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AAPC's 2010 National Conference to be held in Nashville, Tennessee

The American Academy of Professional Coders announced its 2010 National Conference being held at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville, Tennessee on June 6–9. This annual event draws thousands of attendees including doctors, medical coders and office/practice managers to connect on the business side of health care.

16 Feb 2010

Case study demonstrates positive impact of diabetes management program

A case study published in the current issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacists, demonstrates the positive impact of a diabetes management program designed to educate and motivate members to engage in their health care. The program was implemented by CVS Caremark and Polk County, Florida, a self-insured government employer client.

16 Feb 2010

Governor Pawlenty's proposed budget will hurt hospitals and people in Minnesota

Governor Tim Pawlenty's budget proposal announced today will severely hurt Minnesota's hospitals and the citizens they serve. His proposed budget would reduce payment rates for patients in state health programs, cut spending on medical education and put adults without children now covered by MinnesotaCare into the growing ranks of the uninsured. The current budget proposal would only make things worse in both the short term and the long term. If the governor's budget is adopted, hospitals will more than likely need to layoff more skilled workers and cut much-needed services.

16 Feb 2010

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center graduates July 2009 ED Academy class

Two years ago when the Emergency Department at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center had 25 open nursing positions and no applicants, officials knew something had to be done.

16 Feb 2010

BayCare Health System opens all-digital, state-of-the-art facility in North Tampa

St. Joseph's Hospital-North, part of BayCare Health System, offers emergency care, surgical services, imaging and diagnostic facilities, intensive care and more in a peaceful, healing and family-centered environment. Located just north of Tampa in Lutz, the all-digital, state-of-the-art facility is specially designed to make patients and visitors as comfortable as possible during their hospital experience.

16 Feb 2010

Lack of comprehensive insurance coverage is barrier for smoking cessation: Study

As a new year and decade begin, many Pennsylvanians have made an important resolution to quit smoking. Wanting to quit is a good first step, but it's not nearly enough. Smoking, we now know, is not just a "habit"; it's a true physical addiction, and, on average, most smokers try at least five times to quit.

16 Feb 2010

Safety scientist urges medical colleagues to better safety checklist

In the wake of Johns Hopkins' success in virtually eliminating intensive-care unit bloodstream infections via a simple five-step checklist, the safety scientist who developed and popularized the tool warns medical colleagues that they are no panacea.

16 Feb 2010

Altarum Institute awarded $19.6M ARRA funds to serve as lead agent in establishing M-CEITA

Ann Arbor-based Altarum Institute has been awarded a grant of $19,619,990 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve as the lead agent in establishing Michigan’s health information technology regional extension center, the Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption (M-CEITA, www.mceita.org). The grant will be administered through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and managed and sponsored by Altarum. It is expected to create over 100 new jobs in Michigan.

16 Feb 2010

American Showa joins with Concentra to open Showa Associates' Wellness Center in Ohio

For innovative employers, providing employee health coverage entails more than just offering health insurance, it becomes the focal point to improve the overall health of their employees and their families. American Showa, Inc., an auto parts manufacturer with two manufacturing plants in Ohio, is leading this effort by joining with Concentra to open the Showa Associates' Wellness Center, a new 4,000 sq ft medical center for their associates and their families located near their manufacturing facility in Blanchester, OH.

15 Feb 2010

Podesta says Obama White House 'lost the narrative' on health bill

"John Podesta, the president of the Center for American Progress who led Barack Obama's presidential transition, acknowledges the White House has been unable to successfully drive the debate on health care reform," Politico reports.

15 Feb 2010

Veterinary antibiotics in manure fertilizers: Buffer strips of grasses may help limit spread

Research by scientists at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry suggests that buffer strips of grasses and other plants can trap and break down veterinary antibiotics in manure fertilizers.

15 Feb 2010

National P4P Summit: National health care leaders to address today’s critical health care issues

The National P4P Summit is a must attend event with national health care leaders addressing today’s critical health care issues

15 Feb 2010

Corathers Health Consulting: Telehealth programs can support nursing care providers in various ways

Corathers Health Consulting is dedicated to the advancement of surgical technologies, medical devices and telehealth programs.

15 Feb 2010

UC3M study reveals more than 900,000 people with right to public benefits in Spain

A study carried out at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) that evaluates the number of those affected by dependency and the costs associated with it in Spain, estimates that there are more than 900,000 people with a right to public benefits and that official numbers come up short in relation to initial forecasts.

15 Feb 2010

Anthem Blue Cross announces delay in increase of insurance rates: HHS secretary issues statement

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued the following statement today after Anthem Blue Cross announced that they are delaying raising their rates:

15 Feb 2010

Anthem Blue Cross agrees to postpone rate adjustment for individual members in California

Earlier today, Anthem Blue Cross agreed to a request by the California Department of Insurance to postpone a rate adjustment for individual members in California by two months to allow the Department additional time for review. To avoid confusion for our members, this delay will impact all Anthem individual members regulated at either the state Department of Insurance or the Department of Managed Health Care.

15 Feb 2010

Walgreens Pharmacies postpones withdrawal from Washington Medicaid program

Walgreens will continue filling Medicaid prescriptions at its Washington state pharmacies through March 15. The company, which operates 121 pharmacies in Washington, announced on Jan. 13 it would stop filling Medicaid prescriptions in 64 of its stores because of continued reduction in reimbursement under the State of Washington Medicaid program. The decision to delay the withdrawal from the program comes as constructive talks continue between the state and the company.

15 Feb 2010

Humanitarian groups express concern that Haiti funding might affect efforts in other crisis countries

A coalition of more than 150 humanitarian groups expressed "concern" in a letter Thursday that more than half of the U.S. government's disaster-assistance program budget has been pledged to help Haiti, which they say could mean cuts for aid to countries such as Sudan or Somalia, the Washington Post reports.

15 Feb 2010

12-member medical team from CHOP returns from Port-au-Prince, Haiti

A 12-member medical team from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) returned yesterday after 10 days in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, treating victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake.

15 Feb 2010

Research roundup: Bundled payments, PTSD incidence, cost of treating immigrants

This paper examines the spending for health care of adult naturalized citizens and immigrant noncitizens (including some undocumented immigrants) compared to U.S. natives, as documented in data from the 1999-2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS): "inflation and age-adjusted health care expenditures among noncitizen immigrants were consistently … lower than those of naturalized citizens and U.S. natives during 1999-2006."

15 Feb 2010

Healthcare News

AAPC's 2010 National Conference to be held in Nashville, Tennessee

Case study demonstrates positive impact of diabetes management program

Governor Pawlenty's proposed budget will hurt hospitals and people in Minnesota

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center graduates July 2009 ED Academy class

BayCare Health System opens all-digital, state-of-the-art facility in North Tampa

Lack of comprehensive insurance coverage is barrier for smoking cessation: Study

Safety scientist urges medical colleagues to better safety checklist

Altarum Institute awarded $19.6M ARRA funds to serve as lead agent in establishing M-CEITA

American Showa joins with Concentra to open Showa Associates' Wellness Center in Ohio

Podesta says Obama White House 'lost the narrative' on health bill

Veterinary antibiotics in manure fertilizers: Buffer strips of grasses may help limit spread

National P4P Summit: National health care leaders to address today’s critical health care issues

Corathers Health Consulting: Telehealth programs can support nursing care providers in various ways

UC3M study reveals more than 900,000 people with right to public benefits in Spain

Anthem Blue Cross announces delay in increase of insurance rates: HHS secretary issues statement

Anthem Blue Cross agrees to postpone rate adjustment for individual members in California

Walgreens Pharmacies postpones withdrawal from Washington Medicaid program

Humanitarian groups express concern that Haiti funding might affect efforts in other crisis countries

12-member medical team from CHOP returns from Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Research roundup: Bundled payments, PTSD incidence, cost of treating immigrants

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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