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Insurers will pick up preventive care costs under new rules

The recommendations of a federal task force on preventive care - once just suggestions for doctors - will soon become coverage requirements for private insurers under regulations unveiled Wednesday by the Obama administration, according to Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post. "Under the new health care overhaul law, insurers will be required to pay fully for services that get an "A" or "B" recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a volunteer group made up of primary care and public health experts."

16 Jul 2010

Can abortion-rights activists return the procedure to mainstream medicine?

In the early 90s, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry declared doctors were "the weak link" in the fight against the procedure, The New York Times reports. Soon, the first of eight deadly attacks on doctors who perform abortion occurred, marking one facet of a shift of mainstream medicine away from abortions and leaving women seeking that type of care to go to specialty clinics operated by sympathetic feminists.

16 Jul 2010

Restricting salt intake to 6g per day lowers risk of cardiovascular morbidities

Restricting the amount of sodium chloride in food can lower the risk of cardiovascular morbidities. This is the conclusion that Dieter Klaus and colleagues come to in the current issue of Deutsches -rzteblatt International.

16 Jul 2010

Feds approve more funding for Medicaid recipients in Ohio while health costs strain town budgets in New Jersey

Federal regulators have approved a state plan to pay hospitals an additional $87 million this year for the care they provide to low-income Ohioans on Medicaid. The funds will be disbursed to hospitals by the end of this month. The bulk payment and a 5 percent increase in Medicaid reimbursement fees effective in October were included in last year's state budget to let hospitals recoup some of the money they were losing through a new state franchise fee. The fee is projected to cost hospitals statewide $718 million over the two-year budget ending June 30, 2011.

16 Jul 2010

Public, private efforts to boost health IT connectivity

First, Computerworld reports, "Verizon announced on Wednesday a new cloud-based service offering for healthcare providers that will handle the sharing of patient information electronically between disparate platforms. The new service, called the Verizon Health Information Exchange, consolidates clinical patient data from various providers and translates it into a standardized format that can then be accessed via a secure Web portal" (Mearian, 7/14).

16 Jul 2010

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles awarded $7M of $56.8M NIH grant for biomedical research

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been awarded $7 million of a $56.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The remainder of the award will be distributed to other members of the Los Angeles Basin Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). This award, to be distributed over five years, will fund biomedical research with the objective of reducing the time it takes a laboratory discovery to become a clinical reality.

16 Jul 2010

U.S. News releases 2010 Best Hospitals rankings

U.S. News & World Report has released its 2010 rankings of the best hospitals. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore topped this year's honor roll. "The special quality shared by the 152 that made it into the new 2010-11 Best Hospitals rankings (out of nearly 5,000 that were considered) is their ability to take on and meet the most difficult challenges" (Comarow, 7/14).

16 Jul 2010

KHN column – Behind the scenes of health reform: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners

In this Kaiser Health News column, Timothy Jost writes: "The new health reform act has been widely criticized as a federal government takeover of the health care system. To a remarkable degree, however, the law actually relies on the states to reform health insurance" (7/15).

16 Jul 2010

Federal task force on preventive care faces new challenge under health law

Kaiser Health News staff writer Christopher Weaver, working in collaboration with The Washington Post, reports: "For years, an obscure federal task force sifted through medical literature ranging from colonoscopies to fluoride treatment, ferreting out the best evidence for doctors to use in caring for their patients. But now its recommendations have new financial implications, raising the stakes for patients, physicians and others in the health care industry"

16 Jul 2010

Abortion opponents say that elective abortions may be covered in high risk pools

Abortion opponents worry that vague language used in the new health care reform bill could lead to the coverage of elective abortions in new high risk insurance pools and say that may already be starting in New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

16 Jul 2010

Amnesty International reveals the rotting health care system in North Korea

According to a human rights group, Amnesty International, North Korea is unable to meet up to even the most basic health needs of its population. The report was released this Thursday.

15 Jul 2010

8.8% of drug-related hospital emergency department visits by adolescents is a suicide attempt

A new series of studies analyzing drug-related hospital emergency department visits throughout the country during 2008 reveals a substantial percentage of these visits involve suicide attempts. According to these studies conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) more than one in every twelve (8.8 percent) drug-related hospital emergency department visit by an adolescent is a suicide attempt - double the rate found among cases involving those age 25 and older (4.4 percent).

15 Jul 2010

Pitney Bowes to deliver customized mailing solutions to RCP

Pitney Bowes Inc. today announced that Revenue Cycle Partners, a leading business process outsource provider for hospitals and healthcare systems nationwide, has chosen Pitney Bowes for customized mailing solutions to further deliver world-class BPO services to its hospital client base while helping to ensure the highest level of healthcare privacy compliance.

15 Jul 2010

Practice Fusion API Challenge kicked off

Practice Fusion, the free, web-based Electronic Health Record company, kicked off the Practice Fusion API Challenge today as part of the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge, an initiative supported by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The challenge invites developers to connect patient health data from medical devices, mobile apps, social media systems and websites to doctors in real-time through Practice Fusion's new API.

15 Jul 2010

Justice for exposure to asbestos

A leading industrial illness lawyer has won justice for the family of a man who died after being exposed to asbestos whilst working at the Sellafield nuclear plant.

15 Jul 2010

National Jewish Health named #1 respiratory hospital in the nation

For the 13th consecutive year, National Jewish Health has been named the #1 respiratory hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

15 Jul 2010

AHCA recognizes Advocat's long term care facilities with 2010 National Quality Awards

Advocat Inc. today announced that five of its long term care facilities were recognized with 2010 National Quality Awards by the American Healthcare Association (AHCA).

15 Jul 2010

Sharp HealthCare deploys Allscripts Community Record for all employed physicians

Allscripts today announced that Sharp HealthCare has selected the Allscripts Community Record, provided in partnership with dbMotion, to deliver end-to-end connectivity across the health system. Using the Allscripts solution, Sharp's caregivers and those in affiliated physician practices will have shared access to a single, unified patient record, bridging gaps that often exist between hospital-based and office-based care.

15 Jul 2010

IBM dedicates $100 million for global initiative to improve healthcare quality and costs

IBM today announced plans to enlist some of the company's leading scientists and technologists to help medical practitioners and insurance companies provide high-quality, evidence-based care to patients. As part of this initiative, IBM is collaborating with clinicians in medical institutions and hiring medical doctors to work alongside its researchers to develop new technologies, scientific advancements and business processes for healthcare and insurance providers.

15 Jul 2010

Xerox to deploy MPS strategy to help Solaris Health System reduce IT infrastructure costs

Healthcare institutions charged with cost cutting, improved patient satisfaction and overall operational efficiency are turning to Xerox Corporation for help. Solaris Health System, in Edison, N.J., will save more than 20 percent on costs associated with printing, storing and sharing documents, as one of Xerox's newest managed print services clients.

15 Jul 2010

Healthcare News

Insurers will pick up preventive care costs under new rules

Can abortion-rights activists return the procedure to mainstream medicine?

Restricting salt intake to 6g per day lowers risk of cardiovascular morbidities

Feds approve more funding for Medicaid recipients in Ohio while health costs strain town budgets in New Jersey

Public, private efforts to boost health IT connectivity

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles awarded $7M of $56.8M NIH grant for biomedical research

U.S. News releases 2010 Best Hospitals rankings

KHN column – Behind the scenes of health reform: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners

Federal task force on preventive care faces new challenge under health law

Abortion opponents say that elective abortions may be covered in high risk pools

Amnesty International reveals the rotting health care system in North Korea

8.8% of drug-related hospital emergency department visits by adolescents is a suicide attempt

Pitney Bowes to deliver customized mailing solutions to RCP

Practice Fusion API Challenge kicked off

Justice for exposure to asbestos

National Jewish Health named #1 respiratory hospital in the nation

AHCA recognizes Advocat's long term care facilities with 2010 National Quality Awards

Sharp HealthCare deploys Allscripts Community Record for all employed physicians

IBM dedicates $100 million for global initiative to improve healthcare quality and costs

Xerox to deploy MPS strategy to help Solaris Health System reduce IT infrastructure costs

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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