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Report: For-profit Medicaid managed care plans have higher admin costs

Commercial Medicaid managed care plans that are publicly traded may not be serving beneficiaries as well as other plans, according a report released Wednesday by the Commonwealth Fund.

16 Jun 2011

ACC to expand partnership and strategic alliance with FIGMD

FIGMD, Inc. today announced the American College of Cardiology (ACC) will expand its partnership and strategic alliance with FIGMD by making an equity investment.

16 Jun 2011

Senate Dems signal hard line on Medicare in budget talks

Although Vice President Joe Biden offered an optimistic assessment of progress in the budget talks that he has been leading, Senate Democratic leadership reiterated yesterday that Medicare cuts should not be on the table during these negotiations.

16 Jun 2011

Olive oil may help prevent stroke in older people

A new study suggests that consuming olive oil may help prevent a stroke in older people. The research is published in the June 15, 2011, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

16 Jun 2011

British government revises health care overhaul plan

The initial blueprint by Prime Minister David Cameron drew criticism from providers and members of his own coalition government, who argued it equaled "partial privatization of the system."

16 Jun 2011

State roundup: Mass. health spending's rise; huge Ky. hospital merger

A new report from the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy shows that: ... "Spending per member on privately insured people grew 6 percent from 2007 to 2008 and another 10 percent from 2008 to 2009. This rate of growth was substantially higher than the increase in national personal health care expenditures per capita of 4.6 percent from 2008 to 2009. Spending by private payers also grew faster than spending by public payers".

16 Jun 2011

Women who make their sexual debut as young teens more likely to divorce

A University of Iowa study found that women who make their sexual debut as young teens are more likely to divorce, especially if "the first time" was unwanted, or if she had mixed feelings about it.

16 Jun 2011

Increase in admissions and hospital visits due to falls

According to the latest figures, women over the age of 80 are at the highest risk of falling and need home care. Figures released from the NHS Information Centre ahead of Falls Awareness Week revealed that women over the age of 80 accounted for 30.9 per cent of all fall-related admissions.

16 Jun 2011

Proposed NHS reforms face criticism

The former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn has said that the changes to NHS announced this week in the wake of demands from the Liberal Democrats and opposition from the health establishment represent a “disaster.” He warned that it means any chance of reforming the NHS meaningfully has been lost for a generation. George Osborne, the Chancellor, will now have to bail out the NHS with “a very large cheque” as the £20 billion of savings required will be impossible to find, he says.

16 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Hiaasen on 'insane' insurance; residential facilities' budget nightmares; safety at VA hospitals

If Obama's healthcare plan is struck down in court, lots of politicians will celebrate it as a victory over big government. The dubious reward for taxpayers will be to continue footing the medical bills for 50 million uninsured Americans, and watching the dangerous deficit swell.

16 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 15, 2011

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report that GOP governors are pushing back against federal Medicaid rules.

15 Jun 2011

Infosys introduces Health Benefit Exchange

Infosys today announced the availability of Infosys Health Benefit Exchange, a cost effective solution designed to help states set up the insurance exchanges mandated in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

15 Jun 2011

High number of adverse patient safety events occur in doctors' offices

However, a high number of adverse events, including major injury and even death, occur in private physician offices and outpatient clinics as well. In a new study -- the first of its kind -- researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College found that the number and magnitude of events resulting from medical errors is surprisingly similar inside and outside hospital walls.

15 Jun 2011

Essential benefits rule, McKinsey study continue to draw headlines

Also, Neal Katyal, the acting solicitor general who has argued four of the cases challenging the health law before appeals courts, has announced that he will leave the Department of Justice at the conclusion of the current Supreme Court term.

15 Jun 2011

Intralytix obtains FDA, FSIS regulatory clearance for bacteriophage-based product against E. coli

Intralytix, Inc. announced today that it has completed regulatory clearance from both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for its phage-based EcoShield food safety product, effective against E. coli O157:H7.

15 Jun 2011

California's rural elders more likely to be obese, physically inactive and food insecure

Despite living in the countryside, where open space is plentiful and there is often significant agricultural production, California's more than half a million rural elders are far more likely to be overweight or obese, physically inactive and food insecure than their suburban counterparts, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

15 Jun 2011

GlycoVaxyn's Second Annual Science Day to highlight challenges of vaccine industry

GlycoVaxyn AG, a leader in the development of conjugate vaccines, today announced that it will host its Second Annual Science Day to discuss challenges and opportunities in vaccine development on June 16-17, 2011, in Cannes, France.

15 Jun 2011

Meeting promotes partnership to end malnutrition in first 1,000 days of life

Government officials, nutrition and health experts, as well as civil society advocates from around the world, met in Washington, D.C., on Monday to promote the 1,000 Days Partnership, which launched in September 2010, VOA News reports in a piece featuring quotes from U.S. officials about efforts to end child deaths from malnutrition.

15 Jun 2011

Improve water access to avoid serious public health crisis in Pakistan

Haider Warraich, a research fellow at Harvard Medical School, examines how a "lack of access to water in Pakistan only exacerbates the country's already dire public health situation" in this post on Foreign Policy's "AfPak Channel" blog.

15 Jun 2011

Obama administration regulatory review won't include health law rules

An official from the Department of Health and Human Services told a House oversight subcommittee that the health law's regulations are too new for a second look. However, some Republican members of the panel disagreed, saying that the waivers that have been granted are reason enough for such examination.

15 Jun 2011