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ATR analyses impact of Coakley's support for the Senate healthcare bill

Americans for Tax Reform today released an analysis showing the impact on Massachusetts of Marsha Coakley's support for the Senate healthcare bill. Coakley is on record supporting the Senate government healthcare bill, which contains eighteen separate tax increases. One of these is a new $2 billion per year (rising to $3 billion in 2017) tax on medical device manufacturers.

13 Jan 2010

Send Word Now to provide emergency voice and text communication services to Unity Health System's hospitals

Send Word Now, the leading provider of emergency notification and on-demand alerting and response services, announced today that Unity Health System, a 681-bed health-care network based out of Rochester, New York, has selected Send Word Now to provide emergency voice and text communication services to its hospitals.

13 Jan 2010

Progress on MDG targets is 'key priority' in 2010 for U.N. Secretary-General

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called 2010 "the year of development" and said "he would make the drive to achieve" the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 "one of his key priorities this year," Agence France-Presse/My Sinchew reports.

13 Jan 2010

Consumer Watchdog calls for affordability and accountability changes to the health reform legislation

In a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) today, Consumer Watchdog called for strengthened oversight of the health insurance industry and greater affordability protections for consumers in negotiations with the U.S. Senate on final health reform legislation.

13 Jan 2010

Majority of doctors appear to ignore FDA warning to screen high-risk medications

A new study concludes that many doctors appear to have largely ignored a Food and Drug Administration warning to screen users of new antipsychotic drugs for high blood sugar and cholesterol, which poses risks to their health and raises questions about the efficacy of warning protocols in general.

13 Jan 2010

ACP issues position paper to guide ethical relationships among patients, physicians and caregivers

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued a position paper to guide ethical relationships among patients, physicians, and caregivers.

13 Jan 2010

Lawmakers face political challenges as they return to health overhaul chores

During the holiday vacation, some Democratic lawmakers appeared to waver on health reform, faced with "tepid public support" for their proposal and "mounting electoral angst for the party," Politico reports. "But through it all — and through what is expected to be multiple near-death experiences for the health care bill in coming weeks — White House and congressional leaders plan to beat back the temptation of 'no' with a hardball argument: Democrats already voted 'yes.' And it would be politically disastrous to flip-flop now" (Brown, 1/12).

13 Jan 2010

ETMC Athens gears up for next flu pandemic

Throughout the month of September, East Texas Medical Center, Athens (ETMC Athens) saw a 42% average surge in number of patients per day due to publicity of the H1N1 virus and took it in stride. Improved efficiencies in the Emergency Department facilitated by a process improvement firm, Compirion Healthcare, allowed the hospital to absorb the volume and still see an improvement in quality.

13 Jan 2010

Health care bill not as positive for seniors as stated, says TSCL

Health care reform legislation could be worse for America’s seniors than the Administration and Congressional leaders are publicly stating, according to The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan seniors advocacy organizations.

13 Jan 2010

Denmark's digital health system could pave way for U.S.

The New York Times reports that "using medical devices and notebook computers, patients can see doctors without leaving home, and have the information automatically logged into electronic records."

13 Jan 2010

Coalition asks Congress to eliminate excise tax on health benefits

American Dental Association President Ron Tankersley, DDS, says the provision as written, "[I]s the opposite of health care reform. It would compel many employers to drop critical dental and other coverage to avoid the tax. It dismantles exactly the type of preventive, primary care that everyone agrees this country needs more of."

13 Jan 2010

Congress expected to shun mammography recommendations in final health bill

The Wall Street Journal: "The final health-care bill is likely to require coverage for more mammograms than the new guidelines recommend after women's groups, doctors and imaging-equipment makers stepped up pressure on lawmakers -- one of many threads of the bill negotiated behind the scenes." In November, the federally funded U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a report saying that "routine mammograms weren't necessary for women in their 40s who have normal cancer risk.

13 Jan 2010

Medicare pay irks physicians, leaves some patients stranded

Doctors' payments through the Medicare program are scheduled to be lowered by 21 percent in March, prompting some physicians to drop Medicare patients or refuse taking on new ones, The Columbus Dispatch reports.

13 Jan 2010

Budget and cost issues continue to plague states

The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune News: In California, local programs will be hit hard under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts to plug a $20 billion budget gap. "In-Home Supportive Services would be cut entirely. Medi-Cal would be limited and participants would be called upon to share more of the costs"

13 Jan 2010

Pediatric specialists and pharmacists may get boost from health bills

News outlets report on how the health care bill pending in Congress might affect pediatric specialists and pharmacists.

13 Jan 2010

UNAIDS chief calls for reduction in MTCT in Africa

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe on Monday during a five-day trip in Kenya, called for a drastic reduction in mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, Capital News reports. "In our continent we still have 400,000 babies born every year with HIV and we know if we are capable of making sure that testing will become available universally to all our pregnant women, (and) that pregnant women also have access to treatment, we will prevent the transmission," Sidibe said (Karong'o, 1/11).

13 Jan 2010

Labor leaders confront Obama on 'Cadillac' tax proposal

Labor leaders were invited to the White House to discuss negotiations to merge the House- and Senate-passed health overhaul packages.

12 Jan 2010

Miami resident pleads guilty to conspiring in Medicare fraud program

Miami resident Ingrid Mazorra pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Miami to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Terrence I. Berg of the Eastern District of Michigan; Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office; and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

12 Jan 2010

China's one-child policy creates serious demographic problem, Chinese report says

A study from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a government-backed institution, has found that "China's 'one couple, one child' family planning policy" has resulted in a gender imbalance that is the "most serious demographic problem facing" the country, the Times of London reports.

12 Jan 2010

Chicago surrogacy firms launch program to aid parents with surrogacy births

Two Chicago-area surrogacy firms today announced the launch of a program designed to facilitate the delivery in Illinois of babies carried by gestational surrogates.

12 Jan 2010