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Oral levetiracetam may be effective in stopping neonatal seizures

Seizures that occur in the first few weeks of life are a major predictor of future adverse neurological outcomes. Currently approved antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are effective in stopping seizures in less than 50% of these neonatal cases. The approved therapies can also have undesirable side effects.

6 Dec 2010

Texas gov. Perry backs away from Medicaid dropout threat

Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program are breaking the state's budget, but opting out of the federal programs would have a devastating effect on health care delivery in Texas, according to a state report issued Friday. The report said most of the methods for fixing Medicaid spending in Texas will require acts of Congress, not the Legislature, to give the state greater flexibility in how the programs are run and a greater share of the national Medicaid financing.

6 Dec 2010

Health insurance news: Conn. rejects Anthem BC/BS rate increase, stock prices 'steady' despite reform law

The state Insurance Department refuted charges Friday by a nonprofit health-policy research group that Connecticut insurance regulators are understaffed and approve only minor changes to health-insurance rate hikes. Acting Insurance Commissioner Barbara C. Spear reacted to a report released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation that said the state Department of Insurance 'has only one full-time actuary on staff' assigned to review rate filings for both the individual and small-group markets. ... 'Staffing levels do not have anything to do with the thoroughness of our rate review process,' Spear said." (Sturdevant, 12/13).

6 Dec 2010

University of Portland's school of engineering named after Bjork-Shiley heart valve inventor

University of Portland's school of engineering will now be known as the Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering in recognition of the late Donald Shiley, a 1951 graduate who was an engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist and loving husband and father. Among his many groundbreaking inventions was the Bjork-Shiley heart valve, an innovative medical device that has been credited with saving more than a half million lives.

4 Dec 2010

Symposium to highlight aggression nurses experience in workplaces and lives

Nurses will use the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women to shine a spotlight on the aggression nurses and other health-care professionals experience in their workplaces and lives.

4 Dec 2010

HSS creates Center for Musculoskeletal Outcomes and Patient Oriented Research

Hospital for Special Surgery announced the creation of the Center for Musculoskeletal Outcomes and Patient Oriented Research to translate information collected from an extensive patient population into studies that will guide experts in preventing, diagnosing and treating musculoskeletal disorders.

4 Dec 2010

NCI director ignorant of cancer prevention, says coalition

On October 22, 2010, Senator Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Dr. Harold Varmus, who was appointed director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) by President Obama three months previously. The Senator raised questions on the amount of "sponsored travel," sometimes a dozen or more trips a year and almost exclusively to international conferences paid for by outside organizations or companies, taken in recent years by "numerous NCI employees, notably senior leadership."

4 Dec 2010

AANS injury prevention tips during winter holiday season

During the winter holiday season there are many warnings in the news about preventing house fires caused by Christmas trees and faulty electrical wiring. There are also warnings about too much merriment leading to alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents. A lesser known fact is the risk of head injury related to hanging and taking down Christmas decorations.

4 Dec 2010

Elimination of first month purchase option for power wheelchairs will hurt Medicare beneficiaries in rural areas

For 12 years, Gerald Sloan, owner of Progressive Medical Equipment, LLC, has provided home medical equipment to Medicare patients from his retail outlets near Kansas City and St. Louis, and he is also vice president of the Midwest Association for Medical Equipment Services (MAMES). Today, Sloan is concerned that the elimination of the first month purchase option for Medicare beneficiaries requiring power wheelchairs will prevent patients in rural areas from receiving the mobility assistance that has been prescribed by their physicians.

4 Dec 2010

Conference focuses on new molecular, mechanical solutions to improve surgeries

A two-day conference at the University of Chicago Medical Center is designed to offer surgeons a peek at the profession's future by focusing on new molecular and mechanical solutions to three age-old problems: preventing the breakdown of anastomoses (the surgically created connections between blood vessels), improving tissue healing after surgery and developing new tools to test and sharpen surgical skills.

4 Dec 2010

THCA has serious concerns regarding any effort to drop elders out of federal Medicaid program

On behalf of an aging Texas elderly population who depend upon adequate Medicaid funding to meet their growing care needs, and on behalf of the staff and facilities that are a mainstay of local economies throughout the state, THCA has serious concerns regarding any effort to drop out of the federal Medicaid program.

4 Dec 2010

HCW, CAI invite NC employers to participate in Healthcare Benefits & Cost Survey

Hill, Chesson & Woody and Capital Associated Industries have launched their sixth annual Healthcare Benefits & Cost Survey, and all N.C.-based employers are invited to participate and strengthen the sample by visiting the surveys tab on CAI's Web site, www.capital.org.

4 Dec 2010

ETP, EF announce latest grant recipients of New Therapy Grants Program

The Epilepsy Therapy Project and the Epilepsy Foundation today announced the latest grant recipients of their New Therapy Grants Program, a unique joint venture of two non-profit epilepsy organizations, to advance promising epilepsy research in clinical development.

4 Dec 2010

Healthy People 2020 targets barriers to breastfeeding

For the first time, the barriers to breastfeeding are being addressed at the highest level of government. With the release today of Healthy People 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has targeted the new 10-year goals for our nation's health - and supporting breastfeeding is prominent among them.

4 Dec 2010

LHC Group alters 2010 guidance due to reduction in Medicare reimbursement

LHC Group, Inc., a national provider of home health and hospice services, announced today that the Company is adjusting its full year earnings per share outlook for 2010 solely due to the 4.89% reduction to Medicare reimbursement that was outlined in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update for Calendar Year 2011, which was released on November 3, 2010, following the Company's third quarter earnings call.

4 Dec 2010

HHS, CCSC establish new national awards program

The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Critical Care Societies Collaborative have established a new national awards program. The National Awards Program to Recognize Achievements in Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections will annually recognize teams of critical care professionals and healthcare institutions that achieve excellence and notable, sustained improvements in preventing healthcare-associated infections, specifically infections in critical care.

4 Dec 2010

IOM releases new dietary recommendations for calcium, vitamin D intakes

The Institute of Medicine recently released new dietary recommendations for calcium and vitamin D intakes, known as Dietary Reference Intakes, used broadly by health professionals and policy makers to guide consumers' dietary patterns. Citing a strong body of new scientific evidence, the IOM based their recommendations on bone health outcomes, confirming the importance of vitamin D and calcium in promoting bone growth and maintenance through various stages of life.

4 Dec 2010

Sermo releases report on potential replacements for warfarin

Sermo, the world's largest online community for physicians, today announced a free Sermo Report titled, "Potential Replacements for Coumadin (warfarin)." The report gathered feedback from physicians about awareness and understanding of these products and potential barriers to prescribing.

4 Dec 2010

New web-based CME program to improve cancer care in rural areas

Nearly a quarter of Americans live in rural areas, which consistently report higher cancer mortality rates than urban and suburban areas. Among the complex causes for this disparity is that only 10 percent of physicians practice in rural areas and almost 4 out of 10 rural residents live at least an hour from an urban area. Finding the time, transportation, and financial resources for travel to urban academic medical centers, the standard bearers for quality cancer care, often proves difficult.

4 Dec 2010

African, Caribbean, Pacific, EU leaders meet to discuss maternal mortality, climate change, other issues

Leaders from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of nations and the European Union launched "wide-ranging talks" in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports. Approximately 450 lawmakers from 110 countries attended the opening.

4 Dec 2010