Healthcare News

RSS

Today's opinions: Cuts in Medicare advantage; Benefits of Medicaid expansion; Closing the doughnut hole

Democrats loathe Medicare Advantage because it sanctions the private choices that might eventually liberate the U.S. health market from government price controls. They also wanted to raid Advantage to finance their new subsidies (6/11).

11 Jun 2010

Lack of access to primary care leads reasons for poorer health in US

Why do other countries spend less on health care and yet achieve near-universal coverage and often better outcomes than the United States? This question has come up repeatedly during the health reform debate, and yet the answers still aren't clear. How much of a factor is the health care system? Population differences? These are some of the questions addressed in Health Care in World Cities, a new book co-authored by Hastings Center scholar Michael Gusmano and published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

11 Jun 2010

Medicare drug spending varies by region, does not offset other medical costs

A study has found that Medicare spending on drugs varies significantly in different regions, and that increased drug spending isn't offset by lower spending on hospital care, doctors visits and other health services, HealthDay/Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

11 Jun 2010

HHS announces grants to implement and evaluate patient safety approaches, medical liability reforms

The Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality today announced grants to support efforts by States and health systems to implement and evaluate patient safety approaches and medical liability reforms. The demonstration and planning grants are part of the patient safety and medical liability initiative that President Obama announced during a September 9, 2009 address to a joint session of Congress.

11 Jun 2010

Dems to seniors: The Medicare checks are in the mail

The Obama administration began mailing $250 checks Thursday to seniors who hit the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole - a notorious gap in coverage - as part of the health overhaul, The Columbus Dispatch reports. "The tax-free, one-time rebate is the first tangible benefit of the new health-care law and the initial step toward phasing out the coverage gap for Medicare recipients with Part D drug coverage and who do not qualify for additional assistance" (Candisky, 6/11).

11 Jun 2010

States keep watch over insurers rate hikes, solvency as overhaul sets roots

Massachusetts officials are imposing stricter oversight on insurers they say are financially unstable after refusing to allow them to increase premium rates, The Boston Globe reports.

11 Jun 2010

Senate continues consideration of 'tax extenders,' Democrats push for COBRA subsidy

CongressDaily: The Senate is continuing work on a $140 billion package of tax breaks that includes some unemployment benefits and a temporary fix of the payments to Medicare physicians. "Final passage is not expected until next week on what is likely to be a partisan vote. But there are areas of agreement across the aisle.

11 Jun 2010

Ambulatory Surgery Center industry responds to infection control concerns raised in JAMA

As leading organizations representing the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) industry, we wish to address concerns raised in this month's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) highlighting data from a 2008 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pilot study. The industry underscores its strong commitment to patient safety and its nationwide efforts to provide high-quality, patient-centered care at a low cost to the health care system.

11 Jun 2010

Thousands of Minnesota nurses strike for one day

More than 12,000 nurses launched a one-day strike Thursday at 14 Minnesota hospitals in a dispute over nurse-patient ratios levels and pension benefits. Nurses say they are being asked to care for too many patients at a time, and strict ratios are necessary to protect patient safety. The hospitals, all in the Minneapolis area, counter that patients are safe and that the walkout is a headline-grabbing stunt to build membership and clout for a national nurses union.

11 Jun 2010

Excess Re introduces unlimited annual maximums on stop-loss policies

Excess Reinsurance Underwriters Agency, Inc. (Excess Re), a stop-loss managing general underwriter and wholly-owned subsidiary of National Financial Partners Corp., a provider of benefits, insurance and investment services, announced today that it is introducing unlimited annual maximums on its stop-loss policies.

11 Jun 2010

PharmaTrust to demonstrate MedCenter technology at Annual Healthcare Conference

PharmaTrust has been invited to participate in the Private Company forum of the Goldman Sachs 31st Annual Healthcare Conference in Los Angeles, June 14th to 17th. The company will demonstrate its revolutionary Healthcare…Everywhere MedCenter which will connect conference 'patients' in Los Angeles to PharmaTrust pharmacists in Toronto.

11 Jun 2010

Series of regional meetings focused on ACOs are drawing healthcare leaders together: AMGA

The American Medical Group Association announced that the most recent in a series of regional meetings focused on accountable care organizations, hosted by Group Health Permanente in Seattle, Washington, continued to build on the success of previous meetings in the series. The meetings are drawing healthcare leaders together to network in an intimate setting and to learn from leading medical groups and organized systems of care that are exemplars of the ACO model.

11 Jun 2010

$125M added to plaintiffs' compensation in WTC site operations

The WTC Captive Insurance Company, the City of New York, the contractors the City hired, their subcontractors, and attorneys for over 10,000 plaintiffs alleging injuries from the rescue, recovery and debris removal operations at the World Trade Center site operations after 9/11 today announced amendments to a March 11, 2010 settlement of those claims.

11 Jun 2010

Study on health disparities and sexual orientation

A recent study conducted by Northeastern University's Institute on Urban Health Research found a significant number of health disparities in Massachusetts between heterosexual adults and gay, lesbian and bisexual adults.

11 Jun 2010

Gore introduces new internet cloud-based 3-D modeling system and case planning aid

W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) today announced the launch of a new internet cloud-based 3-D advanced visualization and decision support system to aid physicians in case planning at the Society for Vascular Surgery's 2010 Vascular Annual Meeting being held in Boston, Massachusetts.

11 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 11, 2010

The government is set to begin handing out $25 million in grants Friday aimed at reducing medical malpractice lawsuits, part of a compromise offered by President Barack Obama last year in response to calls for an overhaul of the malpractice system (The Wall Street Journal).

11 Jun 2010

QI initiatives in U.S. hospitals need to be overseen to ensure implementation of ethical issues: Johns Hopkins study

New findings from Johns Hopkins suggest that most quality-improvement (QI) initiatives in U.S. hospitals are reviewed internally before they are conducted, but there is not routine consideration of the ethical issues associated with them.

11 Jun 2010

Researchers to present advanced treatment strategies for eye diseases at NEI symposium

The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is bringing together premier researchers who translate molecular and genetic approaches from the laboratory to visual system diseases in the clinic.

11 Jun 2010

FRC supports new blood donation policy

Tomorrow (Friday, June 11), Family Research Council Senior Fellow Peter Sprigg will testify before the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability (ACBSA) of the Department of Health and Human Services.

11 Jun 2010

Perceptive Informatics releases new web-based version of DataLabs Designer module

Perceptive Informatics, a leading eClinical solutions provider and a subsidiary of PAREXEL International Corporation, today released a new web-based version of the DataLabs Designer™ module, which is part of Perceptive's DataLabs® Electronic Data Capture (EDC) solution. The web-based study design tool, which can be hosted by Perceptive, provides clinical study teams worldwide with online access to collaboratively design trials. This core capability assists in streamlining workflow and improving the efficiency of the study design process.

11 Jun 2010

Healthcare News

Today's opinions: Cuts in Medicare advantage; Benefits of Medicaid expansion; Closing the doughnut hole

Lack of access to primary care leads reasons for poorer health in US

Medicare drug spending varies by region, does not offset other medical costs

HHS announces grants to implement and evaluate patient safety approaches, medical liability reforms

Dems to seniors: The Medicare checks are in the mail

States keep watch over insurers rate hikes, solvency as overhaul sets roots

Senate continues consideration of 'tax extenders,' Democrats push for COBRA subsidy

Ambulatory Surgery Center industry responds to infection control concerns raised in JAMA

Thousands of Minnesota nurses strike for one day

Excess Re introduces unlimited annual maximums on stop-loss policies

PharmaTrust to demonstrate MedCenter technology at Annual Healthcare Conference

Series of regional meetings focused on ACOs are drawing healthcare leaders together: AMGA

$125M added to plaintiffs' compensation in WTC site operations

Study on health disparities and sexual orientation

Gore introduces new internet cloud-based 3-D modeling system and case planning aid

First Edition: June 11, 2010

QI initiatives in U.S. hospitals need to be overseen to ensure implementation of ethical issues: Johns Hopkins study

Researchers to present advanced treatment strategies for eye diseases at NEI symposium

FRC supports new blood donation policy

Perceptive Informatics releases new web-based version of DataLabs Designer module

Flow chemistry, AI, and NMR: A next-gen approach to scalable API production

Digital pathology and the PathoVerse: A conversation with Dr. Singh

Bioprocess Efficiency with Cell Density Monitoring

Latest News