Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Group Health, Providence Health Care team up in Pacific Northwest

The Group Health Cooperative and Providence Health Care are joining forces in a new limited liability corporation with the goal of providing more efficient health services.

3 Aug 2012

Experts offer disparate views on controlling health care costs

Dueling articles in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday propose sharply different ways to curb medical spending. The proposals offer a glimpse of the rival approaches that could emerge in 2013, when Congress will have to tackle the budget deficit and the future of the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled.

3 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 3, 2012

Today's headlines include reports on a Capitol Hill hearing during which House GOP lawmakers grilled the director of the Internal Revenue Service on his agency's health care subsidy ruling.

3 Aug 2012

Health care systems explain why they did not participate in CMMS ACO program

Many health care systems across the US have declined to participate in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMMS) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program, developed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), to improve efficiency and quality of health care delivery.

3 Aug 2012

Allergy alerts in patient records help improve clinical practice

Allergy alerts in patient records have the potential to significantly improve clinical practice, say Spanish researchers.

3 Aug 2012

‘Fifth link’ improves outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Neurologic outcomes for survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are significantly improved after implementation of the 2010 American Heart Association's fifth link in the chain-of-survival concept for postresuscitation care, show Japanese study results.

3 Aug 2012

Mylan licenses rights to produce and market generic versions of Gilead HIV/AIDS therapies

Mylan Inc. today announced the establishment of a new agreement between its subsidiary Mylan Laboratories Limited and Gilead Sciences Inc. Under this agreement, Mylan has licensed the rights to produce and market generic versions of Gilead HIV/AIDS therapies containing Emtricitabine, including single and fixed-dose combinations.

3 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Orszag on CAP cost-control proposals; High-tech and health costs

The Center for American Progress proposals thus wisely recognize that there is no single strategy to continue the recent progress in slowing the growth in health-care costs. In contrast, the Republican budget plan put forward by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin seems based on a belief that all that's needed is to shift risks: from Medicare to beneficiaries through a premium-support program, and from the federal government to state governments by turning Medicaid into block grants.

3 Aug 2012

Most states expect higher costs after Medicaid expansion, even with feds picking up tab

A new report from the Government Accountability Office found that most state budget directors expect an increase in their costs if they expand Medicaid, even when the federal government picks up 100 percent of the expanded enrollment tab.

3 Aug 2012

Researchers uncover 9 new genes associated with bone health

Researchers have uncovered 9 new genes associated with bone health. This collaborative study found clues to the cause of bone disorders such as osteoporosis, osteogenesis imperfecta, and high bone density syndromes by investigating the bone mineral content, strength and flexibility.

3 Aug 2012

Researchers develop robotic companion and intelligent home environment for elderly people

A team of EU-funded researchers has developed a robotic companion and intelligent home environment that could help elderly people live richer and more independent lives and reduce the burden placed on healthcare services.

3 Aug 2012

Researchers develop improved expert system for diagnosis of thyroid disease

Researchers in India have developed an improved expert system for the diagnosis of thyroid disease.

3 Aug 2012

House rejects bill limiting DC abortions

The measure, which did not get the two-thirds majority needed under special procedural rules, would have banned abortion in the District after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on a disputed notion that fetus at that point can feel pain.

2 Aug 2012

Advanced cancer patients able to state their own pain goals

Advanced cancer patients are successfully able to express their desired level of pain relief on a scale of 1–10, indicating that personalized pain goals could be a novel target for pain treatment response, say researchers.

2 Aug 2012

Health law's medical-loss ratio and birth control coverage requirements kick in today

Aug. 1 marks the deadline for insurers to refund consumers and employers if they didn't spend at least 80 percent of premiums on health care. Another provision takes effect requiring most employers to include contraceptive and other women's health services without copays in the insurance plans they offer workers.

2 Aug 2012

In rare compromise, Hill leaders agree on temporary spending deal to keep government running through next March

The tentative deal would prevent a government shutdown before Election Day. Modern Healthcare reports, though, that the agreement does not include any changes or fixes to the physician payment formula - which will require a 27% cut in payments to Medicare physicians next year.

2 Aug 2012

Report provides two distinct views of behavioral healthcare delivery

Behavioral healthcare systems are playing a major role in responding to the needs of the millions of Americans of all ages who experience psychiatric and substance use conditions each year, according to the latest annual survey from the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) released today.

2 Aug 2012

CAP publishes revised version of molecular pathology checklist with dedicated section on NGS

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) published a revised version of its molecular pathology checklist with a dedicated section on next generation sequencing (NGS) as part of the new edition of the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program checklists released July 31, 2012.

2 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney praises Israeli health care system -- which has an individual mandate; Sebelius and Pelosi hail launch of women's preventive care provisions

At a breakfast fundraiser in Jerusalem on Monday, (Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney) had nothing but nice things to say about our ally. But in flattering Israel, he raised more doubts about his political abilities. ... he also praised Israel's health care system. "Do you realize what health care spending is as a percentage of the GDP in Israel?" he asked.

2 Aug 2012

Medical debt collection company settles suit with Minnesota

Chicago-based Accretive Health agrees to pay $2.5 million and end operations in the state for at least two years to settle charges that it violated federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care even if people cannot afford to pay.

1 Aug 2012