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Judge gives the go-ahead to Virginia's health overhaul challenge

In a ruling issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson refused to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Virginia challenging a key aspect of the health care overhaul. The next round of arguments in this case is scheduled for October.

4 Aug 2010

Study analyzes prevalence of pediatric patient-safety events at hospitals

Hospital-acquired infections are the leading cause of potentially preventable mortality among pediatric patients, according to a study of pediatric patient-safety incidents issued today by HealthGrades, the leading independent health care ratings organization.

4 Aug 2010

GTCR, Dale Wolf partner to create Jessamine Healthcare

GTCR, one of the nation's leading private equity firms, today announced it has entered into a partnership with Dale Wolf to form Jessamine Healthcare, Inc. The new company, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, will focus on acquiring companies in the healthcare payor and outsourced payor services industries.

4 Aug 2010

GE and Intel create new health IT venture focused on home-based care

General Electric Co. and Intel Corp. announced Monday they will create a company to provide new medical technologies for the elderly and chronically ill.

4 Aug 2010

Foreign doctors provide care as good as that of Americans, study finds

Physicians trained in other countries provide care just as good as -- and perhaps better than some U.S. doctors, a report published in the journal Health Affairs found.

4 Aug 2010

Spectrum Health selects Aternity FPI Platform for strategic end user experience management initiatives

Aternity Inc., the industry's technology leader in end user experience management solutions for Global 1000 enterprises, announced today that Spectrum Health, a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan that offers a full continuum of care that includes the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, has selected the Aternity Frontline Performance Intelligence (FPI) Platform for its strategic end user experience management initiatives.

4 Aug 2010

CRICO/RMF achieves highest level of accreditation

CRICO/RMF has been awarded the highest level of accreditation, "Accreditation with Commendation," as a provider of Continuing Medical Education for physicians. This six-year accreditation is the result of an extensive (re)survey by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education in which CRICO/RMF demonstrated compliance in all 22 of its criteria.

4 Aug 2010

Administration touts Medicare savings report; Republicans complain it misleads seniors

A report issued Monday by the Obama administration found that the new health care law "will save Medicare $8 billion by the end of 2011, and $575 billion over the next decade, largely by improving care quality and preventing waste and fraud." The report also predicts that the overhaul will "extend the life of the program more than a decade.

4 Aug 2010

New health law is uncharted terrain for administration, insurers

The White House pressured insurers to begin covering kids with pre-existing conditions as soon as the health overhaul law was enacted, The New York Times reports. But after a few months, some insurers decided to stop offering "child only" plans altogether to minimize their losses. The give-and-take resulted in the White House saying insurers could limit enrollment to specific periods last week.

4 Aug 2010

Children's hospitals, other medical centers now eligible for discounted drugs in Medicaid

The Hill: "Children's hospitals and other medical centers on Monday became eligible to enroll in a Medicaid program that offers discounted drugs, as called for in the healthcare reform law.

4 Aug 2010

Study solves puzzle behind different types of skin cancer on different body parts

A consistent all-over tan may be impossible to achieve because some body areas are much more resistant to tanning than others, a study has found.Researchers - funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) - at the University of Edinburgh say the results explain why some holidaymakers find it so hard to achieve an even tan all over their body.

4 Aug 2010

New York lawmakers trying to revive 9/11 health care bill

Lawmakers are trying to bridge the gap between colleagues on the left and right in a bid to provide greater health coverage for 9/11 workers, The Wall Street Journal reports. "The bill was voted down [in the House] late Thursday night amid angry partisan finger-pointing, and now Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney and others have begun weighing options to make the bill more tolerable to factions on the right and left. … Already, Democrats are signaling a shift in strategy.

4 Aug 2010

Dendreon to implement Pilgrim's Deviation and Corrective and Preventive Action management system

Pilgrim Software, Inc., a world-leading provider of Enterprise Risk, Compliance and Quality Management (ERCQM) software solutions, today announced that Dendreon Corporation, a Seattle-based biotechnology company, will implement Pilgrim's automated system for Deviation and Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) management using its on-demand software as a service platform.

4 Aug 2010

International conference to discuss research, unresolved issues of sickle cell disease

Carlton Haywood Jr., Ph.D., an associate faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, will mark the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of sickle cell anemia on Wednesday, Aug. 4, with a talk on the impact that race has had on the history of research and treatment of the inherited blood disorder.

4 Aug 2010

Senate to debate bill to stop violence against women

"Bipartisan legislation that would mandate a comprehensive plan to combat violence against women worldwide is poised for a potential congressional vote, marking tough new action by the United States on a problem that's commonplace across the globe," McClatchy Newspapers reports.

4 Aug 2010

Hospitals, docs adopting health IT ahead of schedule

Clinics and hospitals are increasingly switching to electronic medical records as a federal push to spread the technology sweeps across the nation.

4 Aug 2010

SVH launches Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program

The highly regarded Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program - now available in more than 1,500 grocery stores and schools - today announces its partnership with Sebasticook Valley Hospital (SVH) in Pittsfield, Maine to launch the nutrition guidance program in a hospital for the first time. Guiding Stars will rate prepared meals, snacks, and grab-and-go items according to their nutritional value in the hospital cafeteria. Each item rated will receive zero to three stars for an at-a-glance summary of the food's nutritional quality.

4 Aug 2010

Missourians vote today on health reform ballot initiative

Missouri voters Tuesday are weighing in on a ballot measure that would ban laws from requiring people to have insurance in a vote that is sure to send a political message but may not have much legal impact, The Associated Press/Columbia Missourian reports. "If it passes as expected, the Missouri measure could send a troublesome signal from a historical swing-state about the most high-profile accomplishment of Obama and the Democratic-led Congress." If it fails, Republicans will get burnt on an issue they have sought to pull into mid-term elections.

4 Aug 2010

Insuring your health: Rating your doctor

In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: "For most people, picking a doctor is hardly a scientific process. They ask friends or family members to pass along names of doctors they like and trust, or rely on another doctor's referral.

4 Aug 2010

Asian ministers review MDGs progress

South Asia is "lagging behind" in poverty and hunger reduction and is "in danger" of missing key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, a U.N. official told Asian ministers gathered to discuss MDGs progress, Agence France-Presse reports. At the meeting, "senior officials told delegates from dozens of countries that global food, energy and financial crises in recent years had jeopardized progress toward achieving the goals set for 2015," the news service writes.

4 Aug 2010