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US continues to lag behind other nations when it comes to gains in life expectancy: Study

America continues to lag behind other nations when it comes to gains in life expectancy, and commonly cited causes for our poor performance-obesity, smoking, traffic fatalities and homicide-are not to blame, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

8 Oct 2010

GE Healthcare announces successful completion of vendor neutral DI-r

GE Healthcare announced today the successful completion of a vendor neutral Digital Imaging Repository that connects hospitals and medical centers throughout Southwestern Ontario, Canada, enabling the sharing of patient health data across the region. For the first time in Ontario's history, 26 hospital organizations in the Erie St. Clair and South West Local Health Integration Networks are able to share filmless diagnostic image exams between their facilities.

8 Oct 2010

ABMS awarded HHS contract to align meaningful use of HIT, ABMS MOC program

The American Board of Medical Specialties announced today a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to align the meaningful use of health information technology and the ABMS Maintenance of Certification program, which was created by ABMS and its 24 Member Boards to promote lifelong learning and self assessment for physician specialists. The contract was awarded by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for HIT.

8 Oct 2010

Clinical study data on Natural S-equol supplement presented at NAMS Annual Meeting

Four clinical studies that add to the evidence about the use of a new nutritional supplement containing the whole soy germ-based ingredient Natural S-equol to improve health were presented at the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting.

8 Oct 2010

IMNG relaunches websites for Internal Medicine News, Hospitalist News

International Medical News Group, an Elsevier company that provides medical news to physicians, today announced the relaunch of its websites for Internal Medicine News (www.internalmedicinenews.com) and Hospitalist News.

8 Oct 2010

Hard combat can devastate veterans until old age

The trauma from hard combat can devastate veterans until old age, even as it influences others to be wiser, gentler and more accepting in their twilight years, a new University of Florida study finds.

8 Oct 2010

Orthopaedic surgeons offer safety tips for marathon runners

On the brink of Chicago's popular marathon, 45,000 marathon runners from all 50 states and more than 100 countries will turn corners and pick up their pace for the big race in October.

8 Oct 2010

Health-TIES consortium aims to accelerate innovation in healthcare

On Thursday 7 October, Europe's top regions in healthcare technology will launch the Health-TIES consortium that aims to accelerate innovation in healthcare. The consortium is backed by a three-year grant from the European Commission and is set up to strengthen the research potential of European regions through research-driven clusters of universities, research centres, enterprises and regional authorities.

8 Oct 2010

CDC issues new universal influenza vaccination recommendation for all Americans

With the influenza vaccine already available and more supply anticipated than ever before, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases convened ten of the country's leading medical and public health groups to call on all Americans to get vaccinated this season.

8 Oct 2010

Mayo Clinic enters network relationship with UnitedHealthcare to serve commercial plan participants

Mayo Clinic has announced a new network relationship with UnitedHealthcare, giving UnitedHealthcare commercial plan customers in-network access to Mayo Clinic physicians and hospitals beginning Nov. 1, 2010.

8 Oct 2010

ABC news announces one-year reporting series on global health issues

ABC News on Wednesday announced a yearlong project to focus attention on the diseases and health conditions that afflict the world's poorest people the Associated Press reports.

8 Oct 2010

HHS official: Medical loss ratio rules will allow 'flexibility'

A senior health official has promised insurers "discretion" - especially for "smaller" and "newer" plans - in pending regulation that will require them to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on health services, Insurance News Net reports.

8 Oct 2010

Royal Philips Electronics introduces IntelliVue MX800 patient monitoring system

Royal Philips Electronics today introduced the IntelliVue MX800 patient monitoring system, a new dimension in patient care that provides immediate access to comprehensive patient information directly at the monitor. In addition to displaying and recording traditional data such as patient vital signs, the IntelliVue MX800 offers direct access to patient information from almost any system on a hospital's IT infrastructure.

From Philips Healthcare 8 Oct 2010

Patient personality can cause missed diagnoses of depression

Patient personality affects the accuracy of reports by friends and family members of mood history and symptoms and can cause missed diagnoses of depression, according to research published online by the journal International Psychogeriatrics.

8 Oct 2010

Opeds: Editorials weigh in on success -- or not -- of 'Obama's' health reform

Six months after the passage of health care reform, it is easy to forget how far we have come in such a short time. It will take years to make the law's most important changes.

8 Oct 2010

International scientific conference explores new approaches to prevent infectious diseases

Swine flu, cancer, bioterrorism and the latest trends in countermeasures to combat these life-threatening diseases and infections are among the topics to be discussed at the upcoming New Cells for New Vaccines V: Global Perspectives international scientific conference, on October 11-13 in Wilmington, Delaware, at the Hotel du Pont.

8 Oct 2010

Michigan judge rules individual mandate in health law is constitutional

"A U.S. judge on Thursday upheld a key part of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law that requires Americans to obtain coverage, rejecting a challenge by a conservative interest group. The Thomas More Law Center filed a lawsuit in Michigan the day Obama signed it into law. It argued that the provision requiring Americans buy coverage by 2014 under threat of penalty was beyond Congress' authority and an unconstitutional tax" (Pelofsky, 10/7).

8 Oct 2010

Insurer funds business PAC supporting Calif. GOP insurance commissioner candidate, other health politics

A California Chamber of Commerce political action committee bankrolled in part by insurance companies is funding TV ads supporting Republican Mike Villines in his quest to become state insurance commissioner, the Los Angeles Times reports.

8 Oct 2010

AHRQ awards $1.2M grant to evaluate effectiveness of primary care transformation efforts

The Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has awarded a $1.2 million grant to Michigan State University to evaluate the effectiveness of primary care transformation efforts at Priority Health and Independent Health, a New York plan.

8 Oct 2010

HHS offers waivers as firms, insurers threaten to abandon markets

The Obama administration has granted "dozens" of waivers that will allow insurers and companies - most notably McDonald's - to continue offering health benefits that do not meet new health law requirements in an effort "to stave off threats by some health insurers to abandon markets, drop out of the business altogether or refuse to sell certain policies," The New York Times reports.

8 Oct 2010