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Ten loopholes and problem areas in new federal health reform law

Consumer Watchdog called on President Obama and Congress in a letter sent today to fix ten problem areas in the new federal health reform law that, if not addressed, will be exploited by health insurers and drug companies looking to charge more for less health care.

9 Apr 2010

AmericanEHR Partners Program introduced to help medical practitioners compare EHR systems

A collaboration developing a new Web site to help medical practitioners compare electronic health records systems was announced today by its founding partners, the American College of Physicians and Cientis Technologies.

9 Apr 2010

St. Vincent's closure sparks concerns, other N.Y. hospitals make plans to accommodate patients

The planned closure of St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City raises concerns as other hospitals plan to accommodate its patients.

9 Apr 2010

Opinions: Preparing for next flu outbreak; Elections in Zimbabwe; U.S. response to Haiti

Now that concerns about swine flu have eased, "[o]ur fear is that the public and officials will get blase about the next flu outbreak," according to a New York Times editorial. "Efforts to rush vaccine into production did not go well. This dry run should lead health officials to push the vaccine makers even harder to adopt new technologies that can turn out vaccine more quickly.

9 Apr 2010

Wave of tax changes comes with health law

The new health law will make a variety of changes to the tax code, including higher levies on the wealthy and millions of dollars in lost deductions for some corporations.

9 Apr 2010

Dangerous agitations: Nicotine replacement therapy needs to be tested in ICU setting

Nicotine withdrawal can cause dangerous agitation in intensive care patients. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care found that, compared to non-smokers, agitated smokers were more likely to accidentally remove tubes and catheters, require supplemental sedative, analgesic or anti-psychotic medications, or need physical restraints.

9 Apr 2010

State Roundup: Mass. insurer standoff eases, Wis. preps for federal overhaul

The Boston Globe: "Seeking to tone down their dispute with state regulators, two Massachusetts health insurers yesterday said they will, as ordered, resume making new policies available for individuals and small businesses — using last year's base rates, not the requested double-digit increases rejected by the state last week" (Weisman, 4/8).

9 Apr 2010

Savings from computerized medical records are hard to measure

Kaiser Health News staff writer Christopher Weaver writes: "When it comes to health policy, few ideas find as much bipartisan support as the notion that widespread adoption of health information technology could improve medical care and save money.

9 Apr 2010

Those who understand insurance coverage more cost-conscious, study says

The Associated Press/The Boston Herald: "Workers who better understand their health insurance plans — from their share of premiums to co-payments for doctor office and emergency room visits — are more likely to make more cost-efficient decisions, a new study finds. The study, which surveyed about 1,500 government workers in Massachusetts," was published in The American Journal of Managed Care.

9 Apr 2010

Roughly 100,000 people are dropped from Tennessee's Medicaid program

Kaiser Health News: "About 100,000 people -- mostly elderly or disabled residents -- have been dropped [from Tennessee's Medicaid program] since January 2009, including approximately 37,000 who had relied on the state program for all their health care needs. Coverage for 8,000 children was also reassessed, but a TennCare spokeswoman said the number of children ultimately cut from the program could not be verified.

9 Apr 2010

Much debate over Brumby health plan

Victorian Premier John Brumby on Thursday proposed an alternative plan to the Prime Minister’s idea of gaining 30% of the GST revenues and give funding control to local hospital networks. According to the alternative 31-page health manifesto put forth by Brumby States should retain control of their hospitals. The Commonwealth proposed to cover the entire bill for primary health care and pick up 60 per cent of the tab for public hospitals. It will retain one-third of GST revenue to help pay for the reforms. Mr Brumby is holding out for extra money from the Commonwealth and a 50-50 funding model for public hospitals.

9 Apr 2010

New CMS web site shines light on Medicare spending

A new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Web site is making more claims data available to the public, Modern Healthcare reports. The so-called "CMS Dashboard" reveals Medicare spending for the top 25 conditions in hospitals, and allows users to compare spending by state, conditions by spending and to review the top-10-spending states for each condition. Medicare Advantage patients are not included in the data set (Evans, 4/7).

9 Apr 2010

More states join lawsuits against federal health reforms

Business Week: Eighteen states are now challenging the new health law. "Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Nevada and Arizona will be added to the suit filed March 23 by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, he said today in a statement."

9 Apr 2010

Superbugs on the decline in Scottish hospitals

The number of cases of hospital infections is on the decline in Scotland. Clostridium difficile, the hospital super bug which brings down a number of patients each year have halved in the last year. In the last 3 months of last year the patients over 65 years reported 672 cases of Clostridium difficile. This is a 48% decline from the 1,299 cases reported in the last three months of 2008.

9 Apr 2010

Miami Medicare case spotlights federal probes into HIV therapy fraud

A new Miami Medicare fraud case spotlights federal investigations of massive scams using HIV therapies.

9 Apr 2010

Democrats, Republicans using health reform votes to plot November strategies

The Associated Press: Vulnerable Democrats around the country are "tiptoeing" during the recess as they prepare for midterm elections. "Tough votes for Obama's health care plan have further complicated the re-election prospects of dozens of already vulnerable freshman and second-term Democrats. There's even a chance the party could lose control of one or both houses in the midterm elections."

9 Apr 2010

Mass. Judge says he will decide by Monday whether state erred in rejecting premium increases

A Suffolk Superior Court judge today "promised to make a decision by Monday afternoon in a high-stakes showdown between the [Gov. Deval] Patrick administration and the state's top health insurers" over proposed premium increases rejected by the state's Division of Insurance, the Boston Herald reports (McConville, 4/8).

9 Apr 2010

QuadraMed introduces Quantim ICD-10 Coding Simulator

QuadraMed® Corporation, a leading provider of healthcare technologies and services that help turn quality care into positive financial outcomes, today announced the general availability of the industry's first ICD-10 Simulator developed to help coders prepare for the transition to ICD-10. The Quantim ICD-10 Coding Simulator, which is available today as a component of the ICD-10 Countdown Program, is a unique solution that duplicates the ICD-10 coding environment for accelerated training and practice purposes.

9 Apr 2010

Linda Douglass leaving Obama's staff

The Hill reports that the "White House's top spokeswoman" on the health care issue is leaving.

9 Apr 2010

Abortion coverage debate moves to the states

The debate over insurance coverage for abortion is moving to the state level, with "lawmakers in at least six states" pushing for a ban on the coverage that goes beyond provisions in the new health law, The Wall Street Journal reports.

9 Apr 2010