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Administration officials signal White House might accept cuts to proposed budget as long as health care reform, other priorities are preserved

Obama administration officials have indicated they might be willing to accept reductions to President Obama's budget proposal as long as his "signature initiatives," including health care reform, remain untouched, the Washington Post reports.

24 Mar 2009

Ownership of electronic health information must be addressed

The recently passed 'Stimulus' funding will create a huge amount of electronic medical information in the next few years, but legal uncertainty about who owns the information "presents a major obstacle to integrating and using" it to improve public health and health care, according to a national commentary co-authored by a Wake Forest University and a Duke University faculty member.

24 Mar 2009

Belfast gets new cancer centre

Belfast joins a unique chain of Cancer Research UK Centres that are being launched across the UK.

23 Mar 2009

Preliminary health insurer survey results indicate some patients want to know physician's race when selecting provider

According to preliminary results of an automated phone survey by Highmark, some health plan members would like the race of physicians included in the insurer's physician directory, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports.

23 Mar 2009

U.S. health reform should not be modeled on Massachusetts health insurance law, according to report

Efforts to overhaul the U.S. health care system should not be modeled after the 2006 Massachusetts health insurance law because the law does not include cost controls, according to a report released on Tuesday by researchers at the Institute for America's Future, the Boston Herald reports.

23 Mar 2009

HHS names former Harvard Professor Blumenthal as National Health Care Information Technology Coordinator

HHS on Friday announced the appointment of former Harvard Medical School professor David Blumenthal as the national coordinator for health care information technology, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

23 Mar 2009

U.S. Labor Department releases more details about COBRA subsidie

The Department of Labor on Thursday released guidelines to employers on how to implement federal subsidies included in the economic stimulus package to help newly unemployed workers cover the cost of health insurance premiums under COBRA, the Detroit Free Press reports (Spangler, Detroit Free Press, 3/19).

23 Mar 2009

HHS names panel of experts to advise government on spending for comparative effectiveness research

HHS on Thursday named 15 members to a panel that will advise the government on how to spend the $1.1 billion in federal stimulus funding dedicated to comparing the effectiveness of medical treatments, Reuters/Boston Globe reports.

23 Mar 2009

House Veterans' Panel approves bill that would cover emergency treatment at non-VA facilities

The House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health on Thursday by voice vote approved a bill (HR 1377) that would allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide reimbursement for emergency treatment received at hospitals not affiliated with VA, CQ Today reports.

23 Mar 2009

Sen. Grassley says compromise on public-private option health care system will be difficult

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday at the Kaiser Family Foundation told reporters that although congressional Democrats and Republicans likely will not reach an agreement on health care reform legislation with a provision that would establish a public health plan to compete with private plans, he could not dismiss the possibility, the Wall Street Journal reports (Yoest, Wall Street Journal, 3/19).

23 Mar 2009

CQ's Armstrong discusses proposed public health plan option; new bill on FDA tobacco regulation

Drew Armstrong, a Congressional Quarterly staff reporter, discusses the latest developments in efforts to overhaul the U.S. health care system, legislation that would give FDA regulatory authority over tobacco products and a new bill that would allow FDA to approve generic versions of biotechnology drugs in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

23 Mar 2009

Rhode Island Governor plans to cut dental services for 38,000 low-income residents

Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri (R) plans to eliminate dental coverage for an estimated 38,000 low-income parents enrolled in the RIte Care program by July 1, the Providence Journal reports.

23 Mar 2009

New York City public hospital system announces cuts targeting mental health, community clinics

New York City's public hospital system on Thursday said it will cut 400 jobs and close some children's mental health programs, pharmacies and community clinics that serve more than 11,000 residents, the New York Times reports.

23 Mar 2009

Obama's proposed FY 2010 budget would require nearly $9.3 trilion in borrowing over 10 years, according to CBO report

President Obama's $3.6 trillion fiscal year 2010 budget proposal would require borrowing nearly $9.3 trillion over the next decade, or $2.3 trillion more than the White House projected, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released on Friday, the Washington Post reports (Montgomery, Washington Post, 3/21).

23 Mar 2009

Environmental cleaning intervention reduces MRSA in intensive care units

A rigorous environmental cleaning intervention can reduce the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other multidrug-resistant organisms in hospital intensive care units (ICUs), according to a new study released today at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).

22 Mar 2009

3 million people at risk with out of date European Health Insurance Cards

UK travellers facing hefty medical bills for treatment in Europe

20 Mar 2009

1 in 4 Americans lacks timely access to optimal care during time-sensitive medical emergencies

Although most Americans live close to some type of emergency room, as many as one in four Americans are more than an hour away from the type of hospital that's most prepared to save their life during a time-sensitive medical emergency, according to a new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study published in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine.

17 Mar 2009

Telemedicine expansion gives parents more options

Parents who need after-hours healthcare for their children don't need to turn to the Emergency Department (ED) for common childhood illnesses, such as ear infections and sore throats.

17 Mar 2009

Review of hospital infection control strategies

Hand-washing, a clean environment, appropriate infection barriers and early identification of patients at high risk of colonization with a transmissible microorganism remain the essential measures to prevent and control infection.

16 Mar 2009

Obama nominates former New York City health chief Hamburg as FDA commissioner, Baltimore Health Commissioner Sharfstein as Deputy

President Obama in his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday said that he would nominate former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner and Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein as the agency's principal deputy commissioner, the New York Times reports (Harris, New York Times, 3/15).

16 Mar 2009

Healthcare News

Administration officials signal White House might accept cuts to proposed budget as long as health care reform, other priorities are preserved

Ownership of electronic health information must be addressed

Belfast gets new cancer centre

Preliminary health insurer survey results indicate some patients want to know physician's race when selecting provider

U.S. health reform should not be modeled on Massachusetts health insurance law, according to report

HHS names former Harvard Professor Blumenthal as National Health Care Information Technology Coordinator

U.S. Labor Department releases more details about COBRA subsidie

HHS names panel of experts to advise government on spending for comparative effectiveness research

House Veterans' Panel approves bill that would cover emergency treatment at non-VA facilities

Sen. Grassley says compromise on public-private option health care system will be difficult

CQ's Armstrong discusses proposed public health plan option; new bill on FDA tobacco regulation

Rhode Island Governor plans to cut dental services for 38,000 low-income residents

New York City public hospital system announces cuts targeting mental health, community clinics

Obama's proposed FY 2010 budget would require nearly $9.3 trilion in borrowing over 10 years, according to CBO report

Environmental cleaning intervention reduces MRSA in intensive care units

3 million people at risk with out of date European Health Insurance Cards

1 in 4 Americans lacks timely access to optimal care during time-sensitive medical emergencies

Telemedicine expansion gives parents more options

Review of hospital infection control strategies

Obama nominates former New York City health chief Hamburg as FDA commissioner, Baltimore Health Commissioner Sharfstein as Deputy

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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