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Sen. Lugar highlights potential bioterrorism threat posed by unsecured medical facilities in East Africa

Senator Dick Lugar on Friday said that poorly secured medical laboratories in East African countries, which host insurgent groups linked to Al Qaeda, are vulnerable to bioterrorism, Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Nov 2010

Report shows spells of poverty may have lifelong health implications for children

Spells of poverty, even if temporary, may have lifelong health implications for children, according to the largest report so far reviewing the recent recession's effects on child well-being.

16 Nov 2010

Pawlenty seeks to stop health law as he eyes presidency

Kaiser Health News staff writer Christopher Weaver reports, If there was any doubt that protesting on the new health law was good politics for Republican candidates, it evaporated with the midterm election results.

16 Nov 2010

Medicare cuts looming for doctors; Debt panel's health suggestions questioned

"The scheduled cuts [to doctors' reimbursements from Medicare] -- the result of a failed system set up years ago to control costs -- have raised alarms that real damage to Medicare could result if the lame-duck Congress winds up in a partisan standoff and fails to act by Dec. 1. That's when an initial 23 percent reduction would hit. ... Doctors have muddled through with temporary reprieves for years. ... there's no agreement among lawmakers and the Obama administration on how long a reprieve to grant or whether the cost -- about $1 billion per month -- should be added to the deficit or paid for with spending reductions elsewhere" (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/13).

16 Nov 2010

Millions of Americans suffer unnecessarily with itchy, gritty, watery eyes, say allergists

Millions of Americans suffer unnecessarily with itchy, gritty, watery eyes, according to allergists at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Phoenix, Nov. 11-16. The underdiagnosis, undertreatment and self-treatment of eye allergies may seriously diminish quality of life, allergists say.

16 Nov 2010

Texas Republicans talk tough about dropping Medicaid; other states consider steep cuts

As the Medicaid program continues to consume more of states' budgets each year, Republican lawmakers and the just-reelected GOP governor, Rick Perry have an idea: Opting-out of the program altogether, the Houston Chronicle reports.

16 Nov 2010

Medicare's annual open-enrollment period starts in Idaho

Today marks an important day for roughly 15% of Idaho's population, it's the start of Medicare's annual open-enrollment period, the only time of the year beneficiaries can drop or change prescription drug and health care plans for 2011.

16 Nov 2010

Republicans increase challenges to health law, repeal rhetoric

With their eyes on the 2012 election, Republicans are preparing to maximize conflict with Democrats over healthcare in the new Congress and minimize potential compromises, according to GOP strategists, lawmakers and lobbyists. That strategy is setting the stage for a bitter stalemate on Capitol Hill over the next two years ... Republican leaders and strategists think a renewed battle over healthcare will help the party expand its electoral gains and drive President Obama from the White House.

16 Nov 2010

HHS seeking to publish new health insurance data

The Department of Health and Human Services is working on regulations that would allow it to publish additional in-depth health insurance data, including the number of people enrolled in each insurance plan.

16 Nov 2010

BIDMC, IPFnet to conduct clinical trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) will join the Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Clinical Research Network (IPFnet), a clinical research network sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to conduct randomized clinical trials to evaluate new and existing medications for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The network is made up of healthcare institutions from around the United States.

16 Nov 2010

Physician-owned hospitals gear up to fight health law restrictions

Doctors are challenging provisions of the new health law that seemed to spell the demise of physician-owned specialty hospitals, a fast-growing phenomenon in states such as Texas where hospital growth is largely unregulated.

15 Nov 2010

Cholera deaths in Haiti top 900; U.N. appeals for $164m to deal with outbreak that could affect 200,000

Haiti's Health Ministry on Sunday said 917 cholera deaths had been reported in the country as of Friday and more than 14,600 people had been hospitalized, according to an update on the ministry's website, Reuters reports.

