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HHS slaps 'mini-med' plans with new restrictions

The Department of Health and Human Services offers new guidance on "mini-med" health plans, requiring that insurers selling these limited coverage offerings must inform consumers "in plain language" how such plans fall short of the health law's minimum coverage standards.

10 Dec 2010

OPTN arranges first paired donation of living donor kidneys

Kathy Niedzwiecki of Pelham, NH, and Ken Crowder of St. Louis are experiencing renewed life and health thanks to the generosity of two living kidney donors.

10 Dec 2010

The New York Times: Aetna's former chief executive ponders the new health law

Insurers continue to "ponder" their future under the new order of the health law and, in California, rate increases trigger a blame game.

10 Dec 2010

GOP lawmaker calls government funding bill a 'trojan horse' for health reform

Politics continue to swirl around health overhaul and deficit reduction issues. A new Bloomberg poll, for instance, indicates that the public wants the deficit addressed, but still wants Congress to stay away from Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs. Meanwhile, a GOP senator targets the catch-all spending bill to fund the government as a "trojan horse" to fund the health overhaul. Off the hill, groups are paying particular attention to the words used in discussing health policy issues.

10 Dec 2010

Deals, expansions and ACOs mark hospital sector activity

Hospitals and health systems are the subject of proposed deals and acquisitions. Meanwhile, the concept of accountable care organizations continues to trigger interest and curiosity within the health care sector.

10 Dec 2010

OpEds: Palin on the Ryan Roadmap, Seniors and primary care docs, Arizona transplant controversy

[The president's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform's report] implicitly endorses the use of 'death panel'-like rationing by way of the new Independent Payments Advisory Board—making bureaucrats, not medical professionals, the ultimate arbiters of what types of treatment will (and especially will not) be reimbursed under Medicare.

10 Dec 2010

Elsevier enables text-to-speech option for all ePub book titles

Elsevier, the world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, announced today that it has enabled the text-to-speech option on all of its ePub book titles. The text-to-speech function enables an e-book to read aloud. This will facilitate access by readers who would otherwise face a range of access challenges through blindness, dyslexia, or motor difficulties.

10 Dec 2010

Stroke falls from third to fourth leading cause of death

A new report, "Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2008," released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says that for the first time in 50 years, stroke has fallen from the third to the fourth leading cause of death.

10 Dec 2010

AARP Pennsylvania thanks House for passage of bill stopping payment cut to doctors in Medicare

AARP Pennsylvania State Director Dick Chevrefils released a statement following today's passage of the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill stops a scheduled payment cut to doctors in Medicare, ensuring seniors can continue to see their physicians for the next year.

10 Dec 2010

AMA welcomes House passage of legislation to stop Medicare physician payment cut for one year

"The AMA welcomes bipartisan House passage of legislation to stop the Medicare physician payment cut for one year. Stopping the steep 25 percent Medicare cut for one year was vital to preserve seniors' access to physician care in 2011. Many physicians made clear that this year's roller coaster ride, caused by five delays of this year's cut, forced them to make difficult practice changes like limiting the number of Medicare patients they could treat.

10 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 10, 2010

In today's health policy headlines, reports about the Obama administration lawyer charged with defending the health law as well as the latest action in this lame duck Congress.

10 Dec 2010

Official guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and management of food allergies released

A collaborative, government-led effort to guide and standardize diagnosis, treatment and management of food allergies has resulted in the release of an official set of recommendations for physicians.

10 Dec 2010

Process of activating helicopter EMS delays treatment for heart attacks beyond recommended times

Helicopter emergency medical services can be a life saver for patients needing immediate care. But, according to a University of Cincinnati study, the process of activating them often delays treatment beyond recommended times.

10 Dec 2010

Alliance of Specialty Medicine calls for new, permanent Medicare reimbursement formula

The Alliance of Specialty Medicine (Alliance) today called on Congress to permanently fix Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) after lawmakers once again passed a temporary fix, thereby postponing unprecedented reimbursement cuts to Medicare doctors until 2012.

10 Dec 2010

Access problems for psychiatric patients to Medicaid medication leads to increased hospital, emergency care

Too often, mental health patients have problems accessing or paying for their prescription drugs under Medicaid. The results — longer hospital stays and more emergency room visits — are hard on patients and costly for the entire health care system, a new study finds.

10 Dec 2010

AvMed to optimize Member Services call center operation with Panviva SupportPoint

AvMed Health Plans announced today that it has chosen Panviva SupportPoint, a world-wide leader in Business Process Guidance (BPG) systems, to optimize its Member Services call center operation and drive even higher levels of member satisfaction.

10 Dec 2010

AMGA issues comments on CMS Request for Information on ACOs

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA), a trade association representing multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care, today released its comments on the CMS Request for Information on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The comments were due and submitted on December 3, 2010. CMS has announced that the notice of proposed rulemaking on ACOs will be published early next year

10 Dec 2010

Incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee chair outlines views on U.S. foreign policy; House passes FY 2011 funding act

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) "moved rapidly Wednesday to put her mark on U.S. foreign policy as the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee," McClatchy reports (Clark, 12/8).

10 Dec 2010

WFP, UNAIDS work to improve nutritional support available for people living with HIV/AIDS

The World Program Program (WFP), with the support of UNAIDS, is planning to launch "a new policy to make food and nutritional support more available to people living with HIV," VOA News reports. The agency "says the aim of [the] program is to help patients stick to their treatment, while protecting their households from further vulnerability," the news service adds.

10 Dec 2010

Three-day meeting on eliminating river blindness kicks off in Nigeria

A three-day meeting of the WHO African Program for Onchocerciasis (River blindness) Control (WHO/APOC) opened in Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports (12/8).

10 Dec 2010

Healthcare News

HHS slaps 'mini-med' plans with new restrictions

OPTN arranges first paired donation of living donor kidneys

The New York Times: Aetna's former chief executive ponders the new health law

GOP lawmaker calls government funding bill a 'trojan horse' for health reform

Deals, expansions and ACOs mark hospital sector activity

OpEds: Palin on the Ryan Roadmap, Seniors and primary care docs, Arizona transplant controversy

Elsevier enables text-to-speech option for all ePub book titles

Stroke falls from third to fourth leading cause of death

AARP Pennsylvania thanks House for passage of bill stopping payment cut to doctors in Medicare

AMA welcomes House passage of legislation to stop Medicare physician payment cut for one year

First Edition: December 10, 2010

Official guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and management of food allergies released

Process of activating helicopter EMS delays treatment for heart attacks beyond recommended times

Alliance of Specialty Medicine calls for new, permanent Medicare reimbursement formula

Access problems for psychiatric patients to Medicaid medication leads to increased hospital, emergency care

AvMed to optimize Member Services call center operation with Panviva SupportPoint

AMGA issues comments on CMS Request for Information on ACOs

Incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee chair outlines views on U.S. foreign policy; House passes FY 2011 funding act

WFP, UNAIDS work to improve nutritional support available for people living with HIV/AIDS

Three-day meeting on eliminating river blindness kicks off in Nigeria

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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