Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

State news: Conn. taps former Mass. official for health exchange

Merger talks between two of New York City's biggest hospital systems - NYU Langone Medical Center and Continuum Health Partners - broke down abruptly on Thursday after Continuum got a competing offer, officials said. The offer came from Mount Sinai Medical Center.

23 Jun 2012

Health care system or patient-directed programs help prevent or manage diabetes

A new study has found that programs aimed at helping people prevent or manage diabetes are most successful if they are directed at the patient or the health care system. Programs aimed at physicians were only successful for patients with poorer diabetes control.

23 Jun 2012

HHS says health insurers will pay beneficiaries $1.1 billion in rebates

Under the health law, insurance companies must use at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care. Any excess is owed back to customers.

23 Jun 2012

Cedars-Sinai named among '100 Best Places to Work in IT 2012'

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has earned a distinction for the fourth year in a row as one of the best places for technology professionals to work, winning a top spot in a national ranking for its use of IT staffers as strategic partners in patient care.

23 Jun 2012

Research roundup: Helping the homeless transition out of the hospital

Transitioning from a hospital visit can be challenge for many patients, but the homeless face particular difficulties as they move to a shelter, or even back to the streets. Researchers in this study surveyed 98 homeless individuals in New Haven, Conn., as well as interviewed them about their experiences leaving the hospital. More than half said that their providers did not address housing or transportation, and 11 percent reported living on the streets on the night of their discharge. The authors recommend "improved assessment of housing status, communication between hospital and shelter providers, and arrangement of safe transportation" for homeless individuals.

23 Jun 2012

High court's health law ruling likely to renew debate on range of issues

News outlets report on what's at stake in terms of politics and policies when the Supreme Court issues its health law decision.

23 Jun 2012

Hospital collection company criticized for failing to turn over records to Congress

Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman and Diana DeGette press Accretive for documents related to its debt collection practices, which resulted in a lawsuit against the company by the Minnesota attorney general.

23 Jun 2012

Growing number of countries adopting flexible IP regulations after India issues country's first compulsory license

"A growing number of countries are adopting India's intellectual property regulations, which give enough flexibility to local companies to produce generic versions of popular drugs to safeguard public health," India's Economic Times reports, noting, "In March, India issued the country's first compulsory license, allowing Natco Pharma to legally manufacture and sell a low-cost version of German drugmaker Bayer AG's patented cancer drug, Nexavar, at 3 percent of the original medicine's price on the grounds that Bayer's drug was not meeting public health requirement."

23 Jun 2012

CMMI to honor MultiCultural IPA with healthcare innovation award

MultiCultural IPA announced today that it is one of four project sites selected to receive a healthcare innovation award by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and will partner with Rutgers State University of New Jersey to create a "sustainable high-utilization team model" for the nation's "super users" of hospital care in an effort to decrease hospital inpatient and emergency department use.

23 Jun 2012

CARHY announces comprehensive hematopoietic stem cell transplant service

Adding an impetus to the already existing image of Bangalore being a healthcare destination of India, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Yeshwanthpur (CARHY), announced comprehensive bone marrow transplant (stem cell transplant) service on Thursday.

23 Jun 2012

First sales order for Bluechiip's products from ATCC

Bluechiip Limited - which has developed a unique asset-tracking solution initially for cryogenic sample management in the healthcare and life science industry - today announced that a successful pilot trial of its tracking solution by ATCC, a US-based leader in biological materials management and processes, has led to the first sales order for Bluechiip's products from ATCC.

23 Jun 2012

NAPH honors Harris County Hospital District with 2012 Gage Award

The Harris County Hospital District has won the 2012 Gage Award for Improving Population Health for its Healthy Harvest, a program that coordinates farmers markets in healthcare centers to encourage patients to eat more fruits and vegetables.

23 Jun 2012

Viewpoints: Berwick says health law puts system 'on the right track;' Mandate's effect overstated; Questions about Axelrod's ties

Obamacare is helping our nation achieve health care that is excellent, accessible to all and affordable. In the 17 months that I led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), I saw how this law is helping tens of millions of families and is finally putting our health-care system on the right track.

23 Jun 2012

North Shore-LIJ Health System acquires 15 GE low-dose CT scanners

In the interest of advancing patient safety and improving care, the North Shore-LIJ Health System today announced with GE Healthcare the $12 million purchase of 15 GE Low-Dose CT Scanners that will be installed at 10 locations throughout the New York area over the next year.

22 Jun 2012

Boehner: Don't gloat if Supreme Court strikes health law down

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has told fellow Republicans in a memo released Thursday to avoid "spiking the ball" if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law.

22 Jun 2012

Study: 5.6M new health care jobs by 2020

A new Georgetown University study says the health care sector will create 5.6 million new jobs by 2020, but most of them will require special education and training, leaving many unemployed workers out in the cold.

22 Jun 2012

The health law on the campaign trail

As the White House prepares for the upcoming high court health law ruling, President Barack Obama heads out to speak to Latino leaders. He is likely to speak about the overhaul -- a day after GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney pledged that he would do away with it.

22 Jun 2012

Life after the decision

Some organizations, such as Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, are preparing to celebrate if the Supreme Court finds the health law unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the National Federation of Independent Business, which is one of the law's challengers, is working on very official and strategic responses. Insurers are working on their images.

22 Jun 2012

Viewpoints: Looking beyond the court's eventual decision

Speculation about the likely death of "Obamacare" has raged ever since the Supreme Court heard three intense days of legal arguments in March. The pundits have crowed about how the individual mandate is the Achilles' heel of President Obama's healthcare law (Theda Skocpol and Lawrence R. Jacobs, 6/20).

22 Jun 2012

States wonder: What happens to us after health law ruling?

States are anxiously considering the effect of the pending court decision. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott says his state will comply with the health law if it is upheld. And in California, officials and lawmakers worry over what a ruling could mean for plans to institute consumer protections.

22 Jun 2012