Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

CDC: Medical bills present hardship to many families

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on the financial stress caused by high medical costs.

9 Mar 2012

Contraception, abortion issues crop up in state legislatures, political races

The debate over the birth control mandate is seeping into West Virginia's governor race as reproductive-rights supporters assess their place amid losses in state legislatures.

9 Mar 2012

Maxygen reports net loss of $2.2 million for fourth quarter 2011

Maxygen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, today announced financial and business results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2011.

9 Mar 2012

Some House GOP lawmakers threatening to walk away from last year's budget pact

Conservative Republicans are seeking deeper cuts in both discretionary and mandatory spending. The White House and Democratic lawmakers are "crying foul" and some GOP veterans caution it could produce gridlock. In the background, three key departures from the Senate Finance Committee could make that panel, which oversees Medicare and much of the health law, less centrist.

9 Mar 2012

AMN consolidated revenue increases 32% to $887M for full year 2011

AMN Healthcare Services, Inc., the nation's innovator in healthcare workforce solutions, today announced financial results for the full year and fourth quarter 2011. The results were at the upper end of management's expectations, the Company said.

9 Mar 2012

Big hospital groups will get bigger and unlikely partnerships could emerge, according to Moody's

A new report by Moody's outlines how not-for-profit hospitals are being driven by reimbursement pressures and healthcare reform to join forces with health insurers and for-profit companies, among others.

9 Mar 2012

Boston Scientific exercises option to acquire Cameron Health

Boston Scientific Corporation announces the exercise of its option to acquire Cameron Health, Inc., a privately held company based in San Clemente, California.

9 Mar 2012

State legislatures take on ultrasound mandate costs, employee health plans, Medicaid reform, malpractice

Democrats in the state Senate have sent Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell a list of conditions they want addressed before allowing a new state budget necessary to fund state services and operations to pass. … They want the state to pay for the ultrasound exams now mandated for women seeking abortions under a bill McDonnell signed Wednesday. ... And