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A look at the secretive AMA panel behind Medicare's payment rates

A group of 29 physicians, convened by the American Medical Associations and "mostly selected" by specialty trade groups, have the task of recommending how to divide Medicare money into payments for each service, procedure and treatment the program covers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

28 Oct 2010

Sec. of State Clinton commits $44M toward new initiatives to empower women

Marking the 10th anniversary of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 the first to recognize the importance of women's 'full involvement' in efforts to maintain and promote peace and security Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday together with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and diplomats called for increased action to end sexual violence in war and increase women's involvement in peace-building efforts, the Associated Press/Forbes reports.

28 Oct 2010

Mass. hospitals turn away mentally ill kids, Anthem braces for rate hearings, other state news

The Boston Globe reports that children with mental illnesses are "increasingly being turned away from some Massachusetts hospitals' psychiatric wards, a problem the hospital industry acknowledges and blames on insufficient insurance payments to cover treatment of such sick children. … Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state's health and human services secretary, said yesterday that hospitals licensed to treat mentally ill children must provide that care if they have sufficient staffing and beds, regardless of the reimbursement rates" (Lazar, 10/27).

28 Oct 2010

Intuit Health patient portal solutions selected by AMS for physician practices

American Medical Software (AMS) has selected Intuit Inc's Intuit Health to provide its physician practices with a patient portal solution. Through this agreement, millions of patients of AMS clients will now be able to easily communicate with their provider and complete key tasks online.

28 Oct 2010

Republican's controversial proposal to mend Medicare

In a Kaiser Health News companion piece to the story, Some Hill Races Could Hinge On Seniors' Anger Over Medicare, Marilyn Werber Serafini reports that Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's ideas - including giving Medicare beneficiaries a voucher to buy health coverage and adjusting benefits based on income -- could gain ground if the GOP wins control of the House in November (Serafini, 10/26).

28 Oct 2010

Ford pays down debt, including to worker's health trust

Ford is paying off debt by the billions $2 billion in the third quarter and as much as $3.6 billion by Friday. Ford is about to pay off its debt to the United Auto Workers health care trust.

28 Oct 2010

Gov. candidates in Florida, Minnesota offer few details on health care

News outlets report that gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Minnesota are offering little details about their plans for health spending.

28 Oct 2010

Candidates on health care offense, defense in final week before election

Candidates are in full campaign mode ahead of midterm elections that will likely spell out how the health law is implemented. The New York Times reports that some Democrats are playing defense after voting for health reform. They include Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello who is running against Republican state Sen. Robert Hurt.

28 Oct 2010

Health IT Roundup: Digital divide, a VA contract, the open data movement

Computerworld: The digital divide is alive and well when it comes to health care technology. Although President Barack Obama has made it a priority to have medical facilities deploy electronic health records (EHR) over the next four years, the people most likely to benefit -- those in poor and minority communities -- are unlikely to see them anytime soon.

28 Oct 2010

Glaxo to pay $750 million settlement for defective, unsafe medicines

The New York Times: "GlaxoSmithKline, the British drug giant, has agreed to pay $750 million to settle criminal and civil complaints that the company for years knowingly sold contaminated baby ointment and an ineffective antidepressant — the latest in a growing number of whistle-blower lawsuits that drug makers have settled with multimillion-dollar fines." The 20 medicines that were produced with "questionable safety" measures included "Avandia, a troubled diabetes drug; Coreg, a heart drug; and Tagamet an acid reflux drug."

28 Oct 2010

Today's Op-Eds: Costs of health care lawsuits; politics and the deficit; self-recusal and the Supreme Court

As a patient advocate, my top priority for health reform is expanding coverage and giving people access to the best treatments. Controlling costs is important, but it shouldn't come at the expense of patients.

28 Oct 2010

Public and private investment approaches carry potential for eliminating health disparities

According to Dr. Calvin B. Johnson, former PA Secretary of Health, there have been far too few meaningful, public discussions with regard to the substantial economic costs being borne by the U.S., as a result of its lengthy pattern of race – and gender – based health disparities. Johnson is planning to address that issue and the ability to eliminate disparities by investing in businesses, communities, and people, specifically, when he leads a panel, titled “Using Public and Private Equity Investment to Strengthen and Sustain Our Communities: Can we strategically invest our way out of health disparity and into health equity?”, at the Fourth Annual National Conference on Health Disparities, November 12, 2010, at 2:45pm, at the Philadelphia Marriott Hotel.

