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Aetna allows independent physician panel to review rescissions

Starting on Thursday, Aetna will let an independent panel of physicians decide whether to rescind health insurance policies for sick plan members suspected of submitting false or incomplete information on their applications, the Los Angeles Times reports.

24 Sep 2008

Funding dispute affects plans to develop office of minority health in Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Enquirer on Sunday examined a dispute over funding to establish a local Office of Minority Health. In March, City Manager Milton Dohoney recommended that the Cincinnati City Council approve an ordinance that would have allowed the City of Cincinnati Health Department to apply for and accept a $69,023 grant from HHS to establish the center. He said the city would supply $17,489 in matching funds.

24 Sep 2008

Study finds Medicare's benefits are less generous than large-employer plans

Medicare on average provides less generous benefits to seniors than they would receive under a typical large-employer health plan or the most popular plan available to federal employees – even with the program’s new drug benefit, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.

22 Sep 2008

Associated Press examines drug disposal practices of hospitals, long-term care facilities

Hospitals, hospices and nursing homes dump at least 250 million pounds of unused medications and contaminated packaging into the U.S. drinking water supply each year, according to an ongoing Associated Press investigation, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

22 Sep 2008

PhRMA contributes $11.3 million to SCHIP advertising campaign

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has contributed $11.3 million to the advocacy group America's Agenda: Health Care for Kids for advertisements supporting SCHIP expansion, CQ HealthBeat reports.

22 Sep 2008

House could remove provision from mental health parity bill banning some referrals to specialty hospitals

House leaders said they will change plans to move stand-alone mental health parity legislation after Senate Republicans opposed a provision of the bill that would offset costs by banning physician referrals to specialty hospitals in which the doctors have an ownership interest, CQ Today reports.

22 Sep 2008

Obama criticizes McCain on health insurance regulation

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) over the weekend criticized Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) for an article that McCain wrote about the health insurance market in an "obscure journal," the Washington Post reports.

22 Sep 2008

Premium, 'out-of-pocket' costs for U.S. workers to increase by 9% in 2009, according to study

The combined average premium and out-of-pocket costs for health coverage for a U.S. worker are projected to increase by nearly 9% in 2009, to $3,826 per year, according to an annual study by Hewitt Associates, the Chicago Tribune reports.

22 Sep 2008

U.S. citizens cutting back on health care

U.S. spending on health care services is "under pressure" as Americans are "cutting back on health care," an area of the economy "once thought to be invulnerable to recession," the Wall Street Journal reports.

22 Sep 2008

Cost of uncompensated care for undocumented immigrants difficult to calculate, experts say

Pinpointing the exact cost of providing hospital care to undocumented immigrants in the U.S. is challenging for several reasons, according to government officials and health care experts, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

22 Sep 2008

California Bill would require insurers to pay for HIV tests if signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger

Health care insurers will be required to cover routine HIV tests if a bill (AB 1894) passed by the California Legislature in August is signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), the San Fernando Valley Business Journal reports.

22 Sep 2008

Pennsylvania, New Jersey release hospital quality performance reports

Death rates from heart bypass and valve surgeries performed at Pennsylvania hospitals have declined significantly in recent years, according to a Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council report released on Thursday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

22 Sep 2008

Huckabee discusses need to focus on preventable health problems

Former Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday during the "State of Our Health" conference in Columbia, S.C., said that the U.S. must seek to decrease rates of obesity and other preventable health problems to help reduce health care costs, the AP/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

22 Sep 2008

Congress approves legislation that would expand Americans with Disabilities Act

The House on Wednesday gave final approval to Senate legislation (S 3406) expanding the definition of disability for people claiming discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the New York Times reports.

22 Sep 2008

Editorial questions proposals to limit health services to undocumented immigrants

The "lack of a clear national policy to more effectively deal with the 12 million to 14 million [undocumented] immigrants now in the country is glaring," a Raleigh News & Observer editorial states. "But the situation is not improved when individual localities adopt harsh and varied measures to try to address the problem within their borders," the editorial adds.

22 Sep 2008

Studies look at Hispanics' access to U.S. health care system

Three studies published online on Wednesday in the American Journal of Public Health look at how poverty, language and health insurance coverage affect access to care among foreign-born U.S. residents, particularly Hispanics, HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report reports.

22 Sep 2008

Greater awareness of HIV/AIDS, other global health issues attributed to the growth in public health students

The Washington Post on Friday examined the "record numbers" of undergraduate college students who are taking classes in epidemiology, global health and public health, driven in part by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and a motivation to contribute to the field.

22 Sep 2008

Sen. Edward Kennedy holds video conference with HELP Committee Democrats to discuss health care reform strategy

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on Thursday held a videoconference with Democratic committee members to discuss a strategy to pass legislation next year that would overhaul the U.S. health care system, CongressDaily reports.

22 Sep 2008

House, Senate Veterans Committee Chairs push to approve VA budget one year in advance

The chairs of the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs committees are pushing for legislation that would allow Congress to approve funding for veterans' health care programs one year in advance, the New York Times reports.

22 Sep 2008

Reauthorization of Indian health care improvement act 'desperately' needed, columnist says

"The health issues facing American Indians in the [U.S.] make them the most at-risk minority in the country, and yet, the Indian Health Service receives only 55% of the funds it needs," Fargo Forum columnist Peter Bresko writes in an opinion piece. He adds that IHS "desperately needs" the $1 billion annual increase in funding proposed under the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (S 1200).

22 Sep 2008

Healthcare News

Aetna allows independent physician panel to review rescissions

Funding dispute affects plans to develop office of minority health in Cincinnati

Study finds Medicare's benefits are less generous than large-employer plans

Associated Press examines drug disposal practices of hospitals, long-term care facilities

PhRMA contributes $11.3 million to SCHIP advertising campaign

House could remove provision from mental health parity bill banning some referrals to specialty hospitals

Obama criticizes McCain on health insurance regulation

Premium, 'out-of-pocket' costs for U.S. workers to increase by 9% in 2009, according to study

U.S. citizens cutting back on health care

Cost of uncompensated care for undocumented immigrants difficult to calculate, experts say

California Bill would require insurers to pay for HIV tests if signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger

Pennsylvania, New Jersey release hospital quality performance reports

Huckabee discusses need to focus on preventable health problems

Congress approves legislation that would expand Americans with Disabilities Act

Editorial questions proposals to limit health services to undocumented immigrants

Studies look at Hispanics' access to U.S. health care system

Greater awareness of HIV/AIDS, other global health issues attributed to the growth in public health students

Sen. Edward Kennedy holds video conference with HELP Committee Democrats to discuss health care reform strategy

House, Senate Veterans Committee Chairs push to approve VA budget one year in advance

Reauthorization of Indian health care improvement act 'desperately' needed, columnist says

Evolving spectrophotometry for modern biopharma workflows

Scaling B-cell cloning workflows for antibody development

Fluidics in Modern Healthcare & Medical Device Innovation

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