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Hospitals under pressure from flagging budgets, regulators

The Washington Post reports on one suburban Maryland health system: "A special panel in charge of finding a company to take over Prince George's County's ailing health-care system has been unable to complete a sale of the system after a two-year search ... Bidders have been interested in separate parts of the system. But the panel's mandate is to ensure the facilities are sold at the same time to prevent buyers from cherry-picking ...

20 May 2010

KHN and WSJ reporters discuss health overhaul

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey and The Wall Street Journal's Janet Adamy discussed the many ways the health overhaul law will affect health care consumers young and old, and especially people with Medicare coverage on NPR's Talk of the Nation yesterday.

20 May 2010

Mass. Senate approves health costs bill to help small biz pay health costs and other state news

The Massachusetts Senate Tuesday approved a bill that would make wealthy hospitals pay $100 million in a one-time contribution to help small businesses ease insurance premiums. "The bill would let businesses with 50 or fewer workers form cooperatives to purchase insurance at a lower cost. Another provision presses insurers to spend at least 90 percent of premium dollars on care and 10 percent or less on administrative costs.

20 May 2010

Health care high school to open in Chicago

Crain's Chicago Business reports that, in the fall, the city will open its "first charter high school specializing in health care, a move local hospitals hope will help relieve chronic workforce shortages. ... Juniors and seniors will be able to earn credits by shadowing hospital workers and interning as assistant nurses and in other professions."

20 May 2010

Loyola University Chicago introduces new online doctorate degree program in bioethics

Classes have begun for Loyola University Chicago's new online doctorate degree program in bioethics, designed to provide advanced training in the ethical issues surrounding the complexities of modern medical research and clinical care.

20 May 2010

Health care votes may have influenced primaries

News outlets report on how health reform may have influenced Tuesday's primary elections. The Washington Post says that the Democratic primary election for Arkansas' Senate seat was influenced by labor unions who campaigned for Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, in part because of incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln's vote on health care.

20 May 2010

New online diagnosis tool offers prescriptions in a hurry

News outlets report on the expanding online relationship between doctors and patients.

20 May 2010

Today's Opinions and Editorials: Childhood obesity, the interworkings of the FDA, the constitutionality of 'Obamacare'

The White House report offers recommendations related to early childhood, parenting, food in schools, access to healthy and affordable food and physical activity. Taken individually, none of these is a silver bullet (Tom Newton, 5/19).

20 May 2010

Federal employee unions pressing for bill to cover young adults

Roll Call reports that "labor unions representing federal employees are pressing for temporary health insurance coverage for college-age students who will otherwise be thrown off their parents' health insurance plans when they turn 22 years old." The new health law has a provision guaranteeing such access but that isn't scheduled to take effect for federal health beneficiaries until January, even though a number of private plans are moving to implement the coverage earlier.

20 May 2010

Fraud and abuse cases come to conclusions

Los Angeles Times: "A man who recruited destitute HIV patients to be straw purchasers in a prescription drug scheme was convicted by a federal jury Tuesday in Los Angeles. Nathaniel Newhouse, 53, showed no expression as the verdict was read in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson." Newhouse was caught with 29 bottles of powerful painkillers two years ago. Investigators said they had a street value of up to $80,000. HIV patients arranged for doctors to prescribe the drugs, which were passed on to Newhouse (Glover, 5/19).

20 May 2010

Democrats debating how to handle Medicare 'doc fix,' COBRA subsidy extension

Some Democrats are concerned that adding a Medicare physician payment "fix" to tax legislation will add to the debt and are considering dropping the provision.

20 May 2010

Queensland nurses to protest the still continuing payment errors

In a new development regarding the recent Queensland Health payroll errors the department's payroll services director Janette Jones was reportedly moved out of her role following complaints about her handling of the whole issue. There has been massive payroll bungles that have lead to thousands of health care staff underpaid, overpaid or not paid after the introduction of a new computerized system of payment this March.

19 May 2010

Lawsuit fears hinder physician adoption of medical innovations

According to a new national survey on defensive medicine by Jackson Healthcare, the threat of a lawsuit causes many physicians to delay the adoption of medical innovations. More than half (53%) of survey respondents reported they had delayed adopting medical innovations such as new pharmaceuticals, procedures and medical devices due to fear of litigation.

19 May 2010

St. Elizabeth Regional Health selects TeleHealth Services as compliance partner in new facility

TeleHealth Services, the nation's leading provider of health care grade televisions and interactive patient education solutions to hospitals, has been selected by St. Elizabeth Regional Health as a compliance partner in their new facility, St. Elizabeth East, located at 1701 S. Creasy Lane in Lafayette. St. Elizabeth East opened on February 25, 2010 and will benefit from TeleHealth's interactive educational solutions in an effort to increase patient satisfaction and create a patient-focused, technologically advanced facility.

19 May 2010

Pantai to implement Stockell Healthcare's InsightCS Patient Access and Revenue Cycle Management solution

Stockell Healthcare Systems, Inc. is pleased to announce that Pantai Holdings Berhad (Pantai) has chosen to implement its InsightCS® Patient Access and Revenue Cycle Management solution across a 10-hospital network located in Malaysia.

19 May 2010

Alere announces formation of Collaborative Care Solutions to support physicians, provider groups

With the goal of creating the industry standard for connecting patients and their physician-led care teams, Alere today announced the formation of a new strategic product line, Collaborative Care Solutions. The new product line will be focused on supporting physicians and provider groups wanting to expand their practices via patient-centered medical homes or accountable care organizations -- key care models designed to realize better outcomes and more cost-effective care.

19 May 2010

First Edition: May 19, 2010

Today's headlines highlight issues related to the federal debt, developments regarding the Medicare physician payment fix and news from the states.

19 May 2010

First-of-its-kind study to research age perceptions of older Chinese consumers

Since the Chinese government enacted the one-child policy in 1978 as a form of population control, the average age of Chinese citizens has begun to get older quickly. After recognizing this trend, Rui Yao, a University of Missouri assistant professor in the Personal Financial Planning department of the College of Human Environmental Sciences, studied the self-perceived age of aging Chinese consumers and how those perceptions should affect marketing strategies aimed at those consumers.

19 May 2010

eMedonline telemonitoring system developed to help patients transition from inpatient to outpatient setting

A clinical study is underway at Nyack Hospital to evaluate the use of cellphone-based technology to monitor medication adherence in discharged heart failure patients. The study is using the eMedonline telemonitoring system developed by Leap of Faith Technologies to help patients transition from the inpatient to outpatient setting.

19 May 2010

Survey details impact of COPD on working-age population

A study presented today at the American Thoracic Society Conference in New Orleans by leading charity, Education for Health, shows that the economic toll of COPD is set to soar as the disease heads towards being the third biggest cause of death globally by 2020.

19 May 2010