Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

House Republicans seek details on health law implementation spending, Medicare Advantage bonus payments

Members of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee are following the spending trail of Obama administration health programs.

12 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Democrats must get tough on entitlements; Fla. Gov. Scott says feds should stay out of state Medicaid decisions

Democrats nurtured entitlements, which provided a bedrock of security for Americans. But we never said no to entitlement expansion or benefit increases. We haven't supplied enough discipline, and they are out of control. Conversely, we've ignored the New Frontier investment programs, bragging about them but meting out only subsistence rations. They're now stunted and need higher rations. We have one more chance. The fiscal cliff was designed to force tough choices.

12 Aug 2012

Highlights: New reports of problems at Parkland Hospital in Dallas; Mammogram rates did not rise under expanded Mass. coverage

Federal safety monitors produced a harsher critique of Parkland Memorial Hospital's reform efforts than recently portrayed by the hospital, finding ongoing dangers to patients from a botched surgery, medication errors and emergency care failures. Those problems, cited in a June compliance report obtained by The Dallas Morning News, were not disclosed in a Parkland summary released to The News two weeks ago.

12 Aug 2012

Health insurer rebates: Where has the money gone?

The New York Times reports that many consumers who get health coverage through their employers wonder what happened to the insurer rebates that were part of "the great health insurance giveback" under the health law. Also in the news, The Associated Press details who will be hit the hardest by the health law's tax provisions.

10 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney campaign's response to ad incites conservatives; Opponents of law should give back their rebates

The Romney people are trying a little jujitsu on an ad from Obama backers that implies Mitt Romney is responsible for the death of an Indiana woman who lacked health insurance.

10 Aug 2012

Survey: 61 percent of employers expect health law to drive up health plan costs

The survey, conducted by the Mercer consulting firm, found that retail and hospitality companies are bracing for the biggest cost increases.

10 Aug 2012

GOP governors respond to CMS signs of flexibility regarding Medicaid expansion

CQ HealthBeat reports that some Republican state executives were not impressed with the decision by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials to allow states that proceed with expansion plans now to scale back their Medicaid programs later.

10 Aug 2012

New subtype of Ewing sarcoma discovered

A new study of the genetic makeup, or genome, of Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that strikes children, teenagers, and young adults, has produced multiple discoveries: a previously unknown sarcoma subtype, genetic factors related to long-term survival, and identification of a genetic change between the primary and metastatic stages of the disease that could lead to better, more targeted treatment.

10 Aug 2012

New technology for healthcare based on aviation security system

Researchers in the North West are investigating whether tools pioneered in aviation security can be used to help prevent complications after surgery.

10 Aug 2012

In Colorado, Obama focuses on women's health issues

Campaigning in the western swing state, President Barack Obama said his opponent, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, would take women's health care back to the 1950s.

10 Aug 2012

Even during August break, congressional health policy concerns draw headlines

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., is working to build support for new legislation to expand Medicare's nursing home coverage while Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., notes problems within the Indian Health Service. All the while, the health law's contraception coverage mandate continues to trigger disputes.

10 Aug 2012

FDA approves Perrigo's ANDA for clobetasol propionate shampoo

Perrigo Company today announced that it has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its abbreviated new drug application for clobetasol propionate shampoo, 0.05%, the generic equivalent of Clobex Shampoo.

10 Aug 2012

Longer looks: Waking up to the need for sleep

Among the more than 11,000 dearly departed inhabitants of Southeast Portland's Multnomah Park Cemetery, friends Eric Cordingley and David Anderson have their favorites: a reputed French madam, a young Norwegian institutionalized for being gay, and Louis Napoleon Lepley -- or, as they call him, "Louis the cannibal." Intriguing as their individual stories may be, together they help tell a bigger, darker tale

10 Aug 2012

Access to care in Mass. improves, but many docs still don't accept new patients

The survey by the Massachusetts Medical Society says access to primary care is slowly improving, but that it can still take a month or longer to get an appointment. In addition, only about half of internal and family medicine practices are accepting new patients.

10 Aug 2012

Worldwide data reveal gaps in elderly eye care

Worldwide eye examination rates among older adults are very low, despite this age group being recommended to have an eye test at least every 1–2 years, say researchers from Canada.

10 Aug 2012

Trauma: spending more money doesn’t translate to higher survival rates

A large-scale review of national patient records reveals that although survival rates are the same, the cost of treating trauma patients in the western United States is 33 percent higher than the bill for treating similarly injured patients in the Northeast. Overall, treatment costs were lower in the Northeast than anywhere in the United States.

10 Aug 2012

Internet poor for foot and ankle patients

Foot and ankle patients seeking education on the internet are likely to come across poor quality information on their diagnosis, US researchers warn.

9 Aug 2012

Private sector becoming more involved in efforts to reach global health development goals

In a post in the Guardian's "Sustainable Business" blog, Lisa Herman, managing director of the global health practice area at consulting firm FSG, and Mike Stamp, a senior consultant with FSG, discuss "a new guide for companies on how to participate in global action on women and children's health" recently launched at the London Family Planning Summit.

9 Aug 2012

President's Malaria Initiative contributing to 'major progress' against disease, should be expanded

In this post in The Hill's "Congress Blog," Kent Campbell, director of the Malaria Control Program at PATH, and Jonathon Simon, chair of the Department of International Health and director of the Center for Global Health and Development at the Boston University School of Public Health, write that "major progress has been made in the fight against malaria, thanks in large part to the efforts of the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI)," and call the effort "a shining example of the profound impact the U.S. is making in global health."

9 Aug 2012

Abacus, SurePoint Medical partner to offer diabetes-care plan for employers

SurePoint Medical, provider of direct-to-consumer healthcare supplies and disease-management services, today announced a strategic partnership with Abacus Employer Health Solutions (Abacus) to offer its SurePoint Wellness diabetes-care plan to companies that use Abacus's Good Health Gateway employee health management program.

9 Aug 2012