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New state-by-state reports show how health insurance reform will benefit all Americans

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today released Stable and Secure Health Care for America, a series of new state-by-state reports outlining how health insurance reform will improve health care for all Americans.

10 Aug 2009

Secretary Sebelius announces Senate confirmation of Dr. Francis Collins as Director of NIH

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that the United States Senate unanimously confirmed Dr. Francis Collins as the next Director of the National Institutes of Health.

10 Aug 2009

Electronic health records cut cardiac deaths by 73 percent

An innovative program that cut cardiac deaths by 73 percent by linking coronary artery disease patients and teams of pharmacists, nurses, primary care doctors, and cardiologists with an electronic health record also kept the patients healthy two years after they left the program by keeping them in touch with their care givers electronically, according to a randomized study by Kaiser Permanente published in The American Journal of Managed Care this month.

9 Aug 2009

Obama: Opposition health claims 'simply not true'

Wasington Post: "President Obama decried Saturday what he called the 'outlandish' claims by critics of his plans for health-care reform as he continued to ratchet up his personal rhetoric in support of the changes he hopes to make. In his weekly Internet and radio address, the president pushed back against claims 'that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care. That's simply not true.'" (Shear 8/8).

9 Aug 2009

Democrats get an earful on health care

Marsha Trotter from Pike County, Ala., expresses her concerns to Alabama freshman Rep. Bobby Bright at a town hall meeting. The retired teacher said she fears that new health care plans would require her to meet with a government board to discuss end-of-life options. "Now that's my life and my business, and I don't want the government in it," she said. (Debbie Elliott/NPR)

9 Aug 2009

Sebelius: protesters trying to 'silence debate'

The Obama administration is recruiting union members to counter recent conservative attacks on health reform proposals.

9 Aug 2009

Defendants in $10.9 million Medicare fraud HIV infusion scheme sentenced to 63 months in prison

Miami physician Keith Russell, 65, and physician's assistant Jorge Luis Pacheco, 50, were each sentenced to 97 months in prison, and physician's assistant Eda Marietta Milanes, 43, was sentenced to 63 months in prison, for their roles in fraud schemes that involved billing Medicare for $10,903,509 worth of unnecessary HIV infusion treatments, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; Acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Sloman of the Southern District of Florida; and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced today.

9 Aug 2009

Drug industry to spend $150 million to support Obama in health overhaul efforts

According to Associated Press sources, "The nation's drugmakers stand ready to spend $150 million to help President Barack Obama overhaul health care this fall, according to numerous officials, a staggering sum that could dwarf attempts to derail his chief domestic priority ...

9 Aug 2009

Facts and tactics under fire in health care debate

ox News: "Lawmakers battled Sunday over whether demonstrations against health care reform legislation at town hall meetings across the country are real or contrived ... Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., told 'FOX News Sunday' that it's not clear who's organized and who's not but that Democrats' efforts to 'demonize' the protesters reflect weak spots in the substance of their plan."

9 Aug 2009

State Governments join push for health IT

State governments around the country are working to facilitate, and in some cases, enhance, Washington's stimulus-funded incentives for doctors and hospitals that adopt new health information technology.

7 Aug 2009

Governors nervous about proposed Medicaid expansion

Governors from both parties are concerned that health reform will leave them with expensive new Medicaid obligations.

7 Aug 2009

Mental health care costs soar

A new report finds mental health care costs are exploding, according to U.S. News & World Report.

7 Aug 2009

White House dispenses advice about defending health proposals

Top White House aides advised Senate Democrats Thursday on how to handle disruptions at town hall meetings over the August recess.

7 Aug 2009

White House deal with drug industry sparks Democratic revolt

ongressional Democrats are challenging the Obama administration's deal with the pharmaceutical industry to limit how much it would cut prices to contribute to a health care overhaul.

7 Aug 2009

Finding the best eldercare options

America's 77 million aging baby boomers and their families soon will face decisions about their long-term care needs. A new book co-authored by Marilyn Rantz, an eldercare expert at the University of Missouri, explains how consumers can find the best eldercare options in their communities.

7 Aug 2009