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Improved management practices can reduce annual costs from diabetes-related complications

Milliman Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released an analysis detailing the economic burden of type 2 diabetes on major healthcare payers and quantifying the savings that could result from better patient management practices.

29 Apr 2010

CCPA studies highlight need for improving federal workplace safety

On the eve of the National Day of Mourning for workers killed on the job, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is releasing two studies highlighting the need for improved health and safety enforcement and regulation.

29 Apr 2010

Salad bar placed at a prominent location in cafeteria induces schoolchildren to eat more fresh vegetables

Providing healthier food choices for our nation's schoolchildren is a hot-button issue in Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign. And a team of researchers from Cornell University have recently identified one simple solution to help schools serve more fresh vegetables and salad items.

29 Apr 2010

Astrazeneca settles drug marketing lawsuit, plea deal rejected for possibly defective heart device maker

The New York Times: AstraZeneca has settled a case and agreed to pay $520 million after federal investigations into its marketing practices for a schizophrenia drug, Seroquel. The announcement came Tuesday from Attorney General Eric Holder. Government officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, said the company paid illegal kickbacks to doctors to promote drugs for unapproved uses by children, the elderly, veterans and prisoners, which is illegal under federal law.

29 Apr 2010

Cambodia closes 64.9 percent of illegal pharmacies

In a major crackdown, Cambodia has forced nearly 65 percent of illegal pharmacies operating in the country to close within the past five months. Led by an Inter-Ministerial Committee to Fight against Counterfeit & Substandard Medicines (IMC), the shops were targeted because of evidence that they were among the primary sources of substandard and counterfeit medicines in the country.

29 Apr 2010

State regulators say insurance industry should easily meet medical-loss requirement

Insurers can meet the requirements in the new health overhaul law for minimum spending on patient care by deducting taxes and relabeling expenses related to improving "health care quality" as medical costs, rather than administrative ones, according to an April 24 memo from an expert at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports.

29 Apr 2010

Costs for long-term care rise while home health care costs remain fairly stable

"Institutional costs for long term care continued to post big increases last year even as the economy sputtered along, according to the seventh annual Cost of Care survey from Genworth Financial, a major seller of long term care insurance. The good news in the survey is that costs for in-home care -- where nearly 80 percent of people prefer being cared for -- have risen very little during the past five years."

29 Apr 2010

UnitedHealthcare ends use of rescissions ahead of implementation date

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company, has ended its limited use of rescissions effective immediately, except in cases of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of material fact. This change in policy is well ahead of the September 23, 2010 implementation date as required in the recently passed health reform legislation.

29 Apr 2010

HHS Secretary's statement on WellPoint's announcement to end practice of rescissions

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released the following statement today on WellPoint's announcement that it intends to end the practice of rescinding patients' coverage in advance of the Affordable Care Act's requirement that insurers stop this practice starting this fall. WellPoint's announcement comes after Secretary Sebelius sent a letter on April 22 urging the company to immediately stop the practice of rescinding coverage for patients who become ill.

29 Apr 2010

New EDUCARE project to train healthcare workers combat cancer epidemic in Africa

Roche announced today the launch of the EDUCARE project, which, in concert with IAEA, will provide support to help combat the growing cancer epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

29 Apr 2010

WellPoint profits rise 51 percent amid scrutiny on several fronts

WellPoint, the U.S. health insurer with the biggest membership, announced Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings rose 51 percent compared to last year and were boosted by a mild flu season, The Wall Street Journal reports. Medical membership fell 2.1% to 33.8 million as of March 31 from a year earlier but rose by 165,000 during the quarter. The company trimmed its year-end medical membership projection to 33.1 million from 33.3 million."

29 Apr 2010

Small business owners have mixed reviews on health law's tax credits

Kaiser Health News staff writer Andrew Villegas reports: "Everyone wants a tax credit, right? Maybe not. Employers, particularly small businesses, are fretting over provisions in the health overhaul they say could burden their companies.

29 Apr 2010

ECRI Institute's recommendations for controlling CT radiation dose

The benefits of computed tomography (CT) have increased greatly over the past decade. Now twice as powerful, it offers dynamic images of anatomy, including the beating heart. Future advancements promise to deliver even more clinical benefits. However, CT has always had a downside: it can deliver high radiation doses to patients, putting them at increased risk of developing cancer.

29 Apr 2010

Canadian leaders focus on hunger, disease prevention at G8 meeting

G8 countries should make use of low-cost, effective tools to prevent hunger, disease and premature deaths among women and children in developing countries, Bev Oda, Canada's international cooperation minister, said on Tuesday at the opening of a meeting of G8 development ministers in Halifax, the Toronto Sun reports (Payton, 4/27).

29 Apr 2010

US Senate concentrates on benefits of new wireless medical technology: EHSI

Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc. applauded news that the US Senate Committee on Aging was beginning to concentrate on the benefits of new wireless medical technology, a sector that includes the Company's MedAnywhere iPhone application which is currently in development. The Committee began the review last week.

29 Apr 2010

Isis Maternity is now Isis Parenting

Today, Isis Maternity, The Place for Expecting and New Moms, becomes Isis, Parenting Starts Here. This change reflects the breadth of education, products and community that Isis delivers to its clients. Since opening its doors in 2003, Isis has helped more than 35,000 families navigate early parenting from pregnancy to preschool.

29 Apr 2010

Dental clinic reveals need in Los Angeles area while North Carolina County may cut dental care for many Medicaid patients

More than 100 who had waited for care were asked to return next week for services. In all, volunteers saw 1,157 patients, 64 of them minors. Overwhelmed by demand for dental services, organizers of a massive free mobile health clinic asked some patients who had Tuesday appointments to return next week, a hitch in an otherwise smooth first day at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

29 Apr 2010

Overhaul may cost drugmakers more than expected

Bloomberg BusinessWeek: The health overhaul legislation will likely cost drugmakers $25 billion more than the $80 billion the industry anticipated when it agreed to back the Democratic-led effort, according to Wall Street analysts. "The extra costs will come from expanding drug rebates through Medicaid, the U.S. insurance program for the poor, [Leerink Swann & Co executive] John L. Sullivan said today at a Bloomberg conference in Chicago."

29 Apr 2010

China lifts decades-old HIV/AIDS travel ban

Late Tuesday, China's State Council lifted a decades-old restriction that banned foreigners with HIV/AIDS from entering the country, Reuters reports (Buckley, 4/27). The amended rules, which appear on the government website, also lift a travel ban on foreigners with other sexually transmitted diseases and leprosy, and "narrow the travel restriction on people with tuberculosis, to those with an infectious form of the lung disease," according to Bloomberg Businessweek (Randall, 4/28).

29 Apr 2010

Young adults seeking coverage on parents' plans face obstacles

Young adults and their parents eager to take advantage of a new law that will allow parents of children up to age 26 to keep their children on their health plans are facing obstacles in learning even exactly when they'll be eligible.

29 Apr 2010