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Discovery Health, NORD partner for Rare Disease Day

The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) announced that Discovery Health and its new program, DISEASE DETECTIVES, will serve as media and program partners for Rare Disease Day on February 28, 2010.

4 Feb 2010

Penrose-St. Francis Health Systems selects CardiacAssist's TandemHeart System

CardiacAssist Inc. announced today that Penrose-St. Francis Health Systems, Colorado Springs, Colo., has adopted the company’s TandemHeart® System.

4 Feb 2010

NAE and IOM join for panel discussion on 'Engineering Innovations in Healthcare'

WHAT:The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) will join together for the first time at the regional meeting and panel discussion on "Engineering Innovations in Healthcare" at the University of Miami.

4 Feb 2010

Ontario's doctors urge patients to make simple lifestyle changes for better health

The number of patients living with chronic disease in Ontario is on the rise, finds a new report by the Ontario Medical Association (OMA). The study reveals that between 1995-2005, the number of patients with diabetes has increased over 50% and more concerning is that the number of patients with diabetes aged 19 and younger has gone up by 20%.

4 Feb 2010

Mandatory flu shot program increases vaccination rate to more than 98% in BJC HealthCare

Making flu shots mandatory in 2008 dramatically increased the vaccination rate among St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare's nearly 26,000 employees to more than 98 percent, according to a report now online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

4 Feb 2010

NPR examines Obama administration's global family planning policies

NPR's "Morning Edition" examines how global family planning fits into the Obama administration's global health policy. "The administration has already restored funding for the United Nations Population ... Fund, which for eight years received no U.S. support. And in his first week, President Obama lifted an executive order that existed in the Reagan and Bush administrations that prohibited U.S.-funded programs from providing information about abortion services," according to NPR.

4 Feb 2010

Craft-kit therapy improves physical and mental health

Nearly 90 percent of HHV craft kit users report physical and mental improvements as a direct result of craft-kit therapy. Craft kits are an important rehabilitative tool used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to restore coordination and impaired motor skills, improve attention spans and concentration, and relax frayed nerves in patients.

4 Feb 2010

National consensus reached on Joint Technical Statement for drug products

A pan-Canadian initiative was announced today that will ultimately have a major impact on patient safety by reducing preventable medication errors.

4 Feb 2010

GKAS volunteers provide free dental care for children

With an economy that might cause some parents to postpone regular dental visits for their children and tooth decay being the most prevalent chronic disease in America's children, the American Dental Association (ADA) is mobilizing dental professionals for the eighth consecutive year in a national campaign to extend necessary care to children and adolescents from low-income families.

4 Feb 2010

EPMA Journal promotes new philosophy in patient treatment

Springer and the European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine have founded, as the Association's official publication, the EPMA Journal.

4 Feb 2010

State round up: Florida considers eliminating popular Medicaid plan; State program for low-income adults changing in Minn.

e year the state of Florida eliminates its popular MediPass program, which gives more than half a million Medicaid recipients, mostly aged and disabled Floridians, an alternative to HMOs. Hints of its demise showed up in the governor's budget and letters from a powerful lawmaker.

4 Feb 2010

Tough economy adds stress to hospitals; Community health centers help fill gaps

Hospitals get mixed marks while many suffer from the effects of the struggling economy. Meanwhile, community health centers increasingly provide more care and help fill in health care gaps.

4 Feb 2010

First Choice Emergency Room donates to Haiti victims

First Choice Emergency Room's owner, along with the company's management, medical staff, and employees, are making multiple monetary and in-kind donations to the victims of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti.

4 Feb 2010

Poll: Health care 'damage' to Democrats 'has been done'

Politico: "Democrats will face nearly the same political environment this fall whether or not they pass health care reform legislation, according to a new poll out Tuesday." The poll, by Public Policy Polling, found that "Republicans currently have a generic ballot advantage of 43 percent to 40 percent in races for Congress. ... 'At this point, it looks like the political damage for Democrats on health care has been done,' PPP President Dean Debnam said. "The poll, conducted Jan. 29 - 31, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points" (Barr, 2/2).

3 Feb 2010

States consider their own health reform ideas

"Supporters of a bill that seeks to bar lifetime and annual payment caps on health insurance plans in Maine say they expect a large crowd at a legislative committee's hearing on the proposal." The same topic has been considered by the U.S. Congress as part of Democrats health overhaul (2/3).

3 Feb 2010

Questionable health insurance plans cause concern

Officials worry that people with no insurance will be drawn in by questionable health insurance plans. ABC News reports: The "[h]ealth care overhaul is stalled, resulting in a proliferation of plans that don't fully protect people, officials said. Watchdogs worry about two kinds of plans in particular."

3 Feb 2010

Shina Systems' 3Di medical imaging advanced (3D/4D) visualization software suite receives FDA clearance

Shina Systems announces U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its 3Di medical imaging advanced (3D/4D) visualization software that downloads over the Internet and provides a full suite of image processing and clinical analysis applications on any PC.

3 Feb 2010

Axway and Anakam to provide security and identity management offering for electronic health records

Axway, the Business Interaction Networks company, today announced a partnership with Anakam to provide a security and identity management offering for secure access and transmission of electronic health records (EHR) and personal health records (PHR).

3 Feb 2010

Lobbying, ads slow down on health reform

"Drugmakers, business organizations and other interest groups in the health care battle have dialed down expensive lobbying campaigns as they assess how last month's stunning Republican capture of a Senate seat from Massachusetts has altered Washington's political landscape...," The Associated Press reports.

3 Feb 2010

Obama urges Senate Dems not to give up on health legislation

The Washington Post: President Obama attended an issues conference today with the Senate Democratic Caucus and "answered questions from senators, some of them facing uphill reelection battles."

3 Feb 2010