15 Nov 2010

State roundup: Colorado high-risk insurance pool; Ariz. and Mich. medical marijuana issues; high-deductible insurance

Nearly 500 people in Colorado have applied for the new high-risk health-insurance pool since the program started in the state 10 weeks ago. About 430 people who already have health problems that make it difficult to get private insurance have been enrolled; 43 applications are pending.

15 Nov 2010

KHN column: For health overhaul, implementation is now job one

In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Timothy Jost writes, The foremost concern of many of us who fought for health care reform is what its fate will be in the post-midterm-election world.

15 Nov 2010

National health disparities conference wraps up with creative approaches, expectations for new healthcare reform

Focusing on the disparities in the quality of health care across demographic groups, the Fourth Annual National Conference on Health Disparities brought together White House officials and national and local healthcare executives to address a series of key questions about non-medical determinants of health quality and to recommend strategies to bring more equitable healthcare access to the underserved. The determinants discussed at the four-day-long conference, which began November 10, 2010 and concluded Saturday, November 13, 2010, included education levels, health literacy, poverty, public safety, community design, access to care, environmental quality and personal, government and corporate responsibility.

15 Nov 2010

MEDecision earns NCQA Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set Software Certification

MEDecision, Inc., a leading provider of collaborative healthcare management solutions, has earned the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) Software Certification for its programs that identify "care opportunities."

15 Nov 2010

MedClean enters distribution agreement with SunBelt

MedClean Technologies, the leading provider of on-site technology for the treatment and disposal of medical waste and the destruction of confidential documents and related media, today announced it has signed a distribution agreement with SunBelt Medical Services, Inc. With this agreement, MedClean now has 11 regional distributors covering 41 states, one national partner targeting the Veteran's Administration, and one international partner covering Canada.

15 Nov 2010

Autonomy introduces Meaning Based Healthcare platform

Autonomy Corporation plc, a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, today announced the availability of the Autonomy Meaning Based Healthcare (MBH) platform, a comprehensive set of clinical diagnosis and information governance technologies designed to help Healthcare Delivery Organizations (HDOs) provide higher quality care at lower costs.

15 Nov 2010

First Edition: November 15, 2010

According to today's headlines, Republicans are spoiling for a health care fight and doctors are bracing from scheduled Medicare cuts.

15 Nov 2010

Graphic images of negative consequences of smoking have greatest impact on smokers

Marketing researchers at the University of Arkansas, Villanova University and Marquette University surveyed more than 500 U.S. and Canadian smokers and found that the highly graphic images of the negative consequences of smoking have the greatest impact on smokers' intentions to quit. The most graphic images, such as those showing severe mouth diseases, including disfigured, blackened and cancerous tissue, evoked fear about the consequences of smoking and thus influenced consumer intentions to quit.

15 Nov 2010

Healthcare News

Sen. Lugar highlights potential bioterrorism threat posed by unsecured medical facilities in East Africa

Report shows spells of poverty may have lifelong health implications for children

Pawlenty seeks to stop health law as he eyes presidency

Medicare cuts looming for doctors; Debt panel's health suggestions questioned

Millions of Americans suffer unnecessarily with itchy, gritty, watery eyes, say allergists

Texas Republicans talk tough about dropping Medicaid; other states consider steep cuts

Medicare's annual open-enrollment period starts in Idaho

Republicans increase challenges to health law, repeal rhetoric

HHS seeking to publish new health insurance data

BIDMC, IPFnet to conduct clinical trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Physician-owned hospitals gear up to fight health law restrictions

Cholera deaths in Haiti top 900; U.N. appeals for $164m to deal with outbreak that could affect 200,000

State roundup: Colorado high-risk insurance pool; Ariz. and Mich. medical marijuana issues; high-deductible insurance

KHN column: For health overhaul, implementation is now job one

National health disparities conference wraps up with creative approaches, expectations for new healthcare reform

MEDecision earns NCQA Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set Software Certification

MedClean enters distribution agreement with SunBelt

Autonomy introduces Meaning Based Healthcare platform

First Edition: November 15, 2010

Graphic images of negative consequences of smoking have greatest impact on smokers

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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