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Study: 80% of blacks more likely to spend all personal finances for cancer care

People in minority groups, especially black Americans, are more willing than their white counterparts to exhaust their personal financial resources to prolong life after being diagnosed with lung or colorectal cancer, according to a University of Alabama at Birmingham study published April 26, 2011, online in Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society.

26 Apr 2011

Viewpoints: Sebelius on medical mistakes; Stockman on solving deficit; Fox on Medicare's political history

A recent study found that as many as one out of three hospital patients is harmed by his or her care. And the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 100,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors in hospitals. That's about the number of annual deaths caused by auto accidents, AIDS, and breast cancer combined.

26 Apr 2011

Frequent social activity may prevent or delay cognitive decline in old age

If you want to keep your brain healthy, it turns out that visiting friends, attending parties, and even going to church might be just as good for you as crossword puzzles.

26 Apr 2011

Neonatal intensive care unit tips for parents

Imagine babies so tiny a wedding ring can fit around their arms. Often weighing less than a pound, these remarkably small and sick infants hold onto life hooked up to a maze of tubes and beeping monitors.

26 Apr 2011

Amerigroup to inaugurate new service center in Houston

Amerigroup Corporation announced that it will open a new West Regional Service Center in Houston, Texas, in the fourth quarter of 2011 to service customers in Texas, New Mexico and Nevada.

26 Apr 2011

Aetna achieves full pharmacy benefit management accreditation from URAC

Aetna Pharmacy Management today announced that it has been awarded full pharmacy benefit management accreditation from URAC, an independent health care accrediting organization that evaluates and monitors PBM's for quality, safety and effectiveness.

26 Apr 2011

American Academy of Pediatrics sounds alarm on chemicals

Pediatricians group warns that federal regulations have failed to protect children from dangerous exposure.

25 Apr 2011

Highmark to open additional Direct retail health insurance stores in Pennsylvania

Highmark today announced that it will open two additional Highmark Direct retail health insurance stores in Pennsylvania. The stores will be located in Lancaster and Easton and will bring the total number of stores in the state to eight.

25 Apr 2011

Some Iowa health care institutions have little oversight

The Des Moines Register looked at state regulation of health care institutions.

25 Apr 2011

Supreme Court declines to expedite Virginia suit against health law

Virginia's challenge of the health law will need to take the normal route through federal appeals courts.

25 Apr 2011

MACHC offers Phytel's Proactive Patient Outreach solution to members

Phytel, the leader in physician-led health improvement, and the Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers (MACHC) have formed a strategic partnership under which MACHC will support utilization of Phytel's population health management tools by its member community health centers in Maryland and Delaware.

25 Apr 2011

Child's death renews medical error debate

News outlets examine efforts to end hospital errors and a different case may challenge laws that protect military medical personnel from medical malpractice lawsuits.

25 Apr 2011

Governors feeling the pinch on Medicaid funding

Medicaid was created in 1965 to provide health coverage for the poorest Americans, particularly those with children. States pay, on average, 43% of the tab for Medicaid. Washington pays the rest and, as part of the new health-care law, the federal government restricts states' ability to save money by narrowing eligibility for the program or charging more for coverage.

25 Apr 2011

House Republicans face heat at home over proposed Medicare cuts

During the congressional recess, constituents have grilled some House Republicans on how deficit reduction proposals will affect Medicare. Meanwhile, Don Berwick says GOP plans deserve the "rationing" label more than the health law does.

25 Apr 2011

PDI extends eDetailing to mobile programs

PDI, Inc. today announced that Group DCA has expanded its proprietary DIAGRAM™ software platform to enable eDetail delivery on popular mobile devices including the iPad®, iPod touch® and iPhone® and Android™-based phones.

25 Apr 2011

Planned Parenthood spends $400,000 on first-quarter lobbying

Planned Parenthood's federal lobbying bill more than tripled in the first three months of the new Congress, as Republicans targeted the group for funding cuts and transformed it into a political cause célébre.

25 Apr 2011

Rwanda, QIAGEN and Merck launch comprehensive national cervical cancer prevention program

The Government of Rwanda, together with QIAGEN N.V. and Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the launch, in Kigali, Rwanda, of a comprehensive national cervical cancer prevention program that includes vaccination with GARDASIL [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16 and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] for appropriate girls 12 to 15 years of age and modern molecular diagnostic screening for women between the ages of 35 and 45.

From QIAGEN Manchester Limited 25 Apr 2011

As practices change, family physician has trouble retiring

Dr. [Ronald] Sroka has practiced family medicine for 32 years in a small, red-brick building just six miles from his childhood home. ... Dr. Sroka, 62, thought about retiring. He tried to sell his once highly profitable practice. No luck. He tried giving it away. No luck. Dr. Sroka's fate is emblematic of a transformation in American medicine. ... [D]octors like him are increasingly being replaced by teams of rotating doctors and nurses who do not know their patients nearly as well. A centuries-old intimacy between doctor and patient is being lost.

25 Apr 2011

Analysis of the health law's effects continues

Reports look at the diverse effects of the health law — from Medicare and Medicaid to the accountable care organizations.

25 Apr 2011

Supreme Court to weigh drug confidentiality laws

Marketing to doctors using prescription records bearing their names is an increasingly contentious practice, with three states, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, in the vanguard of enacting laws to limit the uses of a doctor's prescription records for marketing.

25 Apr 2011