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USAID announces LAUNCH: Health innovators

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), NASA, NIKE, Inc. and the U.S. Department of State are pleased to announce those selected to participate in the LAUNCH: Health Forum. The innovators selected will participate in an event at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida October 30-31, followed immediately by the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery on November 1.

27 Oct 2010

Telehealth Monitoring System improves health outcomes in patients with chronic diseases

Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Diabetes, and wounds are often treated and stabilized in a hospital setting then discharged to continue care at home under the supervision of a Certified Home Health Care Agency. Many high risk patients can now be monitored at home through a Telehealth Monitoring System.

27 Oct 2010

IPS examines USAID's implementation and procurement reform

Inter Press Service examines recent changes at USAID in line with President Barack Obama's vision to help build "the capacity of developing countries so that they can develop themselves.

27 Oct 2010

U.S. Preventative Services Task Force cancels meeting to review prostate-cancer screening

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog: "The United States Preventive Services Task Force has canceled a meeting set for early next month at which the thorny issue of prostate-cancer screening was due for a vote. ... [W]hen prostate-cancer screening came up last fall, the USPSTF initially voted to recommend against screening for men of all ages before opting instead to re-vote on the issue.

27 Oct 2010

Coalition pushes to replace Conn. Insurance Commissioner; Ind. lawmakers raise questions about Medicaid program

State Sen. Edith Prague and a coalition of labor unions and citizen groups are asking Gov. M. Jodi Rell to replace Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan.

27 Oct 2010

Some Hill races could hinge on seniors anger over Medicare

Reporting for Kaiser Health News in collaboration with USA Today, Marilyn Werber Serafini writes: "As emotions run high over the law, anger and fear about its impact on Medicare — whether founded or not — could be a deciding factor in some particularly close congressional races, especially in areas where there are large numbers of seniors, say political analysts such as Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health.

27 Oct 2010

Political picture still dreary for some Dems who backed health reform

National Journal: "Just over half of Americans likely to vote in next week's midterms want the next Congress to repeal this year's health care overhaul if Republicans gain power on Capitol Hill, according to a new poll, a dramatic rebuke to a sitting president and freshly minted statute.

27 Oct 2010

ECSA forum kicks off Monday with discussion on effects of funding, health worker shortages on MDGS

Officially opening the East, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) forum on best practices and joint consultative meeting on Monday, [Zimbabwe Minister of Health and Child Welfare Henry] Madzorera said the shortage of health workers and the growing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases had slowed down progress toward achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), NewsDay reports.

27 Oct 2010

Reuters examines how harm reduction policies in Switzerland could serve as model for reducing spread of HIV/AIDS among IDUs

Switzerland's innovative policy of providing drug addicts with free methadone and clean needles has greatly reduced deaths while cutting crime rates and should serve as a global model, health experts said on Monday, Reuters reports in an article that examines the outcomes of drug policy reform in the country

27 Oct 2010

Physicians' efforts keep payments on Medicare database confidential

The Wall Street Journal mined a database with extensive information about tax payments that suggests fraud and discovered a New York City doctor who most likely took more than $2 million from Medicare. But the paper could not name her because of strict confidentiality requirements on physician reimbursements.

27 Oct 2010

Bayer launches unique fitness program for hemophilia A children

Bayer HealthCare is introducing a fitness program to help children ages 7-12 and young adults ages 13-16 with hemophilia A live active lives. "Living Fit! A Joint Effort" is a unique strength training, fitness and wellness program created to increase awareness of the importance of exercise and nutrition among this population and their caregivers.

27 Oct 2010

335M available under HHS Expanded Services initiative for community health centers

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the availability of up to $335 million for existing community health centers across the country under the Expanded Services (ES) initiative. These funds are made possible by the Affordable Care Act and will increase access to preventive and primary health care, including dental health, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, and/or enabling services, at existing health center sites.

