Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

CMS settles Medicare reimbursement dispute with hospitals

With a price tag of about $3 billion, the agreement ends a decade-long dispute between an estimated 2,200 hospitals and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services over the calculation of pay rate cuts and offsets for rural hospitals.

16 Apr 2012

Presidential campaign veers back to women's issues, anniversary of Mass. health law

Obama and Romney campaigns are getting tangled in questions about women's life choices. But at the same time, Democrats are seeking to use the sixth anniversary of Romney's Massachusetts health law signing to remind voters about its similarities to the federal health overhaul.

16 Apr 2012

Tips for parents to prevent children from sexual abuse

Parents generally teach their children about "stranger danger" from an early age, telling them not to talk to, walk with or take gifts or candy from strangers. But statistics show danger often lurks closer to home. According to numbers provided by the National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, the vast majority of children who are sexually abused are abused by someone they know - most often a family member, an adult the family trusts or, in some instances, another child.

16 Apr 2012

Florbetaben PET scan reliably identifies beta-Amyloid in the brain

Piramal Imaging SA, a newly formed subsidiary of Piramal Healthcare Limited, announced positive first results from a Phase III study that showed that PET imaging with florbetaben reliably detects beta-Amyloid in the brain during life with great accuracy and thus shows value as a potential tool to aid in the diagnosis and assessment of Alzheimer's disease.

16 Apr 2012

Study reveals genetic predictors of bone health and osteoporosis

An international consortium of researchers have identified a group of genes associated with the development of osteoporosis, a debilitating bone disease that cripples more than 10 million Americans a year and costs the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $17 billion annually.

16 Apr 2012

Catholic Bishops's 'religious freedom' campaign includes action against contraception coverage mandate

All Americans should be "on guard" as the Obama administration threatens religious liberty, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declared Thursday. The call to action is spelled out in a document, "Our First, Most Cherished Liberty," developed by the conference's Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.

16 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Politics distorting views of the health system; US is more efficient than most people think

If health insurers can keep denying coverage to anyone, millions of Americans could be left to fend for themselves in a system that openly discriminates against the sick and leaves many destitute.

16 Apr 2012

Roundup: Texas considers relaxing rules for stem cell treatments; States weigh bills to protect consumers against high drug costs

A Texas agency will vote Friday on whether to enact new rules that would make it easier for doctors to offer experimental treatments using adult stem cells without federal approval. The Texas Medical Board, which licenses and disciplines doctors in the state, recently drafted stem-cell rules at the behest of Dr. Stanley Jones of Houston, who in July injected Gov. Rick Perry with the governor's own stem cells to try to aid his recovery from a back injury.

16 Apr 2012

HPA urges routine vaccination after surge of whooping cough cases

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said there have been 665 confirmed cases already this year, compared with 1,040 in the whole of 2011. Cases have been reported across all regions in England with some areas reporting clusters in schools, universities and healthcare settings.

15 Apr 2012

Bahrain: Despite reforms access to healthcare still a concern, says Médecins Sans Frontières

As Bahrain implements reforms following protests that started last year, a significant number of patients – from all political and religious backgrounds - continue to avoid seeking medical care in public hospitals due to perceived discrimination, harassment, and ill treatment, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières said today.

12 Apr 2012

Importance of advance healthcare decision-making

Understanding advance directives and making plans for health care issues before there is a crisis, is a difficult task. Johns Hopkins experts are educating patients and families about the importance of advance healthcare decision-making as part of National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 14, 2012.

12 Apr 2012

Tenet enters into settlement with HHS and CMS

Tenet Healthcare Corporation announced that it has entered into an agreement as part of an industry-wide settlement with the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of HHS, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that is expected to result in approximate net cash proceeds to Tenet of $84 million, of which $77 million is expected to relate to continuing operations.

12 Apr 2012

Romney says he'll dismantle health law day 1 at the White House -- will that help him win over the right?

On the Democratic side, Vice President Joe Biden takes on Romney, while news outlets offer fact checks and reports of health policy sparring on the congressional campaign trail.

12 Apr 2012

Survey: Health insurance cost growth outpaces everything else

Costs for all types of medical plans are expected to increase by 9.9 percent in 2012, according to a survey by Buck Consultants, a division of Xerox. This is the first time since 2001 that the survey has projected cost increases less than 10 percent for any type of plan, so a 9.9 percent increase can almost be seen as a victory.

12 Apr 2012

Bariatric surgery more effective in treating people with type 2 diabetes

Approximately 200,000 people in the U.S. have bariatric surgery each year as a means to achieve significant weight loss. Recent reports indicating that bariatric surgery is more effective in treating people with type 2 diabetes than medication alone is likely to make this procedure even more popular.

12 Apr 2012

Mass. hospitals mull acquisition, layoffs in changing market; Calif. hospital districts questioned

In Massachusetts, Partners HealthCare is in talks to acquire South Shore hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess cuts jobs after an admissions dip. In California, lawmakers probe taxpayer-funded hospital districts and their stockpiling of cash.

12 Apr 2012

Planned Parenthood sues Texas after exclusion from women's health program

In March, Texas dropped its state Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood because the organization provides abortion services.

12 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Medicare may be unintended victim of bank crisis; Health care industry's fears of law's reversal

The banks' actions led directly to an increase in government debt, which in turn has made the reduction of that debt by "cutting runaway spending" a centerpiece of the Republican presidential campaign to date.

12 Apr 2012

ACOs, IRS role in health reform implementation grab headlines

The inside joke among lobbyists as the health care law took shape was that it was so big and so sprawling, it would provide enough work for all of them for years to come. It became known as the "Full Employment Act." Now, it's not looking like such a sure thing anymore.

12 Apr 2012

New preoperative prepping kit to address surgical site infection risk

3M's Infection Prevention Division and Sage Products are working together to offer surgical staff and patients a new preoperative prepping kit to help address surgical site infection (SSI) risk within three main reservoirs of bacteria in the body: the nares, the oral cavity and the skin.

12 Apr 2012