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Obesity crisis in the spotlight as FDA reviews weight loss drugs

The Washington Post explores the obesity epidemic by reporting from Manchester, Ky., which has an obesity rate as high as 52 percent in a nation where the obesity rate is 24 percent. "The residents of this town of 2,100 — 95 miles southeast of Lexington and deep in the Appalachian foothills — indeed appear to celebrate the joys of community closeness.

13 Jul 2010

BCN launches Healthy Blue Living Rewards to improve overall health

Introducing Healthy Blue Living Rewards, an extension of Blue Care Network's successful Healthy Blue Living product. This new product is an innovative outcome-based HMO health care plan that takes personal accountability to the next level by lowering insurance costs for people who succeed in improving their health and thereby making health care more affordable.

13 Jul 2010

Changes for employers, health insurers coming with health reform implementation

Starting in September, changes to health insurance could significantly alter how insurers operate and how employers provide coverage for workers.

13 Jul 2010

Obama administration prepares to announce first national HIV strategy

Kaiser Health News: "Federal officials plan to announce Tuesday a national strategy designed to ramp up and better coordinate the government's attack on the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic." Many HIV/AIDS advocates "say many more resources need to be committed to fight the disease, especially considering it doesn't get the attention it once did.

12 Jul 2010

AMA finds lobbying power eroding; Payment rates vary

Three months the health law passed, the American Medical Association is finding itself "itself with fewer friends on Capitol Hill and more critics questioning its lobbying savvy," Politico reports. "Its troubles couldn't come at a worse time: It is more dependent than ever on having allies in Congress, thanks to the growing number of Medicare patients.

12 Jul 2010

Equation, PAA partner to offer consulting, educational programs

Equation, a healthcare consulting firm, is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Physicians' Alliance of America, Inc. (PAA), a non-profit group purchasing organization, to offer consulting and educational programs to PAA members. PAA seeks to help medical practices save money on the goods and services they regularly use. Now members can benefit from Equation's analytical tools, scientific methodologies and proven operational expertise to optimize the financial and operational health of their practice.

12 Jul 2010

Hospitals in the news: ICU deaths higher on weekend, continuous improvement pays off in Seattle

"Patients admitted to an intensive care unit over the weekend may be more likely to die than those admitted at other times, perhaps because of reduced staffing, a review of research finds," HealthDay/USA Today reports. "For the review, published in the July issue of the journal Chest, researchers examined the results of 10 studies exploring the link between time of admission to an ICU and death rates.

12 Jul 2010

Apollo Health Street, Hartford Healthcare announce new agreement

Apollo Health Street, a developer of world-class solutions that tackle healthcare's toughest financial challenges, announced today a new agreement with Hartford Healthcare Corporation in Hartford, Connecticut to perform a third party insurance follow-up project in conjunction with a zero balance recovery audit.

12 Jul 2010

Administration plans to release new HIV/AIDS strategy this week

Kaiser Health News staff writer Kate Steadman reports: "Federal officials plan to announce Tuesday a national strategy designed to ramp up and better coordinate the government's attack on the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic, an effort to deliver on a Barack Obama campaign promise delayed by the health care overhaul debate and other issues" (Steadman, 7/12).

12 Jul 2010

Westbury Hospital to implement Prognosis ChartAccess Comprehensive EMR

Westbury Hospital is implementing an electronic medical records system from Prognosis Health Information Systems – a move that is putting the new 137-bed acute care hospital on the fast track toward meeting meaningful use requirements and qualifying for incentive funds associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

12 Jul 2010

MD On-Line enters into agreement with TMI to handle claims processing transactions

MD On-Line, Inc., a proven leader in enabling interoperable EDI transactions between healthcare insurance companies and healthcare providers, today announced that it has entered into a Customer Transfer and Acquisition Agreement with Connecticut-based Transaction Methods, Inc. (TMI) to handle claims processing transactions for the Company's sizeable provider community.

12 Jul 2010

Acurian attains TRUSTe's EU privacy certification

Acurian announced today that it has been granted EU privacy certification from TRUSTe, the leading Internet privacy and security assurance program. TRUSTe will provide Acurian with third-party privacy claims and dispute resolution services, which will allow Acurian to broaden its patient recruitment and retention services in Europe. Acurian will display the TRUSTe seal of assurance on its websites.

12 Jul 2010

healthychat.com addresses myriad consumer health care questions

Health care reform will impact every American in some way. The question is how and when? The healthychat.com website was created to address the many questions consumers have about health insurance. Since its launch on May 1, thousands have viewed healthychat.com, creating a community forum addressing myriad health care questions.

12 Jul 2010

Today's OpEds: Churchillian Berwick?; Government's obesity fight; WSJ on paying for health reform

In an ideal world, Berwick would be Medicare's Winston Churchill, a prophetic voice who emerges from the wilderness and ends years of appeasement and denial. He tells the truth about federal health care and medicine generally. It's no wonder the Obama administration didn't think the Senate could handle it (Jay Hancock, 7/11).

12 Jul 2010

Tips on skin care

Your skin protects you, heals itself and lasts a lifetime. Find how to give it some skin care in return, to help keep it looking and feeling its best.

12 Jul 2010

Iowa HITREC selects Greenway's PrimeSuite EHR solution for statewide deployment

The Iowa Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (HITREC) has selected Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc., provider of the single-database, integrated electronic health record (EHR), practice management and interoperability solution PrimeSuite®, as a preferred EHR solution for its statewide deployment program within the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) REC healthcare grant program.

12 Jul 2010

OICR, CCO announce $6 million in funding for Health Services Research Program projects

Dr. Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), and Dr. Terrence Sullivan, President and CEO of Cancer Care Ontario (CCO), announce $6 million in funding for projects in the Health Services Research Program (HSRP). The HSRP, conducted jointly between the OICR and CCO, will improve the delivery of cancer care throughout the province.

12 Jul 2010

Eclipsys' PeakPractice EMR solution receives NEyePA's preferred provider endorsement

Eclipsys Corporation, The Outcomes Company®, today announced that Eclipsys' PeakPractice™ electronic medical record (EMR) solution recently received preferred provider endorsement by the National EyePA Coalition (NEyePA), a large independent physician association (IPA) representing 4,900 optometrists and ophthalmologists in 28 IPAs in 26 states.

12 Jul 2010

Medrium signs partnership agreement with RelayHealth for Results Distribution Systems

Medrium, Inc., one of the nation's top independent medical healthcare information technology companies, today announced it has signed a partnership agreement with RelayHealth to use their Results Distribution Systems (RDS) to leverage Relay's national relationship with LabCorp and to provide LabCorp results to physicians utilizing the Medrium EMR.

12 Jul 2010

Muskogee Community Hospital deploys Pivot3 Serverless Computing platform

Pivot3, Inc., the first company to deliver virtual servers and scalable storage in a single platform, announced today that the Muskogee Community Hospital deployed Pivot3 Serverless Computing as the compute and storage platform for multiple systems within the newly constructed healthcare facility. Initially purchased to store video from security cameras, the hospital now uses the energy-efficient Pivot3 platform to backup its Exchange and file servers, and as a host for a clinical imaging system.

12 Jul 2010