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Health IT roundup: Sharing data, tracking medical errors and revealing costs

The Wall Street Journal: The Journal's Informed Patient column reports that the "non-profit Institute for Safe Medication Practices, which is certified by the federal government to collect error reports and other information about quality breaches, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists are launching a new National Alert Network for Serious Medication Errors."

20 Jan 2010

ConvaTec offers medical supplies for Haiti's relief efforts

ConvaTec, a world-leading provider of medical technologies for community and hospital care, today announced that it has made an initial donation of more than $400,000 in medical supplies to rescue and relief efforts in Haiti, following the devastating earthquake that hit that nation last week.

20 Jan 2010

Obama seeks elusive health care victory by months' end

President Barack Obama has plenty of reasons to hope Congress has completed its health overhaul debate by the end of the month, including: the just-scheduled State of the Union address on Jan. 27, a Feb. 1 deadline for submitting the 2011 federal budget to Congress, and flagging poll numbers.

20 Jan 2010

Recipients of comprehensive primary care twice as likely to rate healthcare as high-quality

Chronically ill older adults who are closely supported by a nurse-physician primary care team are twice as likely to rate their health care as high-quality than those who receive usual care, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

20 Jan 2010

St. Louis Children's Hospital installs Siemens' SOMATOM Definition AS CT scanner

Recognized as one of the leading pediatric healthcare centers in the United States, St. Louis Children's Hospital in St. Louis is further enhancing its nationally renowned pediatric care program with the installation of a SOMATOM® Definition AS computed tomography (CT) scanner from Siemens Healthcare. The SOMATOM Definition AS is the world's first adaptive scanner, which intelligently adapts, on the fly, to the patient, for aiding in dose protection, as well as adapting to new dimensions and space.

20 Jan 2010

Republican Brown wins Massachusetts Senate seat

The Boston Globe: "Republican Scott Brown tonight pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Massachusetts political history, defeating Democrat Martha Coakley to become the state's next United States senator and potentially derailing President Obama's hopes for a health care overhaul." The

20 Jan 2010

Hoyer: Senate health bill 'clearly better than nothing'

"House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday said passing the Senate healthcare bill would be 'clearly better than nothing,'" The Hill reports. Though Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts could end Democrats "filibuster-proof majority" in the Senate, Hoyer said, "moving ahead on healthcare is essential" (Allen, 1/19).

20 Jan 2010

Massachusetts' Senate election could shape health reform's endgame

"Democrat Martha Coakley's struggle to stave off a potentially devastating defeat in Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts marks a critical turning point in the year-long debate about health-care reform."

20 Jan 2010

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