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Texas health officials confronting Medicaid costs

"The biggest culprit in Texas' growing debate over escalating Medicaid costs" is "[a] mathematical formula that calculates how much the federal government pays and what's left over for the state," Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with The Texas Tribune, reports. "Already facing a record budget shortfall, Texas' Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) will drop more than 2 percentage points in late 2011, equivalent to a $1.2 billion hit."

8 Dec 2010

Some in health industry raising concerns about Accountable Care Organizations

CQ HealthBeat: "The medical device industry told the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that it's concerned about whether accountable care organizations could give providers financial incentives to hold back on needed patient care, particularly on technology. Meanwhile, insurance plan executives warned CMS officials that the ACOs could give hospitals and doctors new bargaining leverage in negotiations with insurers.

8 Dec 2010

Concentrated nicotine in E-cigarattes poses unknown risks to consumers

What do some pesticides and "electronic cigarettes" have in common? According to a new report published in the American Journal of Public Health, the answer is unregulated concentrations of nicotine that may pose unknown risks to consumers who are exposed to them.

8 Dec 2010

Military health costs skyrocket

CNNMoney: "The cost of health care is blowing the top off the Pentagon's budget. Mirroring the private sector trend, expenses have skyrocketed within the military's health system. The military spent $19 billion on health care in 2001 — and $49 billion in 2010. The Department of Defense forecasts a continued rise of 5% to 7% a year.

8 Dec 2010

Company reaches $28 million settlement for Medicare program

The Tennesseean: "Healthways Inc. will return $28 million to Medicare's overseer under a settlement related to the company's participation in a pilot program to determine the effectiveness of its nurse-based health coaching for chronically ill seniors." The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had paid the company $72 million for the pilot program, which ended two years ago, under the condition that it meet "specific targets for cost savings, health outcomes and patient satisfaction."

7 Dec 2010

Deal for year-long doc fix in the works

Politico: Senators reached a tentative deal Monday that would tap health law funds to avert a scheduled pay cut for physicians. The deal would take back about $19.2 billion in health law subsidies to help people buy health insurance beginning in 2014. It "would change how much money consumers would have to repay if their income status changes mid-year, pushing them out of the eligibility bracket.

7 Dec 2010

eLINCx to implement GE's eHealth Information Exchange across Wooster, Dunlap Community Hospitals

eLINCx, founded earlier this year to provide quality healthcare services to central Ohio communities, and GE Healthcare announced today that eLINCx will implement GE Healthcare's eHealth Information Exchange across Wooster Community Hospital, Dunlap Community Hospital and more than a dozen physician practices.

7 Dec 2010

China Biologic receives license to commence commercial plasma collection at Yishui station

China Biologic Products, Inc., one of the leading plasma-based biopharmaceutical companies in the People's Republic of China, operating through its indirect majority-owned subsidiaries, Shandong Taibang Biological Products Co., Ltd. and Guiyang Dalin Biologic Technologies Co., Ltd., and its equity investment in Xi'an Huitian Blood Products Co., Ltd., today announced that it has received a plasma collection license from the Shandong Province Health Department for its newly built plasma collection station in Yishui county, Shandong province.

7 Dec 2010

Lutheran Medical Center implements Medsphere's OpenVista EHR solution

Lutheran Medical Center (LMC) and Medsphere Systems Corporation today announced the successful implementation of Medsphere's OpenVista® electronic health record (EHR) solution throughout the hospital. The full service 476-bed teaching hospital is now on track to achieve meaningful use and qualify for millions of dollars made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

7 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 7, 2010

In today's headlines, Senate leaders appear to be nearing a one-year deal on Medicare's physician pay problem.

7 Dec 2010

Ontario Pharmacists' Association praises health profession registration for pharmacy technicians

The Ontario Pharmacists' Association (OPA) welcomes the announcement by the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) that pharmacy technicians in Ontario can now be registered as a health profession.

7 Dec 2010

Idis to manage ViroPharma's named patient program

ViroPharma Incorporated and Idis, the global leader in developing long-term strategic solutions to therapeutic access, today announced that the two companies have partnered to facilitate access to certain ViroPharma products through a named patient program (NPP). ViroPharma's NPP, developed and managed by Idis, will allow international healthcare professionals to prescribe certain products to individual patients until the time that approval is sought in local countries.

7 Dec 2010

Interference with biofilm detachment mechanisms may prevent biofilm-associated infections

Patients in hospitals and healthcare facilities can develop infections as a result of contamination of indwelling medical devices such as catheters with bacteria that are normal inhabitants of the skin of the patient or health care personnel. The bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis is a major cause of such infections.

7 Dec 2010

WHO to create an evidence base for traditional medicine

WHO will develop, for the first time, a classification of traditional medicine, paving the way for the objective evaluation of its benefits.

7 Dec 2010

Third Edition of Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines released

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) has released the Third Edition of Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines to subscribers of the guideline development and content publishing platform, APG-I. The proprietary, evidence-based system provides full access to ACOEM's complete guidelines, featuring thousands of pages of the most current evidence medical treatment recommendations.

7 Dec 2010

Early physical therapy associated with fewer subsequent injections, surgery, physician visits: Study

The American Physical Therapy Association is pointing to a new study on low back pain in Medicare patients in its efforts to encourage the newly established Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to promptly launch a demonstration project on direct access to physical therapist services that was recommended in the recent health reform law.

7 Dec 2010

CSC's Leading Edge Forum: Disruptive technologies to reshape delivery of healthcare

CSC's Leading Edge Forum today released a report that identifies a new wave of disruptive technologies that will reshape the delivery of healthcare. These new technologies will help control costs while improving health by ushering in an era of wellness, self-monitoring, increased and earlier detection of disease, and more effective treatments.

7 Dec 2010

FAI releases comprehensive food allergy guidelines

The Food Allergy Initiative (FAI) today announced its endorsement of comprehensive food allergy guidelines, released by an Expert Panel sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Immunology (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). FAI, the largest private source of funding for food allergy research in the U.S., will underwrite the publication of the long-awaited Guidelines as a special supplement to the December 2010 issue of the prestigious Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

7 Dec 2010

Boston Scientific's Close the Gap campaign to raise awareness of heart disease risk factors

Boston Scientific today announced that its Close the Gap campaign is partnering with the Black Coaches and Administrators and college basketball's "The Showcase" to raise awareness of heart disease risk factors for women and minorities.

7 Dec 2010

Scientists have learned to mask bitterness of ginseng to improve consumers health

University of Illinois scientists have learned to mask the bitterness of ginseng, a common ingredient of energy drinks.

7 Dec 2010

Healthcare News

Texas health officials confronting Medicaid costs

Some in health industry raising concerns about Accountable Care Organizations

Concentrated nicotine in E-cigarattes poses unknown risks to consumers

Military health costs skyrocket

Company reaches $28 million settlement for Medicare program

Deal for year-long doc fix in the works

eLINCx to implement GE's eHealth Information Exchange across Wooster, Dunlap Community Hospitals

China Biologic receives license to commence commercial plasma collection at Yishui station

Lutheran Medical Center implements Medsphere's OpenVista EHR solution

First Edition: December 7, 2010

Ontario Pharmacists' Association praises health profession registration for pharmacy technicians

Idis to manage ViroPharma's named patient program

Interference with biofilm detachment mechanisms may prevent biofilm-associated infections

WHO to create an evidence base for traditional medicine

Third Edition of Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines released

Early physical therapy associated with fewer subsequent injections, surgery, physician visits: Study

CSC's Leading Edge Forum: Disruptive technologies to reshape delivery of healthcare

FAI releases comprehensive food allergy guidelines

Boston Scientific's Close the Gap campaign to raise awareness of heart disease risk factors

Scientists have learned to mask bitterness of ginseng to improve consumers health

Exploring the nanoscale: How AFM is transforming cosmetic science

Innovating Texture and Culture in Plant-Based Foods

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

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