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KHN Column -- Rescissions: Much ado about nothing

In this Kaiser Health News column, John Goodman writes: "How many times have you heard President Obama say, 'Health insurers won't be able to drop your coverage just because you get sick?

14 May 2010

Justice Dept. defends health law implementation from court injunction

The Justice Department released a statement yesterday defending the federal health overhaul law from legal critics. "A conservative public interest group, the Thomas More Law Center, had filed a lawsuit in Michigan on March 23, the day Obama signed the law, and asked the court for an injunction to block it from taking effect.

14 May 2010

GOP launches attacks on CMS nominee Berwick

Republicans have begun attacking Donald Berwick, a doctor and Harvard professor nominated to head the Obama administration's Medicare and Medicaid agency, The Boston Globe reports. If confirmed, Berwick would run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency with 4,500 employees and an annual budget of $780 billion.

14 May 2010

Insight Imaging signs definitive agreement to acquire eight imaging centers for $8.5M

InSight Health Services Holdings Corp. today announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire eight imaging centers in the Phoenix, Arizona, El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico areas from subsidiaries of MedQuest, Inc. and Novant Health, Inc., for a total purchase price of approximately $8.5 million.

14 May 2010

Groups plead for more health funding as Chairman warns about cuts to proposed HHS budget

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., said Wednesday that groups pressing for $14 billion more in funding for education, health and labor programs will likely be disappointed because the budget proposed by President Barack Obama already faces cuts of about $3.5 billion in those areas.

14 May 2010

Federal officials say crackdown on Medicare fraud recovers $2.5 billion

The Associated Press: "The government says it recovered $2.5 billion in overpayments for the Medicare trust fund last year as the Obama administration focused attention on fraud enforcement efforts in the health care industry. Investigators have new tools this year to help crack down on health care fraud, with the Justice Department and the Health and Human Services Department working cooperatively to police companies.

14 May 2010

Today's Opinions: CBO numbers undercut health law promises; Concerns about Berwick nomination; The recission myth

The Democrats' reform is barely out of the gate and the Congressional Budget Office already says its previous cost estimate was too low. Either the bill's supporters lied or they're profoundly ignorant. Either way, they are not fit to serve the country, much less rule it, which many of them seem to believe is their divine right. As noted on these pages and elsewhere, government programs always cost far more than their original projections (5/12).

14 May 2010

Home health care stocks fall with Senate Finance Committee inquiry

Shares of four home health care providers tumbled Thursday after the Senate Finance Committee raised questions about how the companies bill Medicare for home health therapy visits, The Associated Press/ABC News reports.

14 May 2010

First Edition: May 13, 2010

Among today's headlines are reports that some Republican senators are taking aim at President Obama's pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

13 May 2010

New research: 10-minute frailty test can predict surgical outcomes in older patients

A simple, 10-minute "frailty" test administered to older patients before they undergo surgery can predict with great certainty their risk for complications, how long they will stay in the hospital and - most strikingly - whether they are likely to end up in a nursing home afterward, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

13 May 2010

HHS, DOJ officials to release new report on fraud prevention, enforcement efforts at press conference

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder will discuss the Obama Administration's efforts to fight fraud using new tools provided by the Affordable Care Act at a press conference on Thursday, May 13, 2010, at 4:00 p.m. EDT. HHS and DOJ officials will also release a new report on fraud prevention and enforcement efforts.

13 May 2010

U.S. Well-Being Report for April 2010

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index was a tie (63.3) for all-time overall well-being in April, revealing a continued recovery of American well-being despite continuing challenges and high unemployment. The only other time in 28 months of measurement the WBI reached 67 was in August 2009.

13 May 2010

SAGE launches further two Therapeutic Advances journals

SAGE has extended its suite of Therapeutic Advances journals with the launch of a further two titles: Therapeutic Advances in Chronic Disease and Therapeutic Advances in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

13 May 2010

NPTA launches new ACPE-accredited certification course to improve safety of pharmacy technicians

The National Pharmacy Technician Association is doing its part to improve the safety of pharmacy technicians with the launch of a new ACPE-accredited certification course on the safe handling of hazardous medications, also referred to as Chemo Certification.

13 May 2010

Current residency programs do not have capacity to address growing shortage of general surgeons

Current residency programs do not have the capacity to address the growing shortage of general surgeons, according to survey research presented today at the Sixth Annual Association of American Medical Colleges Physician Workforce Research Conference in Alexandria, Va.

13 May 2010

Two LSU researchers tackle incidence of malnutrition-related deaths among older adults in the U.S.

In a paper published in the May 2010 issue of the scholarly journal Annals of Epidemiology, two LSU researchers tackle a problem seldom acknowledged in the United States - the incidence of malnutrition-related deaths among older adults

13 May 2010

Study: When incentive payments are removed, quality of health care suffers

Los Angeles Times: Researchers in Britain teamed with Kaiser Permanente in Northern California "to see what happened in Northern California when the health giant stopped rewarding doctors who screened patients for diabetic retinopathy and cervical cancer."

13 May 2010

Florida weighs next steps for small business insurance exchange; N.J. considers COBRA eligibility expansion; Other highlights

When Republican lawmakers created the Florida Health Choices program in 2008, they billed it as a way to deregulate the health-care market for small businesses. Two years later, Florida Health Choices has still not started offering coverage, and its leaders and lawmakers face a philosophical choice that could determine whether the program survives.

13 May 2010

Prescription costs more likely to keep Hispanics away from pharmacy counter: Study

Drug costs could prevent some people from filling their prescriptions, which can interfere with optimal health care. A new study of Medicare beneficiaries finds that cost concerns are more likely keep Hispanics away from the pharmacy counter than non-Hispanics.

13 May 2010

Seriously mentally ill are three times more likely to be imprisoned than hospitalized, report finds

USA Today: "On average, a seriously mentally ill person in the USA is three times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, a report concludes today. In no state was a seriously mentally ill person — someone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, for example — less likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, the report by the National Sheriffs' Association and the Treatment Advocacy Center found.

13 May 2010

Healthcare News

KHN Column -- Rescissions: Much ado about nothing

Justice Dept. defends health law implementation from court injunction

GOP launches attacks on CMS nominee Berwick

Insight Imaging signs definitive agreement to acquire eight imaging centers for $8.5M

Groups plead for more health funding as Chairman warns about cuts to proposed HHS budget

Federal officials say crackdown on Medicare fraud recovers $2.5 billion

Today's Opinions: CBO numbers undercut health law promises; Concerns about Berwick nomination; The recission myth

Home health care stocks fall with Senate Finance Committee inquiry

First Edition: May 13, 2010

New research: 10-minute frailty test can predict surgical outcomes in older patients

HHS, DOJ officials to release new report on fraud prevention, enforcement efforts at press conference

U.S. Well-Being Report for April 2010

SAGE launches further two Therapeutic Advances journals

NPTA launches new ACPE-accredited certification course to improve safety of pharmacy technicians

Current residency programs do not have capacity to address growing shortage of general surgeons

Two LSU researchers tackle incidence of malnutrition-related deaths among older adults in the U.S.

Study: When incentive payments are removed, quality of health care suffers

Florida weighs next steps for small business insurance exchange; N.J. considers COBRA eligibility expansion; Other highlights

Prescription costs more likely to keep Hispanics away from pharmacy counter: Study

Seriously mentally ill are three times more likely to be imprisoned than hospitalized, report finds

Exploring the nanoscale: How AFM is transforming cosmetic science

Innovating Texture and Culture in Plant-Based Foods

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

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