Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Mass. high court says state can't bar legal immigrants from health program

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the commonwealth cannot bar legal immigrants from joining a state health insurance program for residents with lower income. The price tag for covering the 37,400 immigrants who stand to gain coverage is $150 million.

7 Jan 2012

Justice Dept. to file brief regarding Supreme Court health law challenge

The early round of briefs will focus on the core questions related to the individual mandate. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that many insurers have profited from the health law -- despite their opposition to it.

7 Jan 2012

The Lancet announces first iPad app for healthcare professionals

The Lancet, the world's leading independent general medical journal, today announced its first app for iPad is now available on the App Store. The Lancet App is an innovative article-based navigation app that makes it easier for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to find the information they need quickly and efficiently from the convenience of their iPad.

7 Jan 2012

AABB accredits LABS for donor testing

LABS, Inc., a global, full-service testing laboratory with more than 30 years of expertise in regulated testing for human organs, cells, tissues and implantable biologic products and devices, today announced that it has been granted AABB Accreditation for donor testing.

7 Jan 2012

Dems hit GOP lawmakers on efforts to repeal health law, 'privatize' Medicare

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has gone on the offensive, criticizing Republicans for focusing on health issues instead of job creation. In related action, House Democrats signaled they would support using Medicare and Medicaid savings only as an offset for other health care provisions in a bill to extend expiring tax breaks and jobless benefits.

7 Jan 2012

Poor nutrition in the womb can increase risk of type 2 diabetes in later life

Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council have shown one way in which poor nutrition in the womb can put a person at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other age-related diseases in later life.

7 Jan 2012

ARC commits additional $3.6M to support Project Medishare program in Haiti

The American Red Cross has committed an additional $3.6 million to underwrite operating expenses at Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare Critical Care Trauma and Rehabilitation Program in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

7 Jan 2012

Physicians Practice announces results of 2011 Fee Schedule Survey

UBM Medica's Physicians Practice today announced the results of the 2011 Fee Schedule Survey. Topline results of the survey show a continuing decline in payment to doctors from insurance companies and Medicare that has been underway for at least a decade.

7 Jan 2012

Analysis and examination: Detailing the records, evolution of GOP presidential primary candidates

Media outlets report on what Rick Santorum did after he left the Senate and what he would have on his to-do list if elected, the continuing "risks" Mitt Romney faces from the left and the right, and on an ethics group that is directing a challenge at Newt Gingrich.

7 Jan 2012

Alnylam files CTA with the U.K. MHRA to initiate ALN-TTR02 Phase I trial in ATTR

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has filed a Clinical Trial Application (CTA) with the U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to initiate a Phase I clinical trial with ALN-TTR02, an RNAi therapeutic targeting transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis.

7 Jan 2012

CMS assigns permanent J-code for Savient's KRYSTEXXA to treat RCG

Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that a product-specific billing code, or permanent J-code, for KRYSTEXXA (pegloticase) became available on January 1, 2012.

7 Jan 2012

Roundup: Miami police unions thwart health premiums increase; Washington's mandatory-abortion-coverage bill

Despite blunt warnings from Mayor Carlos Gimenez that their decision would force layoffs of hundreds of police and corrections officers, Miami-Dade commissioners Thursday narrowly refused to force two employee unions to contribute an additional 5 percent of their pay toward health insurance. ... The panel also refused to impose the controversial 5-percent giveback on its professionals and supervisor.

6 Jan 2012

Candidates jockey for position, messages in post-Iowa landscape

News outlets report on how GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is being targeted by Republican rivals and the Obama campaign. Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann exits the primary race, and Rick Santorum, fresh from his Iowa caucus finish, draws headlines.

6 Jan 2012

IEHP announces expansion of Health Navigator program to High Desert

Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP), the first health plan in the nation to have a full-time in-house team dedicated to helping members navigate the healthcare system, will expand its Health Navigator program to the Inland Empire High Desert in January.

6 Jan 2012

Scottsdale Healthcare is first in Arizona to perform TAVR procedure

Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center is the first hospital in Arizona to perform a new nonsurgical heart valve replacement procedure, the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). TAVR valves are inserted via a catheter through the femoral artery, without requiring open heart surgery.

6 Jan 2012

HHS denies MLR waiver requests from two more states

The Department of Health and Human Services denied requests from Kansas and Oklahoma to allow them to adjust the health law's medical-loss ratio provisions. That brings to eight the number of states who will not receive such exemptions.

6 Jan 2012

NFIB seeks to add two plaintiffs to the health law SCOTUS case

The National Federation of Independent Business asked the Supreme Court to add two additional plaintiffs to its health law challenge after the initial plaintiff in the case filed for bankruptcy.

6 Jan 2012

Major health insurers prosper with expanding roles in Medicare, Medicaid

Meanwhile, a California study shows health care costs in that state are rising, while benefits are shrinking. Another study finds that coverage gaps can be disruptive to preventive care.

6 Jan 2012

U.S. cancer death rates drop, new report says

In a new report from the American Cancer Society, researchers indicate that cancer death rates in the United States fell 1.8 percent in men and 1.6 percent in women each year between 2004 and 2008, but those gains weren't as pronounced in young adults.

6 Jan 2012

The 'doc fix' is high on Congressional to-do list

As Congress returns to work, it will face a full plate of difficult items -- including efforts to address the Medicare physician payment formula. Meanwhile, some observers are worried President Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will lead to trouble for the confirmation of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

6 Jan 2012