Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

HHS softens stage 2 meaningful use standards for electronic health records

In other health information technology news, the American Hospital Association has suggested modifications to Federal Communication Commission's Rural Health Care Pilot Program.

27 Aug 2012

Conifer Health to provide comprehensive revenue cycle management operations for TAH

Conifer Health Solutions, a leader in business process management solutions for healthcare providers, has reached an agreement to provide comprehensive revenue cycle management operations for Titusville Area Hospital (TAH) of Titusville, Pennsylvania.

26 Aug 2012

Mexican-Americans with ancestral links have higher insulin resistance levels

Mexican-Americans with an ancestral link to Amerindian tribes were found to have higher insulin resistance levels, which is an indication of several chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, according to research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

26 Aug 2012

Judge questions 'ripeness' of legal challenge to health law's contraception coverage mandate

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle questioned Wheaton College closely Thursday as to whether its lawsuit against the administration's contraception coverage mandate is actually "ripe" for review. Wheaton, an evangelical Christian school in Illinois, opposes offering emergency contraception on religious grounds. On Aug. 1, the college asked Huvelle for a preliminary injunction against the Obama administration's contraception requirement under the health care law.

26 Aug 2012

Roundup: Rate regulation on Calif.'s 2014 ballot; Ga. state workers facing health premium hike; Kan. Medicaid overhaul recruiting providers

An initiative that would bring health insurance rate regulation to California has qualified for the November 2014 ballot, setting the stage for a vigorous and costly battle between insurers and consumer groups. The measure, sponsored by Consumer Watchdog, would give the state insurance commissioner the power to deny certain premium increases if they are deemed excessive.

26 Aug 2012

Few state laws restricting abortion make exceptions for rape victims

Politico Pro examines state abortion laws and finds few waivers for rape victims. Also, California lawmakers spar over rape comments made by Missouri Republican Rep. Todd Akin.

24 Aug 2012

ISSA questions IRS on health law insurance subsidies

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has raised questions about the implementation of a key part of the health law -- the tax treatment of subsidies for low-income people to purchase health insurance.

24 Aug 2012

CBO: Medicare spending growth slower than expected

The Congressional Budget Office released new projections for the country's economic outlook Wednesday, forecasting that despite slower-than-anticipated spending growth, Medicare will account for an even larger share of the economy in the next decade.

24 Aug 2012

Kansas officials promise smooth transition for Medicaid overhaul

State officials and health insurance providers on Tuesday promised a smooth transition into KanCare, the proposed overhaul of Kansas' $2.9 billion Medicaid program. "There is nothing simple about Medicaid," said Joe Ewert, commissioner of survey and certification with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.

24 Aug 2012

Presidential campaigns jockey for upper hand in Medicare debate

Just as new polls find that voters in three key swing states are more likely to trust President Barack Obama than GOP presumptive nominee Mitt Romney on Medicare, the Romney campaign is struggling to quiet controversies related to this issue.

24 Aug 2012

CMS moves forward with initiative to coordinate Medicare primary care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Innovation Center will administer the program, which was created by the 2010 health law. Five hundred medical practices have been selected to participate.

24 Aug 2012

San Francisco to require employers pay more for employee health care

Employers in San Francisco with more than 100 employees will have to contribute more to their employees' health care starting in 2013.

24 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Cantaloupes and food safety; Diversity in health incentives

People don't ordinarily think of cantaloupes as killers, but over the last two summers 32 Americans have died after eating contaminated pieces of the popular fruit. ... Government is hyper-vigilant about terror attacks and problem airliners, which is good, but not so much about food - at least if you judge by the time it's taking the Obama administration to release new rules intended to prevent exactly the sort of food-borne outbreaks cantaloupes have caused.

24 Aug 2012

Racial differences persist in prostate cancer surgical care

A study led by investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), Nashville, Tenn., finds that black men with prostate cancer receive lower quality surgical care than white men. The racial differences persist even when controlling for factors such as the year of surgery, age, comorbidities and insurance status.

24 Aug 2012

OUP, prestigious Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene journals announce partnership

The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's two prestigious journals will join the Oxford University Press (OUP) collection in a new partnership announced between the organizations.

24 Aug 2012

NW Bio receives MHRA approval to initiate DCVax-L Phase III GBM brain cancer trial in the U.K.

Northwest Biotherapeutics announced today that it has received approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the United Kingdom, for the Company's 300-patient Phase III clinical trial of DCVax-L immune therapy for Glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer (GBM) to proceed in the U.K.

24 Aug 2012

Roundup: Ore. lawmakers examine 'disclosure' as way to limit malpractice claims; $2.8M in fraudulent public assistance given in Mass.; Md. exchange announcement Thursday

Lawmakers are expected to take up tort reform when the Oregon Legislature convenes next February. To get those discussions moving, a Patient Safety and Defensive Medicine Workgroup is developing draft legislation that includes issues such as confidentiality, mediation, dispute resolution, litigation, discovery and patient safety. Disclosure -- informing patients when a serious medical event has occurred in a hospital setting -- is also on the table.

24 Aug 2012