Healthcare News

RSS

Wellness programs help retain employees

Forty-five percent of Americans working at small to medium-sized companies said that they would stay at their jobs longer because of employer-sponsored wellness programs, according to the latest Principal Financial Well-Being IndexSM.

18 Jan 2010

ERT Knowledge Series of educational papers discusses patient safety in clinical trials

ERT, a leading provider of centralized services to the biopharmaceutical, medical device and related industries, today announced its new ERT Knowledge Series of educational papers, written by ERT experts. Each paper discusses issues relevant to patient safety in clinical trials today and further establishes ERT as an experienced and reliable partner in products and services for the clinical trials industry.

18 Jan 2010

Medical innovation needed despite current economic problems, says Eli Lilly CEO

In the keynote address at a Town Hall Los Angeles luncheon event today, John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company, said that in the current challenging economic times, sustaining our nation's edge in innovation and improving our focus on medical innovation's richest resource – people – is imperative to achieving prosperity and health in the coming decade. His speech focused on bioscience innovation, a sector in which Los Angeles boasts one of the largest concentrations of jobs in the country.

18 Jan 2010

Health experts calls for smoking cessation programmes among healthcare professionals

Public health experts are calling for urgent steps to reduce the number of healthcare professionals who smoke, after a survey of over 800 new nursing students found that more than half were current or former smokers.

18 Jan 2010

Patients have few barriers to affordable health care, efficient care in post-Katrina primary care clinics

A new Commonwealth Fund survey of safety-net clinic patients in New Orleans finds that, despite being disproportionately low-income and uninsured, these patients had fewer problems affording care and fewer instances of medical debt and inefficient care than most U.S. adults.

18 Jan 2010

New book on harnessing science and innovation to tackle challenges in poor countries

Science and Innovation for Development demonstrates how science and innovation can be harnessed to tackle today's biggest challenges in poor countries, including climate change, HIV/AIDS and illiteracy. Case studies are described, including the use of tissue culture to develop disease-resistant bananas in Kenya; the use of nanotechnology to develop cheaper and faster kits for diagnosing infectious diseases and the use of organic material to power a multi-purpose stove that can also function as a refrigerator and generator.

18 Jan 2010

Self-control-or the lack thereof-is contagious, University of Georgia study reveals

Before patting yourself on the back for resisting that cookie or kicking yourself for giving in to temptation, look around. A new University of Georgia study has revealed that self-control-or the lack thereof-is contagious.

18 Jan 2010

Health care reform: Opportunities and challenges in palliative care

Opinion leaders in the field of palliative medicine explored the unparalleled opportunities that now exist for the palliative care community, which matches treatment to the desires of informed patients and their families, to help define evolving health care reform policy. The thought-provoking Roundtable discussion, "Palliative Medicine: Politics and Policy," is published online ahead of print in Journal of Palliative Medicine, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..

18 Jan 2010

Canadians consume more than double the recommended amount of sodium daily, study says

In advance of February's Heart Month, a new survey finds that 70 per cent of Canadians are concerned about the level of sodium in their diet. There is also vast confusion around sodium: over one-third of Canadians claim to know the upper sodium limit yet nearly nine out of 10 people get it wrong; and more than half of the population does not understand sodium information on nutrition labels. Canadians consume on average 3,092 milligrams of sodium daily, more than double the recommended amount of 1200 to 1500 milligrams.

18 Jan 2010

Obama's latest dilemma: Confronting the AIDS pandemic

Confronting the ongoing AIDS pandemic for his upcoming first national HIV/AIDS Strategy is President Obama's newest dilemma, say former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, former White House Drug Policy spokesman Robert Weiner, and Dartmouth College Coalition for Progress president Jordan Osserman.

18 Jan 2010

Unveiling of soybean genome could help boost crop yields in future

"Scientists on Wednesday unveiled the genome of the soybean, saying it was an achievement that should deepen understanding of one of the world's most important crops, help to boost yields and defend the plant against pests," Agence France-Presse reports. The study, published in the journal Nature, details the findings of the "[e]ighteen organisations, most of them American, [who] teamed up in a 15-year endeavour that yielded a draft of 85 percent of the soybean's 1.1 billion base pairs, the 'rungs' in the double-helix ladder of DNA," the news service writes

18 Jan 2010

Nationwide Children's Hospital to break ground for its third research facility

Nationwide Children's Hospital will break ground on property west of Parsons Avenue and north of Livingston Avenue in early 2010 for its third research facility as the last piece of its $840 million strategic facilities expansion plan, first announced in 2005. Nationwide Children's Board approval of the final construction budget is expected in early 2010.

18 Jan 2010

"Cadillac Plan" tax: Society of Actuaries proposes changes for successful health care reform

Drawing attention to one of the most complex health care bills recently passed by the U.S. Senate, the Society of Actuaries and American Academy of Actuaries today announced the findings from a new technical model and report on the estimated effect of the excise tax on high–cost employer health plans, also known as the "Cadillac Plan" tax. According to the report, while a tax on excess benefits could play a role in offsetting other costs of health reform, specific design elements of the tax may present some issues.

18 Jan 2010

Memorial Healthcare System to deploy Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange solutions for HIE

Axolotl Corp., today announced that Memorial Healthcare System, the fifth-largest public health care system in the nation has selected Axolotl’s Elysium® Exchange suite of solutions to securely access and share clinical information between physician practices and medical staff. Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange solutions are used by hundreds of hospitals and thousands of health care professionals, powering 3 statewide HIEs and 18 additional regional exchanges (RHIOs) across the nation.

18 Jan 2010

Major tobacco company dampens impact of EU public health legislation

A major tobacco company played a key role in dampening the impact of EU public health legislation, academics at the Universities of Bath and Edinburgh have claimed.

18 Jan 2010

Medpac recommendation: Adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments to recoup overpayments

Modern Healthcare: "The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is recommending that Congress further adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments over three years to recover overpayments that have resulted from recent documentation and coding changes." MedPAC also "called for the same recommendation as last year: to increase payment rates for inpatient and outpatient hospital services at the full rate of inflation, concurrent with the implementation of a quality incentives program.

18 Jan 2010

NYT magazine: Reid wages political battles on two fronts

As he's shepherded the sweeping health overhaul plan through the United States Senate, a sometimes "hoarse and hacking," weary Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is also facing a tough reelection fight at home, The New York Times reportsin a magazine preview. As he has tried to keep constituents in his native Nevada behind him, Reid has also struggled to keep members of his caucus in line on health reform.

18 Jan 2010

Health personalities: Nelson, Landrieu, Melancon, Regina Benjamin

...

18 Jan 2010

Mass. special election could shape fate of health reform

Los Angeles Times: "For Democrats, it's a nightmarish scenario: A Republican appears to be within striking distance of capturing the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy." Some polls now show that [Scott] Brown is gaining on Attorney General Martha Coakley, his Democratic rival.

18 Jan 2010

Missouri best in using federal aid to combat Medicaid fraud, other states fight over federal rules

The Kansas City Star reports that Missouri led the country in 2008 in efficiency in using federal dollars to combat Medicaid fraud. "The state recovered almost $29.8 million in 2008, the most recent year for which comparative data are available, while receiving about $1.6 million in federal Medicaid fraud grants. That equates to $18.81 recovered for every dollar received — 43 cents better than the next-best state" (Noble, 1/12).

18 Jan 2010

Healthcare News

Wellness programs help retain employees

ERT Knowledge Series of educational papers discusses patient safety in clinical trials

Medical innovation needed despite current economic problems, says Eli Lilly CEO

Health experts calls for smoking cessation programmes among healthcare professionals

Patients have few barriers to affordable health care, efficient care in post-Katrina primary care clinics

New book on harnessing science and innovation to tackle challenges in poor countries

Self-control-or the lack thereof-is contagious, University of Georgia study reveals

Health care reform: Opportunities and challenges in palliative care

Canadians consume more than double the recommended amount of sodium daily, study says

Obama's latest dilemma: Confronting the AIDS pandemic

Unveiling of soybean genome could help boost crop yields in future

Nationwide Children's Hospital to break ground for its third research facility

"Cadillac Plan" tax: Society of Actuaries proposes changes for successful health care reform

Memorial Healthcare System to deploy Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange solutions for HIE

Major tobacco company dampens impact of EU public health legislation

Medpac recommendation: Adjust Medicare's hospital inpatient payments to recoup overpayments

NYT magazine: Reid wages political battles on two fronts

Health personalities: Nelson, Landrieu, Melancon, Regina Benjamin

Mass. special election could shape fate of health reform

Missouri best in using federal aid to combat Medicaid fraud, other states fight over federal rules

How microRNA is transforming science: From discovery to diagnostics

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

Latest News