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Web-based questionnaire option increases survey response: Report

Investigators from the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have reported that the use of a web-based questionnaire can be a cost-effective tool for obtaining survey response.

14 Oct 2010

Cincinnati Children's, North Carolina collaborate to create registry system for IBD

Building on the success of previous efforts among researchers and caregivers to improve the care of chronically ill children, North Carolina Children's Hospital is one of 27 sites across the nation developing a disease registry for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The research collaborative is part of a $12-million grant to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, enabling the creation of this first-of-its-kind registry system providing real time information on thousands of IBD cases across the country and, eventually, around the world.

14 Oct 2010

News outlets report on sessions at World Health Summit

As the World Health Summit continues in Berlin, some media outlets wrote about the discussions taking place.

14 Oct 2010

White House will delay W-2 insurance reporting requirement, other health reform news

CongressDaily reports that the Obama administration announced Tuesday it will delay for one year a provision of the health law that requires employers to report the value of an employee's health plan on tax forms. The White House says the extra time is necessary to give employers time to prepare to comply with the requirement. "Under the overhaul law, all employers who provide health insurance are required to include the information on workers' tax forms after 2010.

14 Oct 2010

West African cholera epidemic exacerbated by flooding; more than 1,800 deaths reported

The WHO says 1,879 deaths have been reported from cholera in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, the Associated Press reports. The wave of cholera started a few months ago and nearly 40,500 cases have been reported in the region so far. Nigeria alone has experienced nearly 1,200 deaths, its worst cholera outbreak in two decades, according to the article (10/12).

14 Oct 2010

Quantros to demonstrate patient safety, risk management solution at ASHRM Conference

Quantros, a leading provider of clinically-focused data management and decision support solutions for the healthcare industry, will demonstrate several new patient safety and risk management solutions at the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) Annual Conference and Exhibition, to be held Oct. 13 to 16 in Tampa, FL.

14 Oct 2010

Psychological and social challenges faced by parents of children with undiagnosed learning disorders

Parents of children with undiagnosed learning disorders, developmental deficits, and congenital abnormalities face a host of psychological and social challenges, which are explored in detail in a reflective article in Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com).

14 Oct 2010

Various health groups examine cost, quality issues

The Air Force's top uniformed officer on Tuesday warned that growing healthcare costs could hurt other critical military needs. Schwartz said that the Pentagon pays $40 billion in healthcare costs for military members and retirees, and is expected to pay as much as $60 billion by 2015 about 13 percent of the entire Pentagon budget.

14 Oct 2010

Planned Parenthood launches campaign for free contraceptives as part of health law

NPR's Shots blog reports that the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is joining Planned Parenthood on a campaign to allow free prescription contraceptives as part of the health reform law.

14 Oct 2010

Berwick: New technology will make coordinating care easier

Health care practitioners have new information technologies at their disposal that will make coordinating care among providers easier and more effective than the old health maintenance organization model of 40 years ago, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services told a group of policy experts Tuesday.

14 Oct 2010

States grapple with Medicaid problems in access, improper payments

The Washington Post reports on the District of Columbia's Medicaid program and mental health coverage. "The federal government handed [the city] an opportunity to save $56 million over four years by expanding Medicaid this summer and they jumped at it. They switched 35,000 low-income residents from the city-funded D.C. Health Care Alliance insurance plan to a Medicaid plan and reaped the reward.

14 Oct 2010

Health care workforce faces strains, shifts

Kaiser Health News / NPR "Last year, half of new doctors were hired by hospitals, according to the Medical Group Management Association, a professional organization for physician practices. According to a 2009 report by the American Medical Association, one in six doctors works for a hospital, and the number is quickly growing.

14 Oct 2010

Risingsun signs consent decree to stop selling unapproved drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that Toby McAdam and Greta Armstrong, doing business as Risingsun Health and The Center for Complimentary and Alternative Health of Livingston, Montana, have signed a consent decree that prohibits them from manufacturing and selling unapproved new drugs and adulterated or misbranded dietary supplements in violation of the law.

14 Oct 2010

Forum allows healthcare professionals to consider probiotics for patient wellbeing

GPs who have a chance to evaluate the current evidence on probiotics and hear from experts firsthand on their relevance to clinical practice are much more likely to consider them, according to the findings of an interactive debate at the RCGPs Annual Primary Care Conference in Harrogate this week.

14 Oct 2010

Insurance companies denied policies to 1 of every 7 applicants, probe finds

The Wall Street Journal: The four largest for-profit health insurers in the U.S. -- Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc., and WellPoint Inc. -- "on average denied policies to one out of every seven applicants based on their prior medical history," according to a congressional investigative report released yesterday by Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.).

14 Oct 2010

Yoga program improves fibromyalgia symptoms and functional deficits

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a debilitating condition affecting 11󈝻 million individuals in the US alone. FM carries an annual direct cost for care of more than $20 billion and drug therapies are generally only 30% effective in relieving symptoms and 20% effective in improving function. Standard care currently includes medications accompanied by exercise and coping skills approaches. In a study published in the November 2010 issue of PAIN, researchers report patients participating in a "Yoga of Awareness" program showed significantly greater improvement in FM symptoms and functioning compared to patients on a standard FM care program.

14 Oct 2010

Anger, seniors and Ad campaigns: Health reform politics

A poll released Tuesday shows most seniors in Medicare's prescription drug benefit program don't know that the health law "closes Part D's coverage gap," The Hill's Healthwatch blog reports.

14 Oct 2010

Justices wrestle with issue of protecting vaccine makers

The Supreme Court is grappling with the question of how much protection the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was meant to provide vaccine manufacturers against lawsuits. The case involves Hannah Bruesewitz, whose parents claim that a Wyeth-manufactured D.T.P. vaccine she received as an infant in 1992 led to developmental problems.

14 Oct 2010

Researchers seek to end disparities in cancer, stroke care

HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report: Research has shown that there is a racial gap in breast cancer care, "with black and Hispanic women less likely to get recommended breast cancer treatments than white patients."

14 Oct 2010

NextGate and NextGen Healthcare partner to advance health information exchange

NextGate, the Enterprise Master Index leader, today announced a partnership with NextGen Healthcare, a leading provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, aimed at improving healthcare organizations' ability to combine data from disparate systems and create a unified, complete record for each patient.

14 Oct 2010