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New guidelines for care of heart transplant recipients from ISHLT

Since the dawn of heart transplantation in the 1960s, medical care of heart transplant recipients has varied from center to center and been guided by the experience of individual clinicians. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) has made an unprecedented commitment by convening experts in all areas of heart transplantation to develop practice guidelines for the care of heart transplant recipients.

26 Jul 2010

NUHW wins agreement for workers' right to vote by mail

On a conference call held Wednesday by the National Labor Relations Board, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) won an agreement that ensures workers' right to vote by mail in the privacy of their homes, in a government-protected election to join NUHW.

26 Jul 2010

Sec. of State Clinton signs 5-year AIDS control partnership agreement with Vietnam

During her trip to Vietnam, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "engaged in health diplomacy by visiting the Ngoc Lam Pagoda orphanage for AIDS-affected children," Foreign Policy's blog "Madam Secretary" reports.

26 Jul 2010

Methodist surgical team completes first phase training to implant new total artificial heart

A 13-member surgical team from the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center completed the first phase of training to implant a new total artificial heart designed to completely replace the heart's function while the patient waits for a heart transplant. Methodist will be the first hospital in Texas to offer this total heart replacement.

26 Jul 2010

UnitedHealth ups ante on health IT with purchase of Picis, expecting stimulus windfall

Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal: UnitedHealth Group's technology consulting subsidiary Ingenix, of Eden Prairie, Minn., has purchased Massachusetts tech firm Picis, a maker of emergency room and intensive care software. "Both companies are deeply involved in the area where health care and information technology meet. Ingenix, which had revenue of $1.8 billion last year, provides consulting and outsourcing to almost 6,000 hospitals.

26 Jul 2010

L2FU reports 100% recovery of recent study's lost clinical trial patients

Recovering unnecessarily lost patient information is now a viable reality. Lost to follow up rates in clinical research trials can range from 20- 60%. As a result, patients who drop from a clinical trial and 'go missing' can impart a major set-back in pharmaceutical research. Failure to contact patients and obtain final closure data, or bring them back into the clinical trial (if the protocol allows) results in study delays, increased patient recruitment costs, compromised study data, and in some cases an insufficient amount of information to prove the safety and efficacy of a drug.

26 Jul 2010

Highlights on reasoning behind MRC's negative decision on funding of IVF

Thirty-two years ago today, the world's first baby was born after in vitro fertilisation. However, the work that led to the birth of Louise Brown on 25 July 1978 had to be privately funded after the UK's Medical Research Council decided in 1971 against providing the Cambridge physiologist Robert Edwards and the Oldham gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe with long-term financial support. Today, an intriguing paper published in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction reveals for the first time the reasoning behind the MRC's much-criticised decision.

26 Jul 2010

It's back: House Democrats argue anew for public option

House Democrats are arguing again for the passage of a public option to compete with private health plans and reduce the deficit, news outlets report.

26 Jul 2010

Outcomes selected to administer MTM program for employees in the State of Iowa

Outcomes Pharmaceutical Health Care has been selected by the State of Iowa Department of Administrative Services to administer a Medication Therapy Management program for the state employee health plan.

26 Jul 2010

Recession-weary workers, states still hope for COBRA and Medicaid subsidies

"Although Congress this week approved an extension of unemployment insurance benefits, two health-related proposals initially linked to the measure - including extensions of COBRA subsidies for unemployed workers and enhanced federal Medicaid contributions for states — have stalled" (Villegas, 7/23).

26 Jul 2010

Pulse Report 2010: Recession, unemployment, insurance losses increase pressure on ERs, patients

Average length of stay in the nation's emergency departments increased to four hours and seven minutes, and the nation's emergency physicians are very concerned about patient safety being jeopardized by long wait times. Press Ganey's Pulse Report 2010, released yesterday, confirms what the American College of Emergency Physicians has reported previously: The recession, high unemployment and insurance losses are increasing pressure on emergency departments and their patients.

26 Jul 2010

Md. Democrats tout crackdown on Medicaid fraud; Four plead not guilty in Calif. Medicare fraud case

Touting a favorite program, Lt. Governor Anthony Brown said Thursday the state's health department has found $26 million in fraud and waste in the state Medicaid program. The extra cash will not close the roughly $1.5 billion deficit that awaits the winner of November's gubernatorial election, but Brown argued the extra money will help. Brown also used the occasion to remind folks that he lobbied to strengthen the state's Medicaid False Claims Act during the legislative session.

26 Jul 2010

Research roundup: Hospital emergency room HIV screenings; Medical device reviews; Health law impact on docs and hospitals

Physician Satisfaction With Chronic Care Processes: A Cluster-Randomized Trial Of Guided Care - The authors randomly assigned teams of physicians and their chronically ill older patients into groups that either provided Guided Care - an educated registered nurse works with a primary care practice team to enhance quality of care - or usual care. One year later, they measured "physicians' satisfaction with chronic care processes, time spent on chronic care, knowledge of their chronically ill older patients, and care coordination provided by physicians and office staff."

26 Jul 2010

Annette Bowling of Albany awarded 2010 Pathfinder Award for Outstanding Service

The Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission has awarded the 2010 Pathfinder Award for Outstanding Service to Annette Bowling of Albany, GA. The Pathfinder Award recognizes Georgians who have performed exemplary service to the Commission and to the disability community in Georgia.

26 Jul 2010

VA to allow patients to use medical marijuana

The Department of Veterans Affairs will formally allow patients treated at its hospitals and clinics to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal, a policy clarification that veterans have sought for several years. A department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the conflict in veterans facilities between federal law, which outlaws marijuana, and the 14 states that allow medicinal use of the drug, effectively deferring to the states. ...Under department rules, veterans can be denied pain medications if they are found to be using illegal drugs.

26 Jul 2010

Education makes people cope with changes in brain associated with dementia: Researchers

A team of researchers from the UK and Finland has discovered why people who stay in education longer have a lower risk of developing dementia - a question that has puzzled scientists for the past decade.

26 Jul 2010

Some insurers ending children-only coverage because of health law

UnitedHealth Group and other insurance companies have stopped offering or are considering dropping children-only health coverage in several states "because of the potential added costs of insuring sicker youngsters under the new U.S. health-care law," Bloomberg reports.

26 Jul 2010

Ohio sets up high risk pool; Four drug companies come under scrutiny for payments to Pittsburgh doctors, nurses

"Ohioans with pre-existing health conditions, such as cancer or diabetes, can apply for coverage under a new high-risk insurance pool beginning Aug. 1." Qualifications include evidence of a pre-existing condition, proof of Ohio residency and U.S. citizenship, state of being uninsured for six months prior to the date of applying for coverage and being "ineligible for coverage under the Medicare program, the Ohio Medical Assistance Program, the Ohio Children's Health Insurance Program, or an employer-sponsored group health plan, unless subject to a mandatory initial waiting period" (7/22).

26 Jul 2010

Liberal bloggers, activists push Democrats for more changes, including public option

President Barack Obama made a surprise video appearance at Netroots Nation, a convention of about 2,000 liberal bloggers and activists in Las Vegas, trying to calm their frustrations that the Democratic administration and Congress have not achieved all the changes that progressives were hoping for, Miami Herald/McClatchy News Service report.

26 Jul 2010

HHS Secretary announces 15 awards to support Preventive Medicine Residency Programs

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced 15 awards totaling $9 million to support Preventive Medicine Residency Programs at accredited schools of public health, schools of medicine, and hospitals. Of these funds, nearly $6.7 million is part of the $200 million appropriated to HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to address the nation's health care workforce shortages.

26 Jul 2010

Healthcare News

New guidelines for care of heart transplant recipients from ISHLT

NUHW wins agreement for workers' right to vote by mail

Sec. of State Clinton signs 5-year AIDS control partnership agreement with Vietnam

Methodist surgical team completes first phase training to implant new total artificial heart

UnitedHealth ups ante on health IT with purchase of Picis, expecting stimulus windfall

L2FU reports 100% recovery of recent study's lost clinical trial patients

Highlights on reasoning behind MRC's negative decision on funding of IVF

It's back: House Democrats argue anew for public option

Outcomes selected to administer MTM program for employees in the State of Iowa

Recession-weary workers, states still hope for COBRA and Medicaid subsidies

Pulse Report 2010: Recession, unemployment, insurance losses increase pressure on ERs, patients

Md. Democrats tout crackdown on Medicaid fraud; Four plead not guilty in Calif. Medicare fraud case

Research roundup: Hospital emergency room HIV screenings; Medical device reviews; Health law impact on docs and hospitals

Annette Bowling of Albany awarded 2010 Pathfinder Award for Outstanding Service

VA to allow patients to use medical marijuana

Education makes people cope with changes in brain associated with dementia: Researchers

Some insurers ending children-only coverage because of health law

Ohio sets up high risk pool; Four drug companies come under scrutiny for payments to Pittsburgh doctors, nurses

Liberal bloggers, activists push Democrats for more changes, including public option

HHS Secretary announces 15 awards to support Preventive Medicine Residency Programs

How industrial hygiene flow calibration supports defensible exposure data

How electrical engineering ensures accurate calibration and patient safety

The importance of ketones from a clinical and medical perspective

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