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New ECRI Institute Patient Safety Blog launched to share relevant information on patient safety topics

ECRI Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, announces the launch of its new Patient Safety Blog. The blog is ECRI Institute's newest communications tool and a way to share timely, relevant information on patient safety topics that are important to the healthcare community.

4 Jun 2010

Obama adds benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers

The Washington Post: "President Obama extended Wednesday a wider range of benefits to the same-sex partners of eligible federal workers, including access to medical treatment, relocation assistance, credit unions and fitness centers. The move goes beyond a memo Obama signed last June, which permitted same-sex partners to use the government's long-term-care insurance and other fringe benefits." The benefits do not, however, "cover uniformed members of the military" (O'Keefe, 6/3).

4 Jun 2010

Federal jury convicts Houston-area physician, residents over multi-million dollar Medicare fraud scheme

Houston-area physician Dr. Howard Grant and Houston residents Clinton Lee and Obisike Nwankwo were convicted late Wednesday by a federal jury in connection with their roles in a multi-million dollar Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).

4 Jun 2010

St. Jude receives top spot in 2010-11 Best Children's Hospital rankings

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has been named the nation's top children's cancer hospital in the 2010-11 Best Children's Hospital rankings published in U.S. News & World Report. St. Jude received the best overall score summarizing quality of care. St. Jude is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children and serves as an international resource to physicians and researchers.

4 Jun 2010

COBRA subsidy stall could raise premiums for millions while battle rages over 'doc fix'

The (Delaware County, Pa.) Daily Times reports that health care premiums for millions of Americans could "triple with the expiration of government subsidies to the COBRA program."

4 Jun 2010

American Cancer Society and NPCRC award $1.8M for palliative care research

The American Cancer Society and the National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC) are awarding $1.8 million in research grants to researchers at 12 institutions for studies aimed at reducing suffering for seriously ill patients and their family caregivers. The studies will be conducted over the next two years. Since 2007, a collaborative effort by the organizations has awarded 51 grants totaling almost $7 million.

4 Jun 2010

State roundup: Health law could be critical for Miss.'s poor; Colorado passes end-of-life care laws, Penn. details plan for high risk pool

The health care overhaul, which "provides hundreds of billions of dollars to help states expand medical insurance for the poor," could prove critical for Mississippi, which "has the highest poverty rate in the nation and some of the sickest people, with the country's highest rate of heart disease and the second-highest rate of diabetes.

4 Jun 2010

States face budget scramble as chances for federal Medicaid assistance extension get slim

States are worrying that enhanced federal payments to help cover Medicaid expenses during the recession will soon end after the House opted not to include an extension of the funds in its recent jobs bill.

4 Jun 2010

Administration claims about Dartmouth Medicare analyses questioned

The New York Times, in a front page story, reports: "In selling the health care overhaul to Congress, the Obama administration cited a once obscure research group at Dartmouth College to claim that it could not only cut billions in wasteful health care spending but make people healthier by doing so.

4 Jun 2010

United Health, Cigna differ on how plans will change after exchanges begin

United Health's CEO Stephen Hemsley said he expects companies to keep offering benefits instead of pushing people to health exchanges created in 2014 by the federal government, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

4 Jun 2010

ViiV Healthcare to provide additional cost savings to cash-strapped ADAPs

AHF is pleased to report that yet another drug company: ViiV Healthcare, a new drug company formed in a partnership between GSK and Pfizer, has announced an agreement that will provide additional cost savings to cash-strapped ADAPs nationwide.

4 Jun 2010

Report ranks best children's hospitals

U.S. News & World Report reports on the nation's best children's hospitals: "Out of all of the roughly 5,000 U.S. hospitals, only about 1 in 30 has deep expertise in caring for children with serious problems. For youngsters who need that quality of care, the Best Children's Hospitals rankings showcase the medical centers that see kids every day who have cancer, cystic fibrosis, defective hearts, and countless other life-threatening or rare conditions beyond the capabilities of most hospitals, even those with sizable pediatric departments.

4 Jun 2010

Study: 10% increase in cigarette pricing can reduce smoking among people with alcohol, drug disorders

A new study from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA suggests that increasing cigarette taxes could be an effective way to reduce smoking among individuals with alcohol, drug or mental disorders.

4 Jun 2010

Sebelius to highlight geographic differences in Medicare hospital payments

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visits Rochester's Mayo Clinic Thursday morning. ... The visit comes after a recent report that Minnesota will receive money earmarked for states which provide low-cost, high-value health care. But just how much money Minnesota will receive is far from certain. Sebelius is expected to get a first-hand look at the clinic's technology for tracking health care information.

4 Jun 2010

Vermont regulator demands $3 million payback from insurer

Burlington Free Press: "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont overpaid its former chief executive officer by $3 million over an eight-year period and has been ordered to pay the money back to its subscribers by 2012 in the form of reduced premiums, a top state regulator said Wednesday. The action by the state Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration Department follows last year's disclosure that William Milnes, the nonprofit firm's former CEO, received a $7.2 million payout when he stepped down in 2008."

4 Jun 2010

Poll says more than half of Californians support health overhaul

Half of Californian voters support the new health care law, but many say "it's only a first of many necessary changes," The Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News reports. "In 1,522 telephone surveys of registered voters conducted in April, Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo says 30 percent strongly support the nation's new health care law, and another 22 percent somewhat support it. Compared to previous national polls, the new law is more popular in California than the rest of the country."

4 Jun 2010

Government health IT advisers examine privacy policies

One of the latest hurdles government advisers helping to shape health information technology policy must jump is addressing the amount of control patients should have over their own records, Modern Healthcare reports.

4 Jun 2010

European countries focus on drug price cuts

"European governments grappling to reduce large budget deficits are focusing their cost-cutting on a large spending item — pharmaceuticals," The Wall Street Journal reports. "Several countries in recent weeks, including Spain, Germany and Italy, have proposed or enacted reductions in what they will pay or taken other cost-control measures for various drugs.

4 Jun 2010

Mass. insurers ask for double-digit rate hikes, again

Massachusetts' two largest insurers have again asked regulators for permission to increase their rates. "Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the state's biggest health insurer, is requesting increases averaging 12 percent, on the lower end of the range it submitted earlier in the spring. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the number two carrier, wants increases that range from 8.8 percent to 11.9 percent, about the same range it sought in the round that was rejected" (Weisman, 6/3).

4 Jun 2010

GHP selects MirixaPro web-based clinical platform to support delivery of MTM services

The Geisinger Health Plan, a regional provider of health benefits to almost 250,000 members in Pennsylvania, has selected Mirixa Corporation's MirixaPro web-based clinical platform to support the delivery of medication therapy management services to its Medicare Part D members.

4 Jun 2010