27 Oct 2010

New technologies streamline health IT system; Electronic medical records raise privacy issues

The Associated Press: Although many healthcare providers are making the jump to computerized medical records, an "e-chart stored in one doctor's computer too often can't be read by another's across town." Surescripts, "the country's largest network for paperless prescribing," is expanding "so that doctors around the country can choose to share medical reports, X-rays and other health data over its network much as they send e-prescriptions to drugstores today, regardless of what competing brand of computerized health records they use."

27 Oct 2010

Upper Peninsula Health Plan awards 3-year PBM contract to Catalyst Rx

Catalyst Rx, the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) subsidiary of Catalyst Health Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHSI), announced today the award of a three-year PBM contract by the Upper Peninsula Health Plan, a Medicaid Health Care Provider serving the Upper Michigan Counties. The contract covers approximately 38,000 members.

27 Oct 2010

Pharmaceutical industry pays billions in fraud settlements; Walgreen selling PBM Co.

Bloomberg: "Walgreen Co., the largest U.S. drug-store chain, is looking to sell its pharmacy-benefits management business and has hired an adviser to run an auction, said three people with knowledge of the matter. The sale of the PBM unit, which Walgreen started in 1995, may fetch $500 million to $1 billion. … Medco Health Solutions Inc., Express Scripts Inc. and CVS Caremark Corp., the three largest PBMs in the U.S., are among the companies that have expressed interest, the people said.

27 Oct 2010

Medicare growing fiscally unsustainable yet remains politically untouchable

Medicare, an indispensable safety net, is fiscally unsustainable in the long term, yet it may be politically untouchable, The Center for Public Integrity reports in the first of a multipart series.

27 Oct 2010

Trilogy receives four-year federal grant from SAMHSA

Trilogy, Inc., a behavioral healthcare organization serving people in recovery from serious mental illness, is the recipient of a four-year federal grant from the national Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), announced John Mayes, President and CEO of Trilogy, Inc.

27 Oct 2010

Doctors agree on need to change Medicare pay, but not how

Doctors widely believe that the Medicare payment system is unfair, but they disagree about how to fix it, according to a recent study, MedPage Today reports. "While physicians generally support changing how Medicare reimburses doctors, most don't support payment reforms that would reduce their own incomes, according to survey results published in the Oct. 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

27 Oct 2010

Insuring your health: High risk pools for people with medical issues start slowly

In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes, This summer, new health insurance programs aimed at people with preexisting medical conditions began accepting applications around the country.

27 Oct 2010

States, insurers, employers move forward with health law implementation

News outlets report on efforts to implement the new health law, including high risk pools and insurers' summaries of their plans.

27 Oct 2010

Healthcare News

USAID announces LAUNCH: Health innovators

Telehealth Monitoring System improves health outcomes in patients with chronic diseases

IPS examines USAID's implementation and procurement reform

U.S. Preventative Services Task Force cancels meeting to review prostate-cancer screening

Coalition pushes to replace Conn. Insurance Commissioner; Ind. lawmakers raise questions about Medicaid program

Some Hill races could hinge on seniors anger over Medicare

Political picture still dreary for some Dems who backed health reform

ECSA forum kicks off Monday with discussion on effects of funding, health worker shortages on MDGS

Reuters examines how harm reduction policies in Switzerland could serve as model for reducing spread of HIV/AIDS among IDUs

Physicians' efforts keep payments on Medicare database confidential

Bayer launches unique fitness program for hemophilia A children

335M available under HHS Expanded Services initiative for community health centers

New technologies streamline health IT system; Electronic medical records raise privacy issues

Upper Peninsula Health Plan awards 3-year PBM contract to Catalyst Rx

Pharmaceutical industry pays billions in fraud settlements; Walgreen selling PBM Co.

Medicare growing fiscally unsustainable yet remains politically untouchable

Trilogy receives four-year federal grant from SAMHSA

Doctors agree on need to change Medicare pay, but not how

Insuring your health: High risk pools for people with medical issues start slowly

States, insurers, employers move forward with health law implementation

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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