27 Oct 2010

First Edition: October 27, 2010

Today's headlines note that the new health law has Democrats playing defense, while Republicans offer few new alternatives to the sweeping measure.

27 Oct 2010

notifymd announces new offering in MGMA's AdminiServe Partner Network

notifymd, a leading provider of patient communication solutions, announced a new offering in MGMA's AdminiServe Partner Network. notifymd is aimed at helping physician practices maximize practice schedules and decrease patient no-show rates through notifypatient, notifymd's automated call solution.

27 Oct 2010

HHS announces $3.9 million in funding to support Family-to-Family Health Information Centers

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced $3.9 million in funding to continue support for Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, non-profit organizations run by families and for families with children with special health care needs. Funding for the centers was extended through 2012 by the Affordable Care Act.

27 Oct 2010

Tips to prevent lead poisoning in children

California Poison Control System is observing National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week and warns consumers that lead can be found in a variety of products available to children.

27 Oct 2010

Bruegger's announces new partnership with Children's Miracle Network

Today Bruegger's Enterprises Inc. announced a new partnership with Children's Miracle Network, a charity that raises funds for 170 children's hospitals throughout North America.

27 Oct 2010

PLoS Medicine: Journals need to develop policies for inevitable competing interests

Journals need to develop policies to handle the inevitable competing interests that arise when they publish papers that may bring them reprint revenue or increase their impact factors. This is the conclusion of a research article by Andreas Lundh and colleagues from the Nordic Cochrane Centre published in this weeks PLoS Medicine.

27 Oct 2010

Survey finds significant increase in cost of care in nursing homes and assisted living

Nursing home and assisted living rates rose significantly from 2009 to 2010, according to the Market Survey of Long-Term Care Costs. Private room nursing home rates rose 4.6% to $229 per day or $83,585 per year, while assisted living rose 5.2% on average to $3,293 per month, or $39,516 per year. These increases come on top of increases from 2008 to 2009 when both nursing home and assisted living costs were up 3.3%.

27 Oct 2010

MedLearn and Panacea launch coding, compliance, and reimbursement system for pharmacy departments

Medical Learning, Inc. also known as MedLearn, a company specializing in Hospital Coding, Compliance, Reimbursement and Financial Systems and Services, today announced that, together with its business partner Panacea Healthcare Solutions, LLC, it has introduced PharmAuditor.com as the industry's newest and most comprehensive coding, compliance, and reimbursement system and service for hospital based Pharmacy Departments.

27 Oct 2010

Healthcare News

A look at the secretive AMA panel behind Medicare's payment rates

Sec. of State Clinton commits $44M toward new initiatives to empower women

Mass. hospitals turn away mentally ill kids, Anthem braces for rate hearings, other state news

Intuit Health patient portal solutions selected by AMS for physician practices

Republican's controversial proposal to mend Medicare

Ford pays down debt, including to worker's health trust

Gov. candidates in Florida, Minnesota offer few details on health care

Candidates on health care offense, defense in final week before election

Health IT Roundup: Digital divide, a VA contract, the open data movement

Glaxo to pay $750 million settlement for defective, unsafe medicines

Today's Op-Eds: Costs of health care lawsuits; politics and the deficit; self-recusal and the Supreme Court

Public and private investment approaches carry potential for eliminating health disparities

First Edition: October 27, 2010

notifymd announces new offering in MGMA's AdminiServe Partner Network

HHS announces $3.9 million in funding to support Family-to-Family Health Information Centers

Tips to prevent lead poisoning in children

Bruegger's announces new partnership with Children's Miracle Network

PLoS Medicine: Journals need to develop policies for inevitable competing interests

Survey finds significant increase in cost of care in nursing homes and assisted living

MedLearn and Panacea launch coding, compliance, and reimbursement system for pharmacy departments

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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