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Major providers of prison medical care set to merge

Valitas Health Services plans to acquire America Service Group for $250 million, merging two of the largest providers of correctional health care. Valitas, of St. Louis, is the parent company of Correctional Medical Services.

5 Mar 2011

Acos: FTC member says health law 'centerpiece' needs clarification

Thomas Rosch, a Republican member of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, urged the Obama administration to clarify a centerpiece of the new health care law that raises antitrust issues.

5 Mar 2011

Study reports highest rate of exclusive breastfeeding in El Camino Women's Hospital

The Women's Hospital at El Camino Hospital had the highest rate of exclusive and partial breastfeeding by new mothers of any hospital in the state for 2009, according to a study recently released by the UC-Davis Human Lactation Center and the California WIC Association.

5 Mar 2011

Brands announces grand opening of its new Bright Now Dental office in Fountain Valley

Brands Inc., the nation's leading provider of business support services to dental groups in the United States, today announced the grand opening of its newest Bright Now Dental office in Fountain Valley – the 50th office in Southern California. Bright Now Dental will continue its growth pattern in Southern California over the next two years, with offices slated to open in Escondido, Simi Valley, El Cajon, and Upland later this year and further expansion in 2012.

5 Mar 2011

CMSI launches first online registry for medical marijuana patients

Cannabis Medical Solutions Inc., a leading company specializing in merchant payment solutions and financial products for the medical marijuana and healthcare industries, today announced that the company has successfully launched and is in the beta-testing phase of the first online registry for medical marijuana patients and listing service for collectives in all approved states.

5 Mar 2011

PRI, AnswersMedia announce launch of Patient Advisor

Prescribing Reference, Inc. and AnswersMedia, LLC today announced the launch of Patient Advisor, an educational online resource for drug, health, and nutrition information that enables consumers to make better informed healthcare and lifestyle decisions.

5 Mar 2011

State roundup: After Vinson stay, Alaska to implement health law

After allowing the application deadline to pass for $1 million in federal health care assistance, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell said Thursday he will begin implementing the new health care law after all, now that a Florida judge has told the states to do just that.

5 Mar 2011

Outcome's TotalQuality Reporting Service to help hospitals meet quality elements of Meaningful Use reporting

Outcome Sciences, Inc., the leading provider of patient registries, studies, and technologies for evaluating real-world outcomes, today announced that its TotalQuality Reporting Service has become a certified electronic health records technology reporting module for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid's Meaningful Use data submission.

5 Mar 2011

Tufts, Harvard Pilgrim plan to remain as individual organizations

The Board of Directors of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan today announced that they will not pursue a merger of the two non-profit health plans. On January 25, 2011, Harvard Pilgrim and Tufts Health Plan signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding as the first step in exploring a possible merger of the organizations.

5 Mar 2011

Research roundup: Hospital infections and costs; Prescription confusion; Medicaid and access to care

"Sepsis affects approximately 750,000 patients each year in the United States and is in many ways a model condition for examining the relationship between hospital spending and patient outcomes and for identifying potential opportunities to improve the value of hospital care," write the authors.

5 Mar 2011

BJC, WUSM use IBM software to provide better care for patients worldwide

IBM today announced that BJC Healthcare and Washington University School of Medicine are using IBM business analytics software to quickly extract key data from more than 50 million documents in medical records, speeding up research to ultimately provide better care for patients worldwide.

5 Mar 2011

Family-assisted exercise therapy improves function, recovery after stroke: Study

Your family's involvement in your exercise therapy could significantly improve your function and recovery after stroke, according to a study in the March print issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

5 Mar 2011

House Republicans continue budget assault on health law

Hearings are scheduled next week to develop legislation to make it possible to defund the health law by redesignating the related spending from "mandatory" to "discretionary."

5 Mar 2011

Viewpoints: Gambling on entitlement cuts; 'culture war' over family planning; insurance premium 'gouge' in Calif.

The House Republicans are rolling the political dice. They've pledged that in their budget for next year they will offer detailed proposals for curbing spending on "entitlements" — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. When Democrats heard this, their world suddenly brightened. One congressional aide dismissed the Republicans as "suckers".

4 Mar 2011

GOP focus remains tight on reforming Medicare, entitlement programs

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has made clear his determination to address this issue — The Wall Street Journal is reporting that he has even assured President Barack Obama that he will give him "cover" if he makes a proposal to cut entitlement spending.

4 Mar 2011

First Edition: March 4, 2011

In today's headlines, a Florida federal judge stays his own order regarding the health law, clearing the way for it's implementation -- for now -- but also making clear that the appeals process should move forward at an expedited rate.

4 Mar 2011

Medicus lowers its base rates to 20% for medical professionals in Missouri

Medicus Insurance Company, one of the fastest growing medical professional liability insurance carriers in the country, lowered its base rates an average of 20% for medical professionals in Missouri.

4 Mar 2011

Avvo lets users identify doctors by hospital affiliation

Avvo (www.avvo.com), the world's largest online directory for doctors and lawyers that provides free rankings for 90% of the working physicians in the U.S., continues to grow the number of service features offered on its medical website -- to bring doctors and patients the latest, breakthrough online directory tools. This month, Avvo unveils a new Hospital Sort capability that further enables users to hone in on the comprehensive information they need to make their physician search even more effective, and that also helps doctors and hospitals to more easily reach prospective patients.

4 Mar 2011

Alcohol, marijuana and methamphetamines are common abuse substances

A new study shows that the most commonly abused substances among those 18 and older referred to substance abuse treatment from parole or probation was alcohol, followed by marijuana and methamphetamines.

4 Mar 2011

ICFH receives Health Foundation of South Florida grant for health information technology

Institute for Child and Family Health received a $100,000 grant funding from Health Foundation of South Florida to support health information technology initiatives.

4 Mar 2011