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$10 million in CDC grants awarded to combat hospital-acquired infections

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday awarded $10 million to five medical centers to develop and test new approaches to combating infections acquired in hospitals and other care settings.

16 Mar 2011

AFGE: Proposed cost saving strategy may diminish both access, quality of health care for veterans

On Wednesday, March 2, the American Federation of Government Employees provided testimony before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee on the proposed budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs for Fiscal Year 2012.

16 Mar 2011

New study examines mortality rates among patients treated for AMI in hospitals

A new Yale University study looks at why there is such a big difference in the mortality rates among patients treated for heart attacks in hospitals across the country. The study appears in the March issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

16 Mar 2011

Improving care for Medicaid's sickest 5% could help reduce funding gap

Politico reports that the Obama administration is targeting this very needy population, many of whom are known as dual eligibles, for better care because — although their numbers are actually quite small — the amount of program money they use is quite large.

16 Mar 2011

Hospitals with higher diagnosis frequency for chronic conditions have lower case-fatality rate

An examination of data for more than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries finds that hospital regions that have a greater frequency of diagnoses have a lower case-fatality rate for chronic conditions such as coronary artery disease and kidney failure, according to a study in the March 16 issue of JAMA.

16 Mar 2011

New review finds no link between pacifiers and breastfeeding problems

Although mothers often use pacifiers to comfort cranky babies, many experts fear that they can interfere with successful breastfeeding. However, a new review finds no association between the devices and early cessation of nursing.

16 Mar 2011

NAFC honors Florida's Cleveland Clinic physician with Continence Care Champion Award

The National Association For Continence awarded Gamal Ghoniem, MD, with the Rodney Appell Continence Care Champion Award at the Society for Urodynamics and Female Urology Awards Reception on March 4, held during the 2011 SUFU Winter Meeting in Phoenix, AZ.

16 Mar 2011

State roundup: Fla. seeks MLR waiver; hospitals struggle

Alabama's Robert Bentley is one of two current governors to have "doctor" on his résumé. In an interview with Stateline last week, Bentley elaborated on his health care agenda. His plan emphasizes individual health savings accounts, which he says will lower costs by letting patients decide how they want to spend their health care dollars. He wants to give state tax breaks to businesses that purchase insurance for their employees and state-based incentives to attract more insurance carriers.

16 Mar 2011

TrustHCS enters partnership with RemitDATA to utilize TITAN in physician services practice

TrustHCS, an HIM, compliance and revenue cycle consultancy firm for healthcare providers, announces its partnership with RemitDATA to utilize TITAN in their physician services practice.

16 Mar 2011

Mile Square earns excellence in heart care

Mile Square Health Center at 2045 W. Washington Blvd. was named an Illinois "Your Healthcare Plus" top performer for excellence in caring for patients with heart failure.

16 Mar 2011

Viewpoints: Texas' painful budget cuts; Congress 'should' attack deficit, Medicare costs

The real problem is that liberals and conservatives alike have over the years gauged an elected official's support for the goals of a program by the money he or she has been willing to spend on it. Thus, liberals measure one's support for education, welfare and health programs by how much more one votes to fund them each year.

16 Mar 2011

A Medicare mistake: Paying for Viagra

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General concluded that the program paid more than $3 million in 2007 and 2008 for this drug, even though it is against the law for Medicare to pay for Viagra prescriptions.

16 Mar 2011

Post-stroke depression management can lead to better physical functioning

Stroke patients who are not successfully treated for depression are at higher risk of losing some of their capability to function normally, according to a study in the March 15, 2011 issue of the journal Neurology.

16 Mar 2011

Nuclear fallout-related health fears rise in Japan

Concerns regarding health risks "rose dramatically in Japan Tuesday" after officials said more radiation was released at a nuclear power plant that was damaged in the tsunami, the Associated Press reports. In an address to the nation, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had been emitted from four reactors. "The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out," he said.

16 Mar 2011

Pentagon plans to target Tricare spending

As soaring medical costs have forced steep cuts to benefits offered by government and private plans, the program, known as Tricare, has grown more generous.

16 Mar 2011

ALMA receives ExxonMobil $250,000 grant to combat malaria

The African Leaders Malaria Alliance, an alliance of 39 African leaders, announced today that it has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the ExxonMobil Foundation to help with its campaign to combat malaria.

16 Mar 2011

Research links frequent prescribing to opioid-related deaths

Some physicians are prescribing opioids such as OxyContin 55 times as often as others, according to a new study led by St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). The study found most opioid-related deaths occur among patients treated by physicians who frequently prescribe opioids, suggesting doctors who prescribe a lot of opioids may not be doing so safely.

15 Mar 2011

First Edition: March 15, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about the pace of legal challenges to the health law as well as ongoing congressional attempts to reach partisan agreement on a short-term budget bill to avert a government shutdown.

15 Mar 2011

AYA cancer patients require targeted care, say experts

Adolescents and young adults are neither children nor adults and those affected by cancer require targeted care that crosses the boundaries between pediatric and adult oncology, according to several pioneers in this still-developing field of adolescent and young adult oncology.

15 Mar 2011

Researchers find insufficient cleaning can lead to microbe spread on orthodontic retainers

Insufficient cleaning could allow build-up of microbes on orthodontic retainers, researchers at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute have found. Dr Jonathan Pratten and colleagues looked at the types of microbes which live on retainers.

15 Mar 2011