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Hospitals in different regions react to Medicaid cuts

For Indiana hospitals, Medicaid rates have long lagged behind other types of payers - with no increase since 1993 - but after a year of deep recessions and state budget cuts, those hospitals are now looking at a five percent cut, The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette reports.

5 Jan 2010

San Diego's PACE program lowering cost for seniors who want to retain independence

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that an elderly care program is allowing senior citizens to retain their independence by providing medical care and home assistance through a nonprofit program.

5 Jan 2010

Health reform opponents mobilize against individual mandate

Some opponents of the congressional health bills "think their last, best hope to halt the legislation lies not in the U.S. Capitol but in the court across the street," The Washington Post reports.

5 Jan 2010

Health debate puts Nelson under scrutiny, brings attention to Dean

Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson's crucial 60th vote allowed his Senate colleagues to block a likely Republican filibuster and pass their version of the health overhaul legislation last month, but it also brought him unwelcome attention at home, The Wall Street Journal reports.

4 Jan 2010

Shah confirmed by Senate to head USAID

The Senate has "confirmed Rajiv Shah as head of USAID, putting the 36-year-old doctor in charge of the sprawling $20 billion aid agency which stands poised for a major funding boost," Reuters reports.

4 Jan 2010

SPIN launches Spine Pain Treatment Centers in U.S. metropolitan areas

Spine Pain Management, Inc. (OTCBB: SPIN) is pleased to provide a corporate overview, as well as its strategic vision, through 2011. Based in Houston, Texas, the company delivers solutions to Spinal Health Care Providers for necessary and appropriate treatment for musculo-skeletal / spinal injury (SI) injuries resulting from traumatic accidents, in an order to maximize patient recovery.

4 Jan 2010

Health care and nursing jobs continue to be in demand

The new year promises new health care industry jobs around the country, but in some places, such as Indiana, a shortage of nursing instructors could lead to fewer trained nurses to fill those jobs.

4 Jan 2010

U.S. encounter with swine flu highlights health system weaknesses

As the number of H1N1 (swine flu) cases in the U.S. continues to wane, the New York Times reflects on how federal officials handled the pandemic and other factors that helped the situation. "The outbreak highlighted many national weaknesses: old, slow vaccine technology; too much reliance on foreign vaccine factories; some major hospitals pushed to their limits by a relatively mild epidemic," the newspaper writes.

4 Jan 2010

Congressional negotiators returning to start conference talks on health reform bill

Democratic lawmakers will begin this week to try to hammer out a compromise between the House and Senate versions of a health care reform bill as they keep an eye on votes for the measures.

4 Jan 2010

Delays and denials of disability claims at VA frustrate veterans

CBS News' 60 Minutes reports on delays and wrongful denials of disability claims by the Department of Veterans Affairs. "There is a sacred tradition in the military: leave no one behind on the battlefield. But many veterans are beginning to believe their country has left them behind at home, once they're out of uniform and in need of help."

4 Jan 2010

Despite huge expansion of coverage, millions of people would remain uninsured under Senate bill

The Senate health care reform bill would leave as many as 23 million people without insurance by 2018, providing a problem for Democrats who ultimately want universal health care, The Washington Post reports.

4 Jan 2010

Physicians raise concerns about proposed Medicare changes

The health care legislation being considered by Congress seeks to reform Medicare and look for alternatives to the fee-for-service payment system, which critics say discourages care coordination and quality. American Medical News reports on one alternative called bundling, in which "doctors and hospitals are paid for all services to a patient in an episode of care for a particular condition.

4 Jan 2010

CDC aims for improved efficiency, increased support of science

Changes "aimed at increasing the agency's efficiency and making it more user-friendly" include combining "the work of the malaria branch, the epidemiology program and HIV/AIDS efforts" under the newly formed Center for Global Health, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (Poole, 1/1).

4 Jan 2010

Obama administration focuses on data-driven results in health care

NPR reports the budget office's use of pedometers to encourage employees to do more physical activity exemplifies "the Obama administration [reliance] on intensive data-gathering to help mold behavior." Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, says "'[w]hen you measure something and have a competition surrounding it, it creates a strong incentive to do more of it.' … Whether it's health care, education or even the war in Afghanistan, the president and his team are big believers in the power of information."

4 Jan 2010

The Ensign Group acquires Emmett Care & Rehabilitation Center and Parke View Rehabilitation & Care Center

The Ensign Group, Inc., announced today that it has acquired Emmett Care & Rehabilitation Center, a 72-bed skilled nursing facility in Emmett, Idaho, and Parke View Rehabilitation & Care Center, an 86-bed skilled nursing facility in Burley, Idaho. The acquisitions were effective January 1, 2010.

4 Jan 2010

Rally for passage of the Alcohol-Related Services Act

To advocate for the passage of AB 1019, the Alcohol-Related Services Act - Authored by Assembly Member Jim Beall (D-San Jose), the bill creates the Alcohol-Related Services Program within the California Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs.

4 Jan 2010

Impending job cuts raises anxiety at Peterborough Regional Health Centre

The Central East LHIN, which oversaw a peer review that resulted in 220 job cuts in the Rouge Valley Healthcare system is deliberately downplaying the potential impact of the same process in Peterborough, says the union representing 540 employees at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre.

4 Jan 2010

COBRAGuard's free Webinar on new COBRA subsidy extension

President Obama signed the bill containing the COBRA subsidy extension into law on Dec. 19, 2009. With this extension, employers must act quickly to fulfill their notice obligations, update carriers and adjust administrative procedures. To smooth the transition, COBRAGuard Inc. is offering a free Webinar on Wednesday, Jan. 6 at 11 a.m. Central Time.

4 Jan 2010

Orthopaedic experts discuss strategies to improve care for wounded warriors

The fourth annual Extremity War Injuries Symposium was held in Washington, D.C., last January to bring together military and civilian orthopaedic surgeons, researchers, experts from governmental agencies, and others to discuss challenges faced by U.S. medical personnel working in Iraq and Afghanistan and to discuss ways to synergize resources and improve care for wounded warriors.

4 Jan 2010

No right to assisted suicide under the Montana Constitution, says AUL

Today, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that state law does not contain any policy restrictions to prevent physicians from legally prescribing lethal drugs to patients. This decision endangers the lives of the elderly, the sick, and the disabled.

4 Jan 2010