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Clinica of Virginia signs contracts with major insurance providers

Exmovere Holdings, Inc a biomedical engineering company, today announced that Clinica of Virginia, LLC, its wholly owned subsidiary, which now provides local patients with affordable, quality medical services has signed contracts with major insurance providers, Medicare, and Medicaid.

21 Aug 2010

New FDA laws on egg safety would have prevented salmonella outbreak, Feds say

The Washington Post: "Salmonella-infected eggs traceable to a large egg producer in Iowa may have caused as many as 1,200 cases of intestinal illness … The eggs went to distribution companies in 17 states, mostly west of the Mississippi River, but were then sold nationwide. ... Many states, as well as egg-producer associations, have voluntary 'egg quality assurance' programs with guidelines similar to those that are now mandatory. … In healthy people, it rarely causes severe illness.

21 Aug 2010

HCG Platinum improves formula of hormone diet product

MARCH 2010 proved to change the diet industry forever when HCG Platinum launched their product in Anaheim, California at the Natural Products Expo West. With growing consumer concerns about credible weight loss products, Platinum perfected the HCG hormone diet by adding three amino acids to the formula, making it not only the most effective diet product on the market, but also the safest.

21 Aug 2010

Cardinal DiNardo calls for support on 'No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act'

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, chair of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, called on members of the House of Representatives to support the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" (H.R. 5939), introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) at the end of July.

21 Aug 2010

Reform law causing students, insurers to examine college health plans

Colleges are saying the new health law could keep them from offering low-cost, limited benefit student health insurance plans, "and they're seeking federal authority to continue offering them," Kaiser Health News reports. "Without a number of changes, it may be impossible 'to continue to offer student health plans,' says an Aug. 12 letter sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from the American Council on Education and signed by 12 other trade associations representing colleges."

21 Aug 2010

WHO calls upon countries to be alert to antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) - the ability of micro-organisms to find ways to evade the action of the drugs used to cure the infections they cause - is increasingly recognised as a global public health issue which could hamper the control of many infectious diseases. Some bacteria have developed mechanisms which render them resistant to many of the antibiotics normally used for their treatment (multi-drug resistant bacteria), so pose particular difficulties, as there may be few or no alternative options for therapy.

21 Aug 2010

FDA warns of typhoid fever through frozen mamey fruit pulp

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat frozen mamey fruit pulp sold under the La Nuestra brand by Montalvan Sales Inc. Ontario, Calif., or the Goya brand by Goya Foods Inc. Secaucus, N.J.

21 Aug 2010

Center for Health Sciences to offer certificate program in Phlebotomy

Beginning in October, the Graduate School's new Center for Health Sciences will offer a Medical Laboratory Technician, Associate of Applied Science degree and a certificate program in Phlebotomy. The first of many programs to be offered, both curricula provide a combination of coursework and clinical experience with strong emphasis on employability skills such as problem solving, effective communication, professional conduct, and information and technology literacy.

21 Aug 2010

Assurant health cutting jobs ahead of health reform implementation

Milwaukee-based Insurer Assurant Inc. is cutting its workforce in various locations around America ahead of health care reform implementation. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that 130 jobs in Milwaukee and Plymouth, Minn., will be cut. "The company, which sells health insurance for individuals and small employers as well as short-term policies, faces an onslaught of new federal health care reform regulations, including the requirement that it spend 80% of premiums on medical care.

21 Aug 2010

Long-term exercise reduces chronic musculoskeletal pain: Research

Since returning home, some 100,000 veterans from the first Gulf War have reported chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) similar to fibromyalgia, and a new study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, shows that acute exercise can exacerbate the pain but long-term exercise has the opposite outcome and reduces it.

21 Aug 2010

EMR tracking system improves follow-up of abnormal Pap tests: Study

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) report that physicians who use an automated, electronic medical record (EMR) tracking system to follow-up on patients with an abnormal Pap test could increase the number of women who achieved diagnostic resolution and have women achieve resolution in less time than using traditional methods. These findings appear in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

21 Aug 2010

What hospital consolidation means for the cost of an MRI

An MRI for a skier's torn ligament at Sutter Davis Hospital near Sacramento cost $1,271, while an identical scan at a nearby imaging center run by Radiological Associates of Sacramento runs only $696, Bloomberg reports. Why? Insurers say it's because Sutter has monopolized the regional hospital market and can essentially demand whatever prices it wants — often between 40 and 70 percent higher than competitors.

21 Aug 2010

National essay writing contest on obesity for teenagers

Teenagers are extremely concerned about America's relationship to food. In a national writing contest for high school students hosted by StageofLife.com, a blogging and writing resource for teens, high school students were asked, "Do we have an obligation to take better care of ourselves by making changes in the way we eat and/or buy and consume food".

21 Aug 2010

Study finds experiences of parenthood are different for male and female scientists

Many scientists in academia bemoan the fact that their lifestyles do not allow them to have as many children as they would like. Surprisingly, male scientists harbor more regrets than female scientists, according to a study by Rice University sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund.

21 Aug 2010

Cholera outbreaks on the rise, WHO expert says

A recent increase in the number of cholera outbreaks is threatening populations in pockets of the world, Claire-Lise Chaignat, WHO's cholera group coordinator, said on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports. "Cholera is transmitted by water but also by food that had been contaminated by unclean water," the news service writes. "It causes serious diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to dehydration. With a short incubation period, it can be fatal if not treated in time," AFP writes.

21 Aug 2010

Prescription opioids can be gate way to illicit drug addiction: Study

Thirty-one of 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification told University at Buffalo physicians they first got hooked on drugs legitimately prescribed for pain. Another 24 began with a friend's left-over prescription pills or pilfered from a parent's medicine cabinet. The remaining 20 patients said they got hooked on street drugs.

21 Aug 2010

Turner Construction receives contract to modernize St. Mary's Hospital for Children

Turner Construction Company, the nation's largest builder of healthcare facilities, has been awarded a $72 million contract to provide pre-construction and construction management services for the modernization of St. Mary's Hospital for Children in Bayside, N.Y. The project is scheduled for completion in May 2013.

21 Aug 2010

CDC says teen vaccination rates up but should go higher

The Wall Street Journal writes about vaccination rates among teens: "The CDC says more teenagers got their recommended immunizations last year, but that there's room for improvement — for example, only 27% of teenage girls received the recommended three doses of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.

21 Aug 2010

Palliative care prolongs metastatic lung cancer patient’s life: Study

A precedent-setting study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, August 19 demonstrates definitively that early referrals to palliative care prolongs life for patients living with metastatic lung cancer.

21 Aug 2010

Research Roundup: Lowering malpractice costs; Advance care planning limitations; Consumers review their own health care

Annals of Internal Medicine: Liability Claims And Costs Before And After Implementation Of A Medical Error Disclosure Program - This study focused on a "disclosure-with-offer program" launched by the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) in 2001. "After full implementation of a disclosure-with-offer program, the average monthly rate of new claims decreased from 7.03 to 4.52 per 100,000 patient encounters.

21 Aug 2010