Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Obama spending more cash than Romney on TV advertising, with new ad highlighting Medicaid

Meanwhile, GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, who is also seeking reelection to his congressional seat, unveils a new health care ad in his district.

4 Oct 2012

SpineSmith receives U.S. patent for VisuALIF lumbar interbody device

SpineSmith, a Celling Biosciences company, announces that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued US Patent 8,273,127, covering the VisuALIF, the first lumbar interbody device featuring a revolutionary open-face design.

4 Oct 2012

Structured deliberation improves neonatal decision-making process

The implementation of a structured multiprofessional medical ethical decision-making process could improve decision-making in neonatal intensive care units, show study results from the Netherlands.

3 Oct 2012

First Edition: October 3, 2012

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jordan Rau reports: "Medicare's new readmission penalties for hospitals just got a bit tougher. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has discovered errors in its initial calculations in August. As a result, 1,422 hospitals with comparatively high readmission rates will lose slightly more money than they were expecting, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of the revised penalties. Fifty-five hospitals will lose less than were previously told."

3 Oct 2012

Liberty University hopes to revive health law challenge

The school says its suit raises questions not answered by the Supreme Court in its June decision and is asking the high court to order an appeals court to hear the case.

3 Oct 2012

Clouds and venture capital: Both sides of health technology news

NPR reports that how cloud computing is changing the health care industry as Reuters notes that venture capital funding for health technology is getting harder to raise.

3 Oct 2012

Senate leaders working on post-election plan to avoid 'fiscal cliff'

The New York Times reports that a bipartisan group is trying to find a path to a deficit reduction deal, but Democrats and Republicans still remain far apart on details.

3 Oct 2012

Study finds Medicare may favor skilled-nursing facilities over hospice

According to findings published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, almost a third of Medicare beneficiaries use their benefits to pay for nursing home end-of-life services.

3 Oct 2012

Obama administration urges states to pursue the health law's Medicaid expansion

Even as federal officials push states to expand Medicaid programs, at least a dozen states are not ready or not willing to set up state-based health exchanges -- another aspect of the health law that is key to expanding insurance coverage.

3 Oct 2012

Washington Post buys major stake in Celtic Healthcare Inc.; Tenet plans buybacks

Post Co. said Monday it would buy a majority stake in Celtic Healthcare Inc., a closely held provider of hospice and home health care in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, although one analyst, Sheryl Skolnick of CRT Capital Group, said average valuations suggests the deal could have been worth at least $50 million. That is a drop in the bucket for Post Co., which has a market capitalization of $2.7 billion.

3 Oct 2012

Chloroquine begins to work against malaria

Malaria-drug monitoring over the past 30 years has shown that malaria parasites develop resistance to medicine, and the first signs of resistance to the newest drugs have just been observed. At the same time, resistance monitoring at the University of Copenhagen shows that the previously efficacious drug chloroquine is once again beginning to work against malaria. In time that will ensure cheaper treatment for the world's poor.

3 Oct 2012

Debate primer: 'A mere 15 minutes' set aside to cover lots of differences on health policies

News outlets set the scene for some of the tough health policy questions the two presidential candidates might face during tomorrow night's debate. And new ads about the health law and women's health issues have been unleashed.

3 Oct 2012

Viewpoints: David Brooks' 'brutal truth;' What to ask the candidates at their first debate; Putting Medicare on a budget

The third big problem is Medicare and rising health care costs, which are bankrupting this country. Let me tell you the brutal truth. Nobody knows how to reduce health care inflation. There are two basic approaches, and we probably have to try both simultaneously. The first, included in Obamacare, is to have an Independent Payment Advisory Board find efficiencies and impose price controls.

3 Oct 2012

Global Research Nurses to launch this week in Malawi

Today sees the launch of Global Research Nurses, a new interactive network which allows nurses around the world to become a leading voice in global health research.

3 Oct 2012

State roundup: AP probes Va. hospital's actions in woman's death; Supreme Court won't hear Neb. abortion case; Kancare preps assessment for in-home Medicaid needs

An Associated Press examination of her care highlights the dizzying array of federal, state and private agencies charged with regulating hospital care, and the differing standards they use when investigating the most serious cases of possible neglect. In addition, an investigation report filed by Virginia regulators appears to have been altered to delete parts of the report that substantiated most of the family's complaints. That prompted a former top federal regulator to say the case warrants further investigation.

3 Oct 2012

Adjuvants underused initially, follow up needed for cancer patients in pain

Italian study results indicate that physicians underuse adjuvant therapies for treatment of pain in cancer in the first instance, and that close follow up of oncology patients is needed to improve the efficacy of analgesic therapy in this setting.

2 Oct 2012

Statins may protect against glaucoma

People who take statins to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease are less likely to be diagnosed with the most common form of glaucoma, according to a nationwide study of more than 300,000 patients.

2 Oct 2012

New computerized approach for quantitative estimation of osteoporosis

A computerized approach to examining patient bone X-rays for diagnosis of osteoporosis could side-step the subjectivity associated with visual examination, according to a new research paper in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology published in October.

2 Oct 2012

Roundup: Calif. bans gay 'cure' for minors; Pittsburgh health system merger falls apart; Ariz. seeks federal approval to continue Medicaid program

California has become the first state to ban the use for minors of disputed therapies to "overcome" homosexuality, a step hailed by gay rights groups across the country that say the therapies have caused dangerous emotional harm to gay and lesbian teenagers.

2 Oct 2012

Multicomponent strategies needed to prevent in-hospital delirium

Delirium in hospitalized adult patients indicates poor long-term outcomes and should be identified promptly and dealt with using evidence-based multicomponent strategies, suggest the authors of a systematic review.

1 Oct 2012