostate cancer

Health law challenges shift to Florida courtroom

Today's Opinions: Health law spending; Funding threats undercut U.S. legal tradition; Medicaid falls short

Guardian 24/7 selects Glowpoint's video managed services for remote diagnosis and patient collaboration

First Edition: December 16, 2010

RAD to restore SCI's Radiation Treatment Center

PCSBI issues 18 recommendations in emerging field of synthetic biology

MedicAlert Foundation's 'Code of Conduct' helps evaluate integrity of emergency medical information

Determinants of health have stronger impact on Canadians' health than healthy lifestyle

WHO report shows significant progress in global malaria fight, highlights need for continued funding

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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