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KLAS survey reveals client confidence in athenaClinicals EHR

athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of internet-based business services to physician practices, today announced that according to a new KLAS report Ambulatory EMR: On Track for Meaningful Use?, athenaClinicalsSM, the Company’s web-based electronic health record (EHR) service offering, achieved 100% client confidence in its ability to enable them to meet 2011 Meaningful Use standards under the HITECH Act.

9 Jan 2010

Medicare Part D beneficiaries can now avail free review sessions at Walgreens pharmacy

Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain with more than 70,000 health service providers, is now offering free review sessions to Medicare Part D beneficiaries at all of its more than 7,100 pharmacies throughout the country.

9 Jan 2010

Carnegie Foundation report calls for enhanced education training for nursing workforce

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) applauds Dr. Patricia Benner and her team at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for recognizing the critical role education plays in a nurse’s ability to practice safely and achieve optimal outcomes in their new book titled Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation.

9 Jan 2010

Shah sworn in as USAID administrator

On Thursday, Rajiv Shah was sworn in as USAID administrator at an official ceremony in Washington, D.C., Foreign Policy's blog, "The Cable," reports. "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed overwhelming praise and relief before swearing in Shah," according to the blog, which noted that Clinton's remarks provided some "insider details" about Shah.

9 Jan 2010

Illicit drug use among older adults may lead to increase in substance abuse treatment services

A new study done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates that the aging of the baby boom generation is resulting in a dramatic increase in levels of illicit drug use among adults 50 and older. These increases may require the doubling of substance abuse treatment services needed for this population by 2020, according to the report.

9 Jan 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet Comment examines the "grossly insufficient" progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing under-5 child mortality. "Accelerated progress can be achieved, even in the poorest environments, through: integrated, evidence-driven, and community-based programmes that focus on addressing the major causes of death, including pneumonia, diarrhoea, newborn disorders, malaria, HIV, and undernutrition; reaching the unreached with a basic package of interventions at large scale and achieving coverage with equity; and using data for action and advocacy," the comment concludes (You et al., 1/9).

9 Jan 2010

Ricoh Americas to host Ricoh Healthcare InfoBriefs for healthcare professionals

Ricoh Americas Corporation, a leading provider of digital office equipment, today announced it will host Ricoh Healthcare InfoBriefs, seminars for healthcare professionals seeking to streamline paper-intensive medical processes.

9 Jan 2010

Health and development groups applaud Clinton speech; call for action

A broad coalition of organizations representing millions of Americans applauded today's statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States unequivocally supports the worldwide consensus that achieving universal access to reproductive health is critical for individual health, family well-being, broader economic development and a healthy planet.

9 Jan 2010

New agreement to ensure patients' safety at KCHC approved

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York today announced that they have entered into an agreement with New York City to correct conditions of confinement at the Kings County Hospital Center's (KCHC) psychiatric emergency room and psychiatric in-patient units located in Brooklyn, N.Y.

9 Jan 2010

AHF launches national cross country HIV testing tour in Oregon

AHF’s ‘Testing America’ Tour, a six month, 48 state national cross country HIV testing tour, will visit Portland, Oregon for a testing event in Pioneer Courthouse Square from 10am to 3pm Saturday January 9th during the city’s fourth annual health week.

9 Jan 2010

Reform will save and create millions of more jobs, says Speaker Pelosi

Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on a new report released today by the Center for American Progress that shows that health insurance reform will create up to 4 million more jobs over the next decade than would be created without reform. The report finds that health care reform could increase the number of jobs in the United States by about 250,000 to 400,000 per year over the coming decade.

9 Jan 2010

Yale - New Haven Hospital earns SCPC accreditation

The Society of Chest Pain Centers (www.SCPCP.org), an international non-profit focused on improving care for cardiac patients, has announced that Yale - New Haven Hospital has earned the SCPC accreditation in recognition of its ability to quickly determine and intervene when a patient is experiencing cardiac symptoms.

9 Jan 2010

House Democrats tussling on taxes, exchanges in health bill negotiations

The Washington Post: "Worried House Democrats held a caucus-wide conference call Thursday to strategize about health-care reform before lawmakers return to Washington next week. ... With Senate Democrats barely able to muster the 60 votes necessary to pass their own bill and President Obama leaning toward the Senate's position on some key issues, House Democrats are increasingly concerned that they could be marginalized at the bargaining table."

9 Jan 2010

IHSS supporters vow to fight Governor's budget cut proposals

Representatives of more than 450,000 seniors and people with disabilities and those who care for them today urged the State Legislature to fight Gov. Schwarzenegger's mean-spirited and hypocritical proposal to destroy the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program.

9 Jan 2010

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center receives $500,000 grant from Verizon to improve hospital's efficiency

Providence Holy Cross Medical Center has embarked on a technology upgrade, funded by a $500,000 grant from Verizon, that will improve the hospital's efficiency, increase accuracy of patient records, and initiate health care outreach for uninsured Californians.

9 Jan 2010

Gilbert Hospital optimistic about 2010

Gilbert Hospital expects patient volume at its hospital to increase slightly compared to 2009. Conservative planning and continued easing of the nationwide economic unrest have officials at the hospital optimistic about the 2010 calendar year for this community-based hospital.

9 Jan 2010

Insurers hope to sway House-Senate agreement over regulation, taxes

House and Senate lawmakers as well as insurance companies all agree on the need for health insurance exchanges that would allow people who don't get coverage from their employers to shop for better values and compare plans.

9 Jan 2010

Also in global health news: Museveni on Uganda anti-gay bill; Zambia, India on collaboration; media examines water issues; Southern Sudan conflict

The Associated Press reports that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that the anti-gay bill to be considered late next month or early March by the country's parliament "is too harsh and [he] has encouraged his ruling National Resistance Movement Party to overturn the death sentence provision. Several lawmakers have agreed and say they will push to remove the statute."

9 Jan 2010

HumanaOne expands individual Short Term health insurance product

In these difficult economic times, it is not unusual for people to find themselves temporarily without insurance, through no fault of their own. To fill this need, HumanaOne®, the individual health arm of Humana, is expanding its individual Short Term health insurance product to five additional states.

9 Jan 2010

Hospital error rates climb in California

Hospital error rates in California climbed by more than 300 cases last fiscal year after a 2006 law required public reporting of hospital errors in that state, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

9 Jan 2010