Healthcare News

RSS

News reports question health reform provisions, forecast legal issues

News reports explore remaining issues in Congress' health overhaul negotiations.

20 Jan 2010

Medicare, consumers face challenges when trying to make choices based on value

News outlets report on concerns about Medicare costs, problems with fraud in health care around the world, and the difficulties consumers face when trying to find value in their health services.

20 Jan 2010

'Secret bill writing' and Washington rumors are issues in health debate

Transparency in the legislative process is on the decline, The Associated Press reports. "Democrats are refusing to open to the public the end-stage negotiations on how the government is going to change the delivery of health care. And it's not just on the high-profile health care bill; the trend on much legislation is to shut the door and keep the minority party, cable TV and other media on the outside."

20 Jan 2010

Global health care errors, fraud costs $260b annually, report finds

A report released Monday finds $260 billion - or 5.59 percent of annual global health spending - is lost annually to health care errors and fraud, Reuters reports. For the study, the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network (EHFCN) and the Center for Counter Fraud Services (CCFS) at Britain's Portsmouth University, "reviewed 69 exercises in 33 organizations in six countries to measure healthcare fraud and error losses," the news service reports.

20 Jan 2010

The price they paid

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jordan Rau, working in collaboration with The Washington Post, writes about how a Virginia family got permission to get out-of-network treatment for one son's heart defect, and still ended up drowning in debt.

19 Jan 2010

Health insurer stocks rise as Wall Street anticipates Republican victory in Mass.

"Health insurer shares rose on Tuesday, while hospital stocks fell as investors anticipated a Republican victory in the special Massachusetts election for a new U.S. senator that would throw healthcare reform into uncertainty," Reuters reports. "The Street prefers a simple narrative," said Les Funtleyder, a health care analyst with Miller Tabak. "The narrative is Coakley in Massachusetts is in trouble and therefore the healthcare reform bill is also in trouble" (Krauskopf, 1/19).

19 Jan 2010

AccessDNA and Informed Medical Decisions team up to provide telephone-based genetic counseling services

AccessDNA, Inc., the leading online consumer resource for genetic-related information, services, and support, today announced it has partnered with Informed Medical Decisions, Inc., the only nationwide-network of independent genetic counselors, to provide telephone-based genetic counseling services to AccessDNA’s fast-growing base of online users.

19 Jan 2010

GOP effort to recruit House Democrats to oppose health overhaul stalls

"A week after House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced an effort to persuade dozens of Democrats to abandon their support for health care reform, he appears to have made little headway, and several of the targets that he has identified said they have yet to hear from him," Roll Call reports.

19 Jan 2010

California limits HMO wait times

The regulations by the California Department of Managed Health Care, in the works for much of the last decade, will require that patients be treated by HMO doctors within 10 business days of requesting an appointment, and by specialists within 15.

19 Jan 2010

Dems plot health reform contingency plans if GOP wins Massachusetts Senate seat

Democrats are considering several courses of action to pass a health care reform bill if Massachusetts Senate hopeful Democrat Martha Coakley loses to Republican Scott Brown in a special election Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reports.

19 Jan 2010

KCI contributes advanced wound care products for the Haiti relief effort

Kinetic Concepts, Inc. today announced its contribution of more than $2 million dollars worth of advanced wound care products to the Haiti relief effort. The in-kind donation includes KCI’s industry-leading Active Healing SolutionsTM and Therapeutic Support SystemsTM products designed to help treat complex and hard-to-heal wounds. KCI will collaborate with Surgical Implant Generation Network (SIGN) and Project Medishare to place products in the hands of medical personnel in Haiti.

19 Jan 2010

CBAI collaborates with Center for Stem Cell Awareness to re-sell its stem cell collection and storage services

Cord Blood America, Inc., the umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company (http://www.cordblood-america.com) focused on bringing the life saving potential of stem cells, a biological insurance policy, to families nationwide and internationally, announced today that it has contracted with The Center for Stem Cell Awareness to re-sell its stem cell collection and storage services.

19 Jan 2010

Surrex Consulting launches new division created to service the Healthcare IT and EHR market

Surrex Consulting, a nationwide provider of Information Technology (IT) Staffing and Consulting Services, today announced the launch of a new division created to service the Healthcare IT and Electronic Health Records (EHR) market.

19 Jan 2010

First Edition: January 19, 2010

All eyes appear to be watching today's special election in Massachusetts to fill the seat of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. The outcome there could have a significant impact on what happens next in Washington regarding the Democrats' health overhaul.

19 Jan 2010

IB-Salut implements Picis' CareSuite high-acuity solutions at Hospital Can Misses

Picis today announced that IB-Salut regional health services in the Spanish Balearic Islands implemented Picis Critical Care Manager and PACU Manager, part of the CareSuite® family of high-acuity solutions, at Hospital Can Misses in Ibiza. In addition, they have extended the software solution at Hospital Comarcal d’Inca and Hospital General Mateu Orfila to include the recovery care areas.

19 Jan 2010

Study reveals declining employer satisfaction with health insurers

Employers in the United States have become less satisfied with their health insurers, according to a study released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute. Hit hard by the recession, employers of all sizes are taking a critical look at their health benefits strategy and the value they derive from it. They are looking to their health plan providers for information, technology and strategies to help reduce waste in healthcare spending and better engage employees in managing their health.

19 Jan 2010

Canada's top sport physiotherapists play a critical role in medical preparation and treatment of Olympic athletes

In just under a month the world's attention will be focused on Vancouver and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The world's best athletes will be competing in a wide variety of challenging and high pressure events that will put incredible demands on their bodies. The possibility of getting injured is a reality every Olympic athlete has to contend with.

19 Jan 2010

Video Guidance designs integrated distance learning program for NWHSU

Eden Prairie-based Video Guidance, the leading visual communications provider in the Upper Midwest, has designed an integrated distance learning program for Northwestern Health Sciences University (NWHSU) located in Bloomington, Minn.

19 Jan 2010

BBB rates 6 Day Dental and Orthodontics A+

6 Day Dental and Orthodontics, a Coppell-based dental company founded by Dr. John Bond in 1989, today announced its A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Dallas, held since January 2003. BBB assigns grades from A to F with pluses and minuses, and 6 Day has achieved its highest mark. The grade represents BBB's degree of confidence that the business is operating in a trustworthy manner and will make a good faith effort to resolve any customer concerns.

19 Jan 2010

Conference to discuss developments in the evolving area of DSD

Following the recent international controversy regarding the gender of South African runner Caster Semenya, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will closely monitor the results of "The 2nd World Conference: Hormonal and Genetic Basis of Sexual Differentiation Disorders," which will bring together many of the world's top experts in endocrinology and genetics to discuss developments in the evolving area of Disorders of Sexual Differentiation (DSD).

19 Jan 2010