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Pelosi, Obama defend procedure to pass reform

Roll Call: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dismissed as a 'nonissue' a procedural maneuver House Democrats are eyeing to pass their health care overhaul in the wake of comments by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) that the move would be 'disingenuous' and harm Congressional credibility. House Democrats are considering a process that would allow them to avoid a separate vote on the unpopular Senate version of reform by deeming that measure passed once they approve a package of changes to it.

19 Mar 2010

Report cites rise in uninsured middle-class Americans

A report released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Barely Hanging On: Middle-Class and Uninsured, looks at the rise in the level of uninsured middle-class people in the last eight years.

19 Mar 2010

GOP strategy: Delay, block, repeal

As Democrats focus on advancing health overhaul legislation in the House, Senate Republicans are plotting ways to delay or block the effort, Politico reports. "Republican aides have been mining the Senate's arcane parliamentary rules for an attack that aims at striking elements both broad and narrow from the bill, weakening the measure and ultimately defeating it."

19 Mar 2010

CDIs are becoming significant issue in healthcare institutions: Study

Clostridium difficile infections are quickly becoming a significant issue in healthcare based upon recent studies. Preliminary data collected from nursing homes and highlighted in a Supplementary Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory shows that almost 40 percent of gastrointestinal infections reported are CDIs.

19 Mar 2010

Advertising, fundraising money talks in health care debate

NPR's Julie Rovner fact-checked several of the television ads being run about the health care debate. She found fault with several major ads, including ones sponsored by American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the liberal group Americans United for Change, National Republican Campaign Committee, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

19 Mar 2010

As reform hangs in balance, policy benefits continue to be discussed

NPR reports on the immediate effects of the proposed health care bill, and that Congressional Democrats are focusing on those benefits in messages to constituents. "The White House is trying to shift the conversation away from the messy legislative process — which Republicans are keying on — and instead focus on what the health care overhaul would do for families and businesses."

19 Mar 2010

Wellpoint draws flak for infulfilled promise to help uninsured

The health insurance company WellPoint delivered on only about one-fifth of a $30-million pledge to help the uninsured, the Los Angeles Times reports.

19 Mar 2010

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health awarded $15 million for lab renovation

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will receive nearly $15 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for renovation and modernization of laboratory space at its main facility at 615 N. Wolfe Street in Baltimore, Md.

18 Mar 2010

A right to health care? wrong!

Years of debating liberal friends and colleagues has brought me to an understanding: This question is at the core of the debate. The absurd notion of a “right” to health care underlies the movement towards socialized medicine. If this right does exist, it becomes a moral imperative to guarantee it for all, i.e. “universal coverage.”

18 Mar 2010

As the nation focuses on quality and cost of health care, AMA-convened PCPI celebrates milestone and looks to future

Celebrating its 10 year anniversary today at its meeting in the nation’s capital, the AMA-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI) highlighted its achievements to date and took a proactive look at future efforts to measure and improve the quality of patient care.

18 Mar 2010

Reforming healthcare

President Obama and his chief allies in Congress are at the final stages of structuring the historic year-long process of reforms in the health care legislation with changes in subsidies, taxes and assurance of better health care plans.

18 Mar 2010

Unemployed and uninsured in California

One fourth of the adult and children population of California have no access to insurance. 6.4 million people were uninsured in 2007 and figures jumped up to 8.2 million in just 2 years. Recession and unemployment was thought to be the major contributing factor according to the investigators from UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research.

18 Mar 2010

Health care fraud, prescription theft lead to significant losses

ABC News: "A four month 'Nightline' investigation into Medicare fraud makes one thing perfectly clear: this is a crime that pays and pays and pays. The federal government admits that a staggering $60 billion is stolen from tax payers through Medicare scams every year. Some experts believe the number is more than twice that.

18 Mar 2010

Lawsuit shows insurer targeted HIV patients for 'rescission'

A court case has revealed that the insurer Fortis, now called Assurant Health, automatically targeted customers diagnosed with HIV for fraud investigations geared toward finding reasons to revoke their coverage, Reuters reports. After a computer algorithm initiated the investigations, "their insurance policies often were canceled on erroneous information, the flimsiest of evidence, or for no good reason at all, according to the court documents and interviews with state and federal investigators."

18 Mar 2010

CBO is straining under the weight of health care requests

The Congressional Budget Office is feeling the strain of dealing with the high-profile requests for scoring health care legislation as Democrats move toward releasing a reconciliation bill, "a stressor that may have contributed to the recent incorrect scoring of a draft House provision," Politico reports.

18 Mar 2010

States weigh taxes to help fund Medicaid—and raise federal contributions

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Andy Miller looks at four states -- Georgia, Wisconsin, Iowa and Tennessee -- that are weighing new taxes on hospitals to help finance their beleaguered Medicaid programs.

18 Mar 2010

Meta-study: Seven health risks impair academic performance of urban minority youth

"Educationally relevant health disparities" are key drivers of the achievement gap, "but they are largely overlooked," Charles Basch, the Richard March Hoe Professor of Health Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, said at a recent panel discussion at the College.

18 Mar 2010

Humedica, Anceta unveil health care data solutions at AMGA 2010 Annual Conference

Humedica, a next-generation clinical informatics company, and Anceta, the healthcare informatics subsidiary of the American Medical Group Association, today announced the launch of Humedica MinedShare™ Ambulatory as well as AMGA’s Anceta Collaborative Data Warehouse at the AMGA 2010 Annual Conference, taking place now through March 20 in New Orleans.

18 Mar 2010

Harden Healthcare receives $31.5M as part of $145M senior secured credit facility

GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services has provided $31.5 million as part of a $145 million senior secured credit facility for Harden Healthcare, LLC. Harden will use the proceeds of the financing to provide additional growth capital and to refinance its existing debt facilities. GE Capital is the administrative agent for the credit facility. GE Capital Markets served as co-lead arranger and joint bookrunner.

18 Mar 2010

SGH recognized as winner of Microsoft HUG 2010 Innovation Awards

Eclipsys Corporation®, The Outcomes Company®, today announced that Singapore General Hospital, Singapore’s oldest and largest acute tertiary hospital and national referral center, has been recognized as a winner of the Microsoft HUG 2010 Innovation Awards in the category of “Best Use of Clinical Records — Inpatient.”

18 Mar 2010