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Viewpoints: Compromises on fixing Medicare?; 'progress' on AIDS; working families falling behind

Fixing Medicare should not compromise patient care. The president's health care bill created the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board. This panel of unelected bureaucrats, whose sole purpose is to decide whether to offer Medicare benefits based on a budget, could lead to government rationing of care.

21 Jun 2011

Experts help raise awareness about dangers of melanoma in the U.S.

San Diego is one of the top 10 sunniest cities in the United States. Even when "June Gloom" clouds our skies, the sun is still very powerful. With that in mind, experts with UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center are helping raise awareness of the dangers of melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.

21 Jun 2011

J.P. Morgan announces donation of £1.5M to GAVI Alliance

J.P. Morgan has today announced that it will donate £1.5 million to the GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership dedicated to saving children's lives and protecting people's health by increasing access to immunisation in the world's poorest countries.

21 Jun 2011

Roundup: State employee benefit battles heat up; Wis. Gov. to remake Medicaid program; Mass. cost controls

The Legislature is close to wrapping up its work on the $25 billion state budget bill after the Senate made minor changes to the plan late Sunday before approving it by a lopsided margin. ... the spending plan for the budget year that starts July 1 would eliminate more than 2,000 state jobs and includes cuts in most state departments and agencies.

21 Jun 2011

Medicare targets 5 Fla. hospitals for patient readmissions; Task force suggests changes for Jackson Memorial in Miami

Five of Florida's major public and non-profit hospitals scored so poorly on return rates for Medicare patients that they will get preference this summer in a grant program to fix the problem, government documents show.

20 Jun 2011

EPA, ACS present 2011 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award to BioAmber

BioAmber, Inc. has been awarded a 2011 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, presented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Chemical Society (ACS). The Award promotes technology that provides substantial environmental benefits using green chemistry. BioAmber's platform was recognized as the leading technology in the field of succinic acid.

20 Jun 2011

Home-based care increasingly seen as alternative to nursing homes

The health law includes provisions to assist people who want to stay in their homes longer. Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times reports on knowlege gaps among adult children who may become caregivers to aging parents.

20 Jun 2011

Baptist Health System to open four new emergency hospitals in Alamo City

Baptist Health System, San Antonio's healthcare leader for more than a century, plans to open four new emergency hospitals in the Alamo City, bringing emergency medical care closer to home for many residents. The hospital system is partnering with emergency medicine pioneer Emerus to manage the facilities based on the company's successful model in other cities throughout Texas.

20 Jun 2011

Capario earns EHNAC HNAP accreditation for sixth consecutive time

Capario, Inc., a leading provider of revenue cycle management solutions that connect healthcare payers and providers nationwide, today announced it has once again achieved full accreditation with the Healthcare Network Accreditation Program (HNAP) from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC).

20 Jun 2011

GOP fight against Planned Parenthood expands as Wis. prepares to cut funding

What started out as an amendment on the House floor to defund Planned Parenthood has made its way to key battleground states in the 2012 presidential election, with Wisconsin poised to become the fourth state to choke off funding for the women's health provider.

20 Jun 2011

Activists, advocacy groups rev up behind their causes, revisit health law positions

As Tea Partiers roll through Iowa on a bus tour, single-payer advocates rally outside the annual convention of the health insurer trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans. Meanwhile, as the American Medical Association's House of Delegates meets in Chicago, its members will revisit the organzation's position on the individual mandate.

20 Jun 2011

September will mark the end of HHS mini-med waiver program

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday that it will stop accepting applications for waivers from the health law's minimum coverage requirements.

20 Jun 2011

Contaminated cocaine may lead to public health epidemic

Doctors warned of a potential public health epidemic in a recent report on patients in Los Angeles and New York who developed serious skin reactions after smoking or snorting cocaine believed to be contaminated with a veterinary medication drug dealers are using to dilute, or "cut," up to 70% of the cocaine in the U.S.

20 Jun 2011

FDA's new strategy calls for coalitions of international regulators, increased data sharing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today unveiled a new strategy to meet the challenges posed by rapidly rising imports of FDA-regulated products and a complex global supply chain in a report called the "Pathway to Global Product Safety and Quality."

20 Jun 2011

Small health facilities, solo practices face health IT challenges

As part of the federal government's push to get hospitals and clinics to adopt electronic medical records, it's subsidizing IT training classes across the country. ...

20 Jun 2011

The complexities of Medicare's doctor pay dynamics

The Medicare physician payment formula is often attacked as a budget gimmick that holds down federal spending on paper, even though everyone knows the cuts it imposes will never come into effect.

20 Jun 2011

Hardin Memorial Hospital selects ProVation Order Sets

Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that Hardin Memorial Hospital has selected ProVation® Order Sets, powered by UpToDate® Decision Support, as the organization's electronic order set solution.

20 Jun 2011

Medicare, Medicaid increasingly become hot topics in debt-ceiling talks

The future of these entitlement programs will be in play this week as negotiations continue, with both parties beginning to make concessions and hint that a deal could emerge.

20 Jun 2011

Hospitals hope to make primary care docs salaried employees

In one of the first concrete steps to remake the way medical care is delivered, hospitals are competing to hire primary-care physicians, trying to lure them from their private practices to work as salaried employees alongside specialists (Sun, 6/19).

20 Jun 2011

Meditation increases concentration and decreases stress

The nation's current healthcare crisis has added a new dimension to the old saying, "Prevention is the best medicine." With rising co-pays, high deductibles, confusion over coverage, and prescription drug headaches, healthcare consumers recognize that getting sick is more complicated than ever.

20 Jun 2011