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Gary Coleman's death highlights importance of end-of-life decisions

Actor Gary Coleman's death is highlighting the importance of who makes your end-of-life decisions and is drawing attention to the fact that having a "living will" does not always guarantee that your wishes will be carried out, CNN reports.

18 Jun 2010

Drug makers face tightened regulations by FDA and less clout at medical meetings

The Washington Post: "The Food and Drug Administration this week began posting online the results of safety evaluations of recently approved drugs and vaccines. The action follows a law enacted in 2007 that requires the agency to provide more safety information to consumers and health professionals. The evaluations must be conducted 18 months after a new drug comes on the market.

18 Jun 2010

Elderly people in sub-Saharan Africa remain neglected as a result of AIDS epidemic: Researchers

The rise in AIDS death rates in sub-Saharan Africa has led to a burgeoning new category of neglected individuals - nearly a million orphaned elderly, or older adults living alone without the benefit of any caregivers, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have found.

18 Jun 2010

Paternal involvement in pregnancy reduces infant deaths

Studies have shown fathers who are active in their children's upbringing can significantly benefit their children's early development, academic achievement and well being. Now, a new study by University of South Florida researchers suggests that a father's involvement before his child is born may play an important role in preventing death during the first year of life - particularly if the infant is black.

18 Jun 2010

Loss of Manhattan hospital crowds other ERs; Utah discourages Medicaid patients from unnecessary ER visits

"Emergency rooms in downtown Manhattan have become more crowded since St. Vincent's Hospital closed in April, but ambulances are getting patients into the remaining ERs faster than they did when the 161-year-old Greenwich Village hospital was open." Bellevue Hospital Center, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York Downtown Hospital and New York University Langone Medical Center are the "four downtown ERs left to pick up the slack" and have experienced increases in patient visits in May compared with 2008 levels.

18 Jun 2010

Medical Simulation announces new agreement with New York's North Shore-LIJ Health System

Medical Simulation Corporation (MSC) proudly announces a new agreement with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, New York's largest health system and recipient of the 2010 National Quality Healthcare Award from the National Quality Forum. The agreement includes the sale of MSC's endovascular simulation system, Simantha®, and licensing of MSC's curriculum and training services to advance North Shore's education and patient safety goals over the next three years.

18 Jun 2010

Obama thanks nurses for health law support, nurse practitioners push role

President Obama Wednesday thanked the American Nurses Association for supporting the health reform effort, The Associated Press reports. "Obama said nurses are the 'beating heart' of the health care system. … The Obama administration on Wednesday also announced new funding (Today's Daily Report includes summaries of coverage related to this announcement.) to help educate and train full-time nurses" (Simmons, 6/17).

18 Jun 2010

Fraudulent Tamiflu sold over Internet, FDA warns

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned consumers about a potentially harmful product represented as "Generic Tamiflu" sold over the Internet. FDA tests revealed that the fraudulent product does not contain Tamiflu's active ingredient, oseltamivir, but cloxacillin, an ingredient in the same class of antibiotics as penicillin.

18 Jun 2010

Republicans, Obama administration spar over health overhaul

A Heritage Foundation-affiliated conservative advocacy group, Heritage Action, will begin targeting lawmakers "at home in their districts" who fail to support the GOP-led efforts to repeal the overhaul with political ads and other tactics, according to The Hill, which quoted Michael Needham, the just-launched Action group's CEO "The effects of Obamacare are being felt more and more every day.

18 Jun 2010

Justice Department asks court to throw out states' lawsuit challenging health overhaul

The Associated Press reports that the Justice Department filed a motion in Florida late Wednesday asking a "federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by 20 states challenging President Barack Obama's health care overhaul." The states are arguing that the federal government cannot require individuals to buy health insurance, a key provision of the new health law.

18 Jun 2010

HHS announces $250 million in federal funding to boost primary care providers

The Washington Post: "In an attempt to address a national shortage of health-care workers, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that the federal government will spend $250 million in programs to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other care providers. The money ... includes $168 million to train 500 new primary-care physicians over the next five years, $30 million to encourage 600 nursing students to attend school full-time and complete their education, and $32 million to create 600 new physician assistants."

18 Jun 2010

IU-Regenstrief programs to address growing workforce needs for qualified health IT workers

Investments in the future of health care delivery include more than training additional doctors and nurses. Health information technology specialists are critical. While a growing number of hospitals and physicians want to offer their patients the benefits of electronic medical records and health information exchange, there is a nationwide shortage of highly skilled health IT workers to fill an estimated 60,000 positions.

18 Jun 2010

GOP extenders proposal fails; Dems still seek to lower cost on their bill

Senate Republicans failed Thursday to replace a broad Democratic jobless benefits bill, which includes a provision to stop a pending 21 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. The Republican option failed in a 57-41 vote, The Wall Street Journal reports.

18 Jun 2010

Health IT implementation plan: 'Bold incrementalism'

Farzad Mostashari, a senior official in the government's health IT office, said in a speech Tuesday that the strategy for implementing federal ehealth efforts is one of "bold incrementalism," Modern Healthcare reports. Mostashari listed as an example the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's "approach to the health information exchange.

18 Jun 2010

Women with college degrees more likely to have health insurance

Attention college grads: Your degree may be the key to both a career and better health coverage. According to a new study of women's health insurance from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, women without a high school diploma were nearly four times more likely to be uninsured as women with a college degree.

18 Jun 2010

Feds to states: Set up health insurance pools for high-risk patients by July 1

The program, one of the highest profile provisions of the law, is designed to provide health insurance to people who have been denied coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition and have been without coverage for at least six months. It will start enrollment on July 1 and begin coverage on Aug. 1, according to guidance that Jay Angoff, director of the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, sent to state officials last week.

18 Jun 2010

States want Congress to keep extra Medicaid money flowing

Illinois will face a $750 million shortfall in the fiscal year beginning in July if Congress doesn't extend increased Medicaid funding, originally part of last year's economic stimulus, Illinois Statehouse News reports. "The increased Medicaid reimbursements stand as a national issue as the recession lingers. Thirty states have crafted budgets for the fiscal year set to begin July 1 based on an extension of the increased payments, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures" (Massingale, 6/16).

18 Jun 2010

Democrats scale back 'doc fix' in pursuit of votes to pass jobs bill, Medicaid provision may be dropped

A bill that would, among other things, extend some unemployment benefits and provide a temporary fix for Medicare physician payment rates languished in the Senate Wednesday as a procedural vote to end debate on the bill failed, 52 to 45, The Wall Street Journal reports. Eleven Democrats broke with the party to vote no.

18 Jun 2010

Nineteen facilities named Centers of Excellence in APBI for use of SAVI applicator

Nineteen facilities in the Mid-Atlantic region have been named Centers of Excellence in accelerated partial breast irradiation for their use of the SAVI applicator, an advanced therapy for breast cancer as part of breast conservation therapy. The SAVI applicator can provide important advantages for women with early-stage breast cancer.

17 Jun 2010

Kaplan EduNeering, DIA announce strategic alliance to create online educational offerings

Kaplan EduNeering, a leading provider of compliance and knowledge management solutions, and the Drug Information Association (DIA), a global professional member association, announced a new strategic alliance to create online educational offerings for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, academic, and regulatory professionals around the world.

17 Jun 2010

Healthcare News

Gary Coleman's death highlights importance of end-of-life decisions

Drug makers face tightened regulations by FDA and less clout at medical meetings

Elderly people in sub-Saharan Africa remain neglected as a result of AIDS epidemic: Researchers

Paternal involvement in pregnancy reduces infant deaths

Loss of Manhattan hospital crowds other ERs; Utah discourages Medicaid patients from unnecessary ER visits

Medical Simulation announces new agreement with New York's North Shore-LIJ Health System

Obama thanks nurses for health law support, nurse practitioners push role

Fraudulent Tamiflu sold over Internet, FDA warns

Republicans, Obama administration spar over health overhaul

Justice Department asks court to throw out states' lawsuit challenging health overhaul

HHS announces $250 million in federal funding to boost primary care providers

IU-Regenstrief programs to address growing workforce needs for qualified health IT workers

GOP extenders proposal fails; Dems still seek to lower cost on their bill

Health IT implementation plan: 'Bold incrementalism'

Women with college degrees more likely to have health insurance

Feds to states: Set up health insurance pools for high-risk patients by July 1

States want Congress to keep extra Medicaid money flowing

Democrats scale back 'doc fix' in pursuit of votes to pass jobs bill, Medicaid provision may be dropped

Nineteen facilities named Centers of Excellence in APBI for use of SAVI applicator

Kaplan EduNeering, DIA announce strategic alliance to create online educational offerings

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

How cohesin mechanics and nanotracker tech are redefining DNA research

Todd Bauman and Chris Povich

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