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53% of middle-aged Americans favor new health care legislation: Poll

Overall, support for the new health care legislation remains low, but a new poll indicates that middle-aged Americans are much more likely to approve of it.

28 Apr 2010

Master's programs focus on new generation of health care management professionals

Health care management is growing in popularity among business schools, according to a report in the New York Times. "Health care is the target career for 10 percent of students working on a master of business administration degree at Harvard Business School," according to the Times. Many other universities are also highlighting programs that meld health care and management.

28 Apr 2010

FDA issues warning over faulty components in external defibrillators

About 280,000 external defibrillators used worldwide in health care facilities, public places, or in the home may malfunction during attempts to rescue people in sudden cardiac arrest, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned today.

28 Apr 2010

Companies providing home care receive large Medicare reimbursements

An analysis of Medicare payments to home health care companies by The Wall Street Journal indicates that some might be taking advantage of the system. According to the analysis, the industry's largest company, Amedisys Inc., "provided many of its patients just enough therapy visits to trigger the extra $2,200 payment.

28 Apr 2010

Commission on debt will focus on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security

Lawmakers are prepping for a battle over the role of government in entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid as a the Commission on Fiscal Responsbility and Reform prepares to begin work Tuesday, The Washington Post reports.

28 Apr 2010

Holtz Children's Hospital expands Pediatric Dialysis Unit

Jackson Memorial Hospital's Holtz Children's Hospital celebrated the renovation of the Pediatric Dialysis Unit Tuesday morning by honoring the Batchelor Foundation, George E. Batchelor, founder; Alonzo Mourning and Zo's Fund for Life; the Jackson Memorial Foundation Guardian Angels; and Alma Hernandez, in memory of her husband Dr. Ismael Hernandez. Together, they raised all of the $800,000 needed for the project.

28 Apr 2010

News outlets continue malaria coverage

World Malaria Day was Sunday and news organizations continued to cover local events.

28 Apr 2010

Ontario seniors stand against McGuinty government's $750M cuts to front-line healthcare

The Alliance of Seniors/Older Canadians Network, an organization of approximately 20 seniors organizations, representing in excess of 200,000 seniors across Ontario, along with concerned seniors from our communities, have come out today to stand against the McGuinty government's $750M cuts to front-line healthcare.

28 Apr 2010

Moody's report: States will feel pinch of reform's Medicaid, health care expansions

"The Medicaid expansion under health reform is expected to strain state budgets already distressed by the recession, despite delays for new eligibility rules and federal aid, Moody's Investors Service said in a newly released report. States that see the largest gains in Medicaid enrollment under health reform will likely see the greatest financial burden, Moody's said."

28 Apr 2010

AstraZeneca to pay $520 million in largest pharmaceutical civil settlement

AstraZeneca will pay the federal government $520 million in civil fines to settle charges of off-label marketing of the powerful antipsychotic drug Seroquel. The settlement is the largest pharmaceutical civil settlement and among the top five civil and criminal drug company settlements in U.S. history.

28 Apr 2010

Doctors struggle to contact ER patients as departments bear larger patient burden

MSNBC: Doctors in ERs face significant barriers in providing the best care when phone numbers that patients give turn out to be fake or inaccurate. "It's a scenario becoming more common in emergency departments across the country, where doctors from Connecticut to Colorado say they find themselves desperately seeking patients with potentially serious or life-threatening illnesses and injuries.

28 Apr 2010

TUH, PASNAP reach tentative 4-year agreement

Temple University Hospital (TUH) and the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals (PASNAP) have reached tentative 4-year contract agreements for the bargaining units that represent the Hospital's nurses and technical/professional employees, respectively.

28 Apr 2010

House lawmaker discusses possible five-year Medicare physician payment fix

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the House might introduce legislation that would end the need for a constant Medicare payment fix, at least for five years. "Industry sources said that a five-year extension would not require offsets under recent pay-as-you-go rules. However, they said they were not aware of any legislative proposals.

28 Apr 2010

CNN: Hospital markup on supplies can be big

CNN: "When Dr. Linda Galloway learned she needed surgery to save her vision, she scheduled the procedure immediately with her opthamologist. And what an eye-opener it was - when the hospital bill arrived."

28 Apr 2010

Experts debate rationing and end-of-life care; Hospice use rises in Colorado

PBS NewsHour reports on end-of-life decisions and rationing by examining a recent debate at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. "Arguing for rationing: Ira Byock, a doctor and director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

28 Apr 2010

Gangs increasingly involved in Medicare fraud

ABC News: "Gangs across the country are arming themselves with powerful weapons to bilk taxpayers out of billions of dollars through Medicare fraud. What used to be a mostly non-violent, white collar crime has turned potentially deadly, and Federal agents who once combed through paperwork are now firing rounds at the shooting range to prepare for extreme dangers.

28 Apr 2010

Fine print complicates effort to cover young adults

Some parents may have to wait to get children as old as age 26 to be allowed to stay on their health plans because of the health law's fine print, The Associated Press reports. "As a consequence, some families may have to wait until 2011 to get their kids covered, particularly if the parents are working for a large employer, benefits experts and government officials say.

28 Apr 2010

As health reform's specifics continue to emerge, so do questions and answers from stakeholders

Determining how the law will be applied will be the next big battle in health reform and lobbyists are gearing up to influence implementation. "Congress gave sweeping power to federal agencies, especially (HHS), to fill in gaps lawmakers left in the 906-page legislation — an effort that will take years. The law refers more than 1,000 times to Cabinet secretaries who will make decisions on how to carry out the law. For example, the law requires insurance companies to spend 80% of premiums on medical claims, as opposed to administrative costs, by 2011. But it directs the health department to decide whether gray-area expenses, such as health-and-wellness programs offered by insurers, count as care or overhead."

28 Apr 2010

BioMedix TRAKnet software suite receives APMA Seal of Acceptance

Today, the BioMedix TRAKnet software suite was granted the prestigious American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) Seal of Acceptance. BioMedix is the only company to receive the APMA Seal of Acceptance for Electronic Health Record and Practice Management software.

28 Apr 2010

States uneasy about impact of Medicaid expansion

The expansion of insurance coverage under the health reform law is due largely to an expansion of the government-funded Medicaid program, which is causing some doctors to worry about the specifics of implementation, according to the New York Times. "Absorbing that many people into the system will not be easy. The program is administered and partly financed by the states, which are now racing to figure out how to carry out the necessary changes and simplify enrollment even as they struggle to cope with severe budget cuts and staff shortages."

28 Apr 2010