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Practice Fusion announces state EHR incentive potential

Last week's announcement of final guidelines for medical providers and EHR vendors has officially kicked off the national health IT transition. As part of the 2009 economic stimulus plan (ARRA), billions have been earmarked to incentivize the Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology in the US. Eligible medical providers can each qualify for $44,000+ in stimulus incentives starting in 2011, incentives that will drive health IT adoption and could bring as much as $4 billion to individual states.

21 Jul 2010

New FDR D-EVO flat panel cassette available for clinical environment

Imaging facilities looking to convert existing analog x-ray rooms to digital can now benefit from the ease-of-use and exceptional image quality of the FDR D-EVO flat panel cassette from FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc. Now FDA 510(k) cleared, the FDR D-EVO™ makes it more convenient to transition to DR with its seamless retrofit that enables facilities to insert the DR detector directly into the existing x-ray table or wall stand without modification.

21 Jul 2010

States worry Congress may not provide extra Medicaid funding; AARP steps in to advocate for the cause

"New York's budget took another blow on Monday, as Congress pulled away from providing more than $1 billion in expected health-care funding. If the money doesn't show up soon, officials warn, there will be layoffs. Senate aides said Monday that a measure to extend unemployment benefits is likely to pass this week, but won't include the extra Medicaid money that Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg had been seeking to plug budget holes. In previous versions of the bill, the money had been included along with unemployment benefits."

21 Jul 2010

Deborah Heart and Lung Center adds two spokespersons to represent its specialty services

Deborah Heart and Lung Center, a specialty heart, lung, and vascular hospital in Browns Mills, NJ has announced two new former major league baseball player spokespersons, as the hospital enters into its second year partnership agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.

21 Jul 2010

Obama resubmits Berwick nomination to Senate, Kagan responds to health law concerns

President Obama on Monday submitted his nomination of Dr. Donald Berwick to head Medicare and Medicaid — "a move that comes two weeks after Obama bypassed Congress to put his stalled nominee in the post until the end of 2011," Roll Call reports. If Berwick is approved, he would have the job indefinitely instead of merely through 2011, a rule that is imposed when a recess appointment is used.

21 Jul 2010

HHS seeking suggestions for online inventory of comparative effectiveness research

The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking suggestions on what to include in a national database of comparative effectiveness research that will be available to the public online, the Kansas Health Institute News Service reports. "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published notice [Monday] in the Federal Register that it seeks suggestions on the sources of information to include in the inventory, how to categorize them, and ways to encourage use of the inventory once it is established.

21 Jul 2010

Senate moves to extend unemployment benefits, no COBRA subsidy extension

The New York Times: "The Senate broke a stalemate on Tuesday over extending unemployment benefits for Americans who have been out of work for six months or more, voting to override Republican objections that the bill's costs would add to the federal deficit" (Hulse, 7/20).

21 Jul 2010

Living with children has a negative influence on parents' ability to exercise: Study

A study conducted at the Montreal Heart Institute has shown unexpectedly that living with children is linked to a reduction in physical activity. Carried out with 756 participants and led by Dr. Simon L. Bacon, Associate Researcher at the MHI and Professor at Concordia University, the study assessed the impact of social networks on exercise, revealing that people with heart disease who live with children exercise less than those people who do not live with children.

21 Jul 2010

Insuring your health: Out of network ER visits won't cost more under new health law

In her latest Kaiser Health News consumer column, Michelle Andrews writes: "In the middle of a medical emergency, you don't have time to wonder whether the doctor who is reading your X-rays is in your insurance network.

21 Jul 2010

Health experts and Republicans push for biosimilar drug clinical trials

The Hill: On Monday, experts warned during a Capitol Hill discussion hosted by the Congressional Health Care Caucus that "the absence of mandatory clinical trials for biosimilar drugs could compromise their safety and effectiveness." The recently passed health reform law "outlined a pathway for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve next-generation biopharmaceuticals modeled on original breakthrough drugs.

21 Jul 2010

Insurer earnings strong, but new health law may take toll

"As health insurers release earnings starting this week, the focus will likely be on clues as to how the U.S. health overhaul affects margins and growth," Dow Jones Newswires/The Wall Street Journal reports. "Led by managed-care bellwether UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), the sector is seen posting hardy earnings for the second quarter.

21 Jul 2010

Tips to prevent children from drowning

As temperatures continue to rise across the country, more and more parents will no doubt take their children to the nearest pool to cool off. Yet every year in the U.S., about 500 children five-years-old and younger drown in swimming pool mishaps.

21 Jul 2010

Lifestyle changes can prevent arthritis, knee replacement

Taking a few small steps toward protecting your knees when you are younger might help you avoid debilitating problems when you get older.

21 Jul 2010

Health reform law faces political, implementation challenges

Politico: States with "the most progressive health policies" are having a hard time implementing their part of a $5 billion series of high-risk insurance pools because their states offer a more generous guarantee of coverage. "Five states — Vermont, Maine, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts — have 'guaranteed issue' of insurance: individual subscribers cannot be turned away because of a health condition.

21 Jul 2010

LSDF announces awards for four Washington research teams

The Life Sciences Discovery Fund (LSDF) today announced $600,000 in awards to four Washington state-based research teams to support commercial development of health-related technologies. The funded projects will concentrate on improving the success rate of lumbar punctures (spinal taps) in children; developing a safer and more effective magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent; enhancing a DNA sequencing technology to profile T cells within the immune system; and developing a device to detect early stages of tooth decay.

21 Jul 2010

Polyfluoroalkyl chemicals linked to ADHD in children

A new study led by a team of Boston University School of Public Health researchers suggests a link between polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs), industrial compounds which are widely used in many consumer products, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.

21 Jul 2010

Opinions: AIDS vaccine and cure; China's role in the Global Fund; Child marriage prevention act; Gorbachev on safe water

A Globe and Mail editorial discusses the importance of "the quest for an AIDS vaccine and the search for a cure," stating that "it is simply not possible to 'treat' our way out of this disease." The authors write that "for every person who receives treatment - which must continue over their entire lifetime - about three new people become infected."

21 Jul 2010

Doctor, nurse roles considered as shortages take hold

"The private doctor's practice — long considered a mainstay of American medicine — could be going the way of the independent bookstore and locally owned pharmacy," The Detroit News reports. "Crushed by mounting economic pressures, more midcareer physicians in Michigan and across the country are giving up their solo practices and joining large and better-financed hospital systems as salaried employees.

21 Jul 2010

JHM, All Children's Hospital sign letter of intent to integrate

Johns Hopkins Medicine and All Children's Hospital & Health System of St. Petersburg, Fla., have signed a letter of intent to integrate. After appropriate due diligence is completed sometime later this year, ACH will join the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS) as a fully integrated member of JHM.

21 Jul 2010

Doctors criticize insurers over rankings

Doctor groups are slamming insurers for increasingly using rankings "to steer patients toward certain physicians based on cost or quality," The Wall Street Journal reports.

21 Jul 2010