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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware selects Highmark as affiliation partner

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware (BCBSD) announced today that it has signed an affiliation agreement with Pennsylvania-based Highmark Inc. (Highmark) that will position BCBSD to remain a strong local leader in the health care marketplace. This announcement is the culmination of a four-year corporate strategic planning process for BCBSD.

21 Aug 2010

California radio report examines end of life care

KQED's California Report/Health Dialogues reports on end-of-life care and the roles culture and insurance play. In considering end of life care, "sometimes there's disagreement within a family, and cultural and generational differences can complicate what is already an emotionally fraught situation.

21 Aug 2010

Disability discrimination claims increase

USA Today, in a front page story: "More people with disabilities filed charges of discrimination against their employers last year than at any other time in the 20-year history of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Almost 21,500 ADA-related charges were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2009.

21 Aug 2010

N.C. Blue requests 7 percent rate hike

BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina has proposed increasing its average insurance premiums by 6.97 percent — although some policies could rise by up to 30 percent — in a move that would have to be approved by state regulators, the Charlotte Observer reports. The biggest increases will hit children, men and some older members. Still, "[t]hat's the lowest proposed annual increase since 2007, and about 28,000 people will see rate decreases, including women in their early 20s" (Wolf, 8/20).

21 Aug 2010

Feds to revamp bioterrorism and flu plans

Federal officials say they will revamp strategies for dealing with bioterrorism and pandemic flu because efforts to develop medical solutions have lagged, the Los Angeles Times reports. They "announced a $1.9-billion makeover of the system for identifying and manufacturing drugs and vaccines for public health emergencies." The makeover includes plans to hasten manufacturing time and improve surveillance to detect such threats more quickly.

21 Aug 2010

State Roundup: Hospital safety, infant mortality, immigration and more

Officials in Oregon say hospitals accidentally killed 32 patients; in Texas, as the immigration debate simmers, the government is tallying illegal immigrants' health costs.

21 Aug 2010

Today's Opinions: Florida's medical association; Massachusetts' politics; Medicine and money

What a colossal mess! That first sentence in the Miami-Dade Grand Jury report on what's wrong with Jackson Health System summed up the community's frustration with Miami-Dade's ailing safety net hospital. The report spared no one it examined before offering a string of remedies (8/20).

21 Aug 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

In view of World Humanitarian Day, a Huffington Post blog discusses the "lessons" of disaster response and the global "proliferation of humanitarian crises." First, the authors write that "the number of people affected by disasters is on the rise," mostly due to conflict and natural disasters. "Second, and in spite of these trends, U.S. humanitarian assistance is a sound investment. Though only about one-tenth of one percent of the federal budget, our aid not only saves lives, but promotes security and well-being where despair and misery threaten."

21 Aug 2010

New plans for uninsured off to slow start

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports that some officials say there has been "an unexpectedly small number of people" signing up for a new federally subsidized program for uninsured people with health problems.

20 Aug 2010

Colleges say new health law may imperil student policies

Kaiser Health News staff writer Julie Appleby reports on confusion about how the new health law affects college health plans. "Colleges and universities say some rules in the new health law could keep them from offering low-cost, limited benefit student insurance policies

20 Aug 2010

New law offers hope for homeless health care

Kaiser Health News staff writers Mary Agnes Carey and Andrew Villegas, writing in collaboration with The Washington Post, report: "Tianne Hill dreads getting mail at the city shelter on Guilford Avenue where she lives. She knows it often includes medical bills she can't pay.

20 Aug 2010

Hay Group's survey reports positive news for health insurance employee compensation in 2011

Hay Group's 2010 Health Insurance Survey, released today, had some positive news for health insurance employee compensation in 2011. Median salary budget increases (the total available budget to invest in employees through salary) for 2011 are expected to reach 2.9 percent for executives and 3 percent for all other employee levels. This is a slight increase from last year's survey that reported median salary budget increases of 2 percent for executives and 2.5 percent for all other employee levels.

20 Aug 2010

SUNY Downstate Medical Center to provide content from 'Lippincott's Nursing Procedures and Skills' to nurses

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins announced today SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, will provide the expert clinical content from Lippincott's Nursing Procedures and Skills to the nurses in their facility. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins is part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy. SUNY Downstate Medical Center is one of the nation's leading urban medical centers, serving over 2.3 million people.

20 Aug 2010

Washington's adult smoking rate drops to 14.8%, but smokeless tobacco use is on the rise

New survey results show Washington's adult smoking rate has dropped to a new low of 14.8 percent. That's down from 15.3 percent the previous year. Washington now has the third lowest smoking rate in the nation—the state's best ranking since measuring across all 50 states started in 1995. Despite these gains, people from low income and lower educational backgrounds continue to smoke at higher rates. Smokeless tobacco use, including products like chew, is also on the rise among people who already smoke.

20 Aug 2010

U.S. boosts aid relief to Pakistani flood victims; U.N. donors meet about funding

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) visited Pakistan on Thursday "to assess the damage and relief efforts" as flooding continues and millions remain in need of humanitarian aid, the New York Times reports. According to the newspaper, Kerry "said the United States would increase its flood aid to $150 million" (Masood/Gall, 8/19).

20 Aug 2010

First Edition: August 20, 2010

Today's headlines include articles on health insurance for college students, new plans to overhaul the government's bioterror and flu preparations, changes in store for health care for the homeless and a look at the new high risk insurance plans.

20 Aug 2010

Commonwealth Employment Relations Board rules that Cambridge Health Alliance violated state labor law

The Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB) ruled today that Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) violated state labor law, by bargaining in bad faith and depriving nurses of their union rights following CHA's decision to prematurely cease negotiations, declare impasse and unilaterally slash nurses' retiree health benefit.

20 Aug 2010

Report says developing countries remain unprepared for cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment

"Developing countries will bear 60 percent of the world's cancer burden by 2020 and 70 percent by 2030," according to a report released Thursday during the World Cancer Congress in Shenzhen, China, Reuters reports. These countries also lack the necessary "infrastructure … to prevent cancer, diagnose it early or provide long-term treatment, according to CanTreat International, which comprises experts from leading international cancer organizations," the news service writes.

20 Aug 2010

AARP commends opening of enrollment for 'Illinois Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan'

Countless Americans of all ages have been blocked from health care coverage by private insurers because of pre-existing conditions, leaving them uninsured and at risk of both health and financial disasters. One of the most important provisions of the new federal health care law is the creation of Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans (PCIPs, or High-Risk Pools) which will help many individuals get the coverage they need.

20 Aug 2010

On World Humanitarian Day, media outlets report on rise in violence toward relief workers

Marking World Humanitarian Day Thursday, several media outlets examine the uptick in violence against aid workers and efforts to protect them.

20 Aug 2010

Healthcare News

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware selects Highmark as affiliation partner

California radio report examines end of life care

Disability discrimination claims increase

N.C. Blue requests 7 percent rate hike

Feds to revamp bioterrorism and flu plans

State Roundup: Hospital safety, infant mortality, immigration and more

Today's Opinions: Florida's medical association; Massachusetts' politics; Medicine and money

Recent releases in Global Health

New plans for uninsured off to slow start

Colleges say new health law may imperil student policies

New law offers hope for homeless health care

Hay Group's survey reports positive news for health insurance employee compensation in 2011

SUNY Downstate Medical Center to provide content from 'Lippincott's Nursing Procedures and Skills' to nurses

Washington's adult smoking rate drops to 14.8%, but smokeless tobacco use is on the rise

U.S. boosts aid relief to Pakistani flood victims; U.N. donors meet about funding

First Edition: August 20, 2010

Commonwealth Employment Relations Board rules that Cambridge Health Alliance violated state labor law

Report says developing countries remain unprepared for cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment

AARP commends opening of enrollment for 'Illinois Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan'

On World Humanitarian Day, media outlets report on rise in violence toward relief workers

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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