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OnBase ECM software suite continues to be top choice for healthcare organizations

With "meaningful use" a reality, healthcare providers need complete electronic health records. They're quickly learning that to make this happen, they must bring together both electronic data and paper-based content. It's certainly a challenge – one that involves many solutions, not just an electronic medical record like Eclipsys or Cerner.

23 Apr 2010

21% of Americans want no changes to health care legislation: CHPPR survey

Less than a quarter of Americans want no changes to the health care legislation signed into law by the president last month but there may be more common ground with other Americans than many think, according to the latest national survey by researchers from Indiana University's Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research.

23 Apr 2010

KHN column: Will private long-term care insurance supplement the CLASS Act

"The Community Living Assistance Service and Supports Act—the new national long-term care insurance program included in the just-passed health bill—begins to change the way we pay for personal assistance for the frail elderly and adults with disabilities" (4/22).

23 Apr 2010

FirstPath Advantage program developed to close gap on health care continuum

A unique approach to health management was recently announced by FirstSolutions and BeniComp, Inc. The program, FirstPath Advantage, has been developed to close the gap on the health care continuum and dramatically impact employer claims costs.

23 Apr 2010

Medical groups adopt stricter ethics code against conflicts of interest

The Associated Press: A new ethics code adopted by leading medical groups on Wednesday is supposed to keep the drug and medical device industry from having too much financial influence over medical practitioners. "It's the most sweeping move ever taken by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies to curb conflict of interest — a growing concern as private industry bankrolls a greater share of medical research.

23 Apr 2010

BTA Charitable Foundation to gift $1 million to Courage Centre at GRH

In a landmark giving announcement for the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation (GRHF), the Building Trades of Alberta (BTA) Charitable Foundation announced today that they will give $1 million to the Courage Centre at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital (GRH). The Charitable Foundation is the beneficiary of the philanthropic efforts of the Building Trades of Alberta's 16 affiliated unions and 22 locals with a combined membership of over 60,000 unionized skilled trades people.

23 Apr 2010

Detroit-area resident pleads guilty in fraudulent medical testing scheme

Detroit-area resident Melvin Young pleaded guilty today to engaging in a fraudulent medical testing scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).

23 Apr 2010

Possibility of Mexican health care for Americans discussed

Participants at a conference held in San Diego Wednesday discussed the possibility of sending US patients across the border to Mexico for health care. The option is said to be possible, but probably still far away, participants "said that a range of legislative and regulatory changes are needed."

23 Apr 2010

Hospital for Special Care launches ALS Clinical Trials Unit at Neuromuscular Center

Hospital for Special Care announced today the launch of the region's first Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Clinical Trials Unit at its Neuromuscular Center. The new unit will be headed by Jinsy A. Andrews, M.D., a physician researcher recruited from Columbia University. Dr. Andrews, Director of Research & Clinical Trials Unit, Hospital for Special Care, specializes in neuromuscular research and will facilitate the hospital's first clinical trial for ALS upon her arrival.

23 Apr 2010

Omnibus bill aims to improve women's services at VA health care facilities, support caregivers

Several of The American Legion's top legislative priorities are wrapped up in S. 1963 – an omnibus bill passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives – that aims to improve women's services at VA health care facilities, provide better support for caregivers of disabled veterans, expand mental health services, reduce homelessness and commit the U.S. government to a number of other initiatives to better serve veterans and their families.

23 Apr 2010

Minorities, seniors see positives in health law; Worries persist about insurance costs

African Americans are hoping new health will improve their lives, but there's "a debate about whether the coming changes will actually ease the health disparities that black Americans face," NPR reports.

23 Apr 2010

Poll: Americans confused about new health law

USA Today: "More than half of the nation is confused about President Obama's recently enacted health care law and 56% of Americans say they don't have enough information to understand how the measure will affect them, according to a poll released today by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation."

23 Apr 2010

Investigators raid N.Y. Senate official's office, seeking evidence in Medicare, Medicaid fraud lawsuit

Federal and state investigators raided the Bronx offices of the Soundview HealthCare Network early Wednesday, seeking records as part of a joint investigation into the business and political activities of the Senate majority leader, Pedro Espada, Jr. More than a dozen agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, joined by investigators from the office of Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, arrived at Soundview's offices on White Plains Road shortly before 7 a.m., when the first employees arrived to open the doors for the day.

23 Apr 2010

Researchers use electronic medical records for injury management and surveillance during marathon

Henry Ford Hospital researchers have brought the use of electronic medical records out of the hospital setting and into the streets by using the technology for a marathon.

23 Apr 2010

isrp awarded $16M grant to study health effects of environmental pollutants

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has awarded the University of Iowa Superfund Research Program (isrp) a five-year, $16 million grant to study the health effects of environmental pollutants, especially polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) found in water, former industrial sites and the atmosphere.

23 Apr 2010

House passes measure to boost veterans medical benefits

The Los Angeles Times: "The House voted 419 to 0 on Wednesday to approve new benefits and financial support for the primary live-in caregivers of seriously wounded veterans who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure, which would cost about $1.7 billion over five years, is part of comprehensive legislation that would permit the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand its assistance to family members of veterans generally." The bill calls for rates on a par with "commercial rates for home caregivers" (Tan, 4/21).

23 Apr 2010

Despite federal help, states struggle to move people out of nursing homes

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in collaboration with USA Today, writes about the Money Follows The Person program: "Richard Hasselbach and Deborah Kadlec met in a nursing home and dreamed of a life together outside its walls.

23 Apr 2010

Drug use theft among Doctors and Nurses

Western Australia’s Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) revealed in a recent report that there has been a constant theft and abuse of restricted drugs by healthcare staff including physicians and nurses.

23 Apr 2010

Florida's Health Care Freedom Act receives approval

Today, Florida's Health Care Freedom Act (HJR 37/SJR 72), sponsored by Florida Representative Scott Plakon and Florida Senator Carey Baker, passed the House and Senate and will appear on the November ballot. And yesterday, Mississippi Representatives Alex Monsour and Steven Palazzo received preliminary approval to place the Health Care Freedom Act on the 2011 or 2012 ballot.

23 Apr 2010

Cisco uses telemedicine in Southern Calif. and Southwest to lower costs

Cisco is using its HealthPresence telemedicine system in new programs in Southern California and the Southwest to "compete with other major tech companies, including Intel, IBM and General Electric, in the growing market for health-care products and services," The San Jose Mercury News/The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer reports.

23 Apr 2010