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HHS, Institute of Medicine launch Community Health Data Initiative

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, and Institute of Medicine President, Harvey Fineberg, will launch the Community Health Data Initiative, a national effort to help communities harness the power of information to improve health.

27 May 2010

BMJ News examines WHA voluntary global code on health care personnel recruitment

BMJ News examines details of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (.pdf) agreed upon last Friday by member countries during the World Health Assembly (WHA) that "discourages countries from actively recruiting from poor nations facing critical staff shortages."

27 May 2010

Military families feel bypassed by overhaul benefits

The Washington Post: Families insured by the military's Tricare program will not be able to keep children on their plans until age 26, like Americans covered by most civilian policies, under the new health law. Before the overhaul passed, military families were assured that the legislation would not "negatively impact" Tricare and the program was left untouched.

27 May 2010

New multidisciplinary task force to help clients identify, evaluate opportunities created by health care reform

Drawing on its analysis of the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. has established a multidisciplinary task force to help clients identify and evaluate key opportunities created by health care reform.

27 May 2010

State round up: Texas approves higher co-pays for retirees, California's next elected insurance commissioner to play critical health care role

The Illinois "House voted 71-44 to borrow up to $4 billion to cover next year's payments to the five state-funded pension systems." Lawmakers also rejected a proposal to have "retired state employees paying premiums for their health-care coverage. Rep. Karen May, D-Highland Park, said the state could save $100 million a year by having retirees pay premiums, noting that 92 percent of them pay nothing now."

27 May 2010

Experts worry: Government loans to doctors could raise health costs

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports: "Eager to expand or modernize, about 5,000 doctors, dentists and other health care providers have obtained more than $2.5 billion in government-backed loans under the economic stimulus law, according to federal records.

27 May 2010

Lighthouse1, TSYS Healthcare partner to provide integrated end-to-end healthcare payment solution

Lighthouse1, an industry leader in consumer-driven healthcare (CDH) software solutions, today announced a partnership with TSYS Healthcare to provide an integrated end-to-end healthcare payment solution. The partnership brings another fully integrated payment solution to CDH administrators using the Lighthouse1 OnDemand™ platform.

27 May 2010

Democrats struggle to line up votes on bill containing 'doc fix,' COBRA subsidy extension

A jobs and benefits bill that would extend subsidies to help laid-off workers keep their health insurance and would avert payment cuts to Medicare doctors is still pending in Congress.

27 May 2010

Insurers paying doctors faster but inefficiency remains, especially with Medicaid

"US health insurers are paying doctors seven days faster, on average, and denying 12 to 18 percent fewer claims than last year, but the claims reimbursement system remains saddled with inefficiency, according to a new ranking of payers set to be released today," The Boston Globe reports.

27 May 2010

Senate Foreign Relations Committee passes 2-year, $2B measure to aid Haiti rebuilding

The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee passed a $2 billion aid package to assist with Haiti's rebuilding from the January 12 earthquake, Agence France-Presse reports (5/25).

27 May 2010

Lawyers, doctors team to ensure health safety net for poor

In the District of Columbia, "[a]s part of a medical-legal partnership that began in 2002, lawyers work alongside doctors at four District clinics run by [Children's National Medical Center]. Their shared goal is to overcome legal and social challenges that threaten the care of their patients — low-income children, predominantly African American, and virtually all covered by Medicaid."

27 May 2010

Feds will pay much of Medicaid expansion costs for states, study finds

The Washington Post: "The federal government will bear virtually the entire cost of expanding Medicaid under the new health-care law, according to a comprehensive new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation that directly rebuts the loud protests of governors warning about its impact on their strapped state budgets.

27 May 2010

Employers: Health insurance coverage to remain, but costs may rise

Business Insurance reports that, in the wake of health reform, 88 percent of employers "responding to a Towers Watson & Co. survey said they definitely or likely will continue providing coverage to employees. Just 3% said they are likely to drop coverage and instead pay the annual $2,000-per-full-time-employee penalty that starts in 2014.

27 May 2010

Impulse Monitoring signs agreement to provide Tufts Medical Center IONM services

Impulse Monitoring, Inc. (IMI), a leading provider of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) services to hospitals, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Tufts Medical Center, Boston to provide comprehensive IONM services, including real-time physician oversight.

27 May 2010

FDA, Drugs.com collaborate to expand online distribution of Agency's consumer health information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that it will collaborate with the Web site Drugs.com to expand access to the FDA's consumer health information.

27 May 2010

Demand rises for graduates of health information technology programs

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the Atlanta Technical College is expanding its health information technology program because demand for graduates is expected to grow by 20 percent through 2018.

27 May 2010

Stimulus package leaves states limited options to cut Medicaid

News outlets report on the limited options states can employ to reduce Medicaid costs, including cutting adult dental care.

27 May 2010

OpEds: Missouri vote on insurance mandate, Sacramento's 'rabbit hole,' Venter on synthetic cells

A group of organizations with self-funded insurance plans is putting pressure on Southern Nevada's hospitals to improve care. The Health Services Coalition wants better quality and is asking for ideas on how it could provide incentives for good care (5/26).

27 May 2010

Feds crack down on health care fraud in California, Florida

The Sacramento Bee reports: "Three Sacramento-area residents are among 11 people, including five doctors, accused of participating in a Medicare fraud ring. ... From February 2006 through August 2008, the defendants are alleged to have operated three health-care clinics -- in Sacramento, Carmichael and Richmond -- that submitted more than $5 million in allegedly fraudulent claims to Medicare" (Locke, 5/25).

27 May 2010

More on Queensland Nurses pay bungle

The Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) is bristled and protesting against the fact that even 12 weeks after the Queensland health staff pay bungle, nothing has been done to fix the problem.

27 May 2010

Healthcare News

HHS, Institute of Medicine launch Community Health Data Initiative

BMJ News examines WHA voluntary global code on health care personnel recruitment

Military families feel bypassed by overhaul benefits

New multidisciplinary task force to help clients identify, evaluate opportunities created by health care reform

State round up: Texas approves higher co-pays for retirees, California's next elected insurance commissioner to play critical health care role

Experts worry: Government loans to doctors could raise health costs

Lighthouse1, TSYS Healthcare partner to provide integrated end-to-end healthcare payment solution

Democrats struggle to line up votes on bill containing 'doc fix,' COBRA subsidy extension

Insurers paying doctors faster but inefficiency remains, especially with Medicaid

Senate Foreign Relations Committee passes 2-year, $2B measure to aid Haiti rebuilding

Lawyers, doctors team to ensure health safety net for poor

Feds will pay much of Medicaid expansion costs for states, study finds

Employers: Health insurance coverage to remain, but costs may rise

Impulse Monitoring signs agreement to provide Tufts Medical Center IONM services

FDA, Drugs.com collaborate to expand online distribution of Agency's consumer health information

Demand rises for graduates of health information technology programs

Stimulus package leaves states limited options to cut Medicaid

OpEds: Missouri vote on insurance mandate, Sacramento's 'rabbit hole,' Venter on synthetic cells

Feds crack down on health care fraud in California, Florida

More on Queensland Nurses pay bungle

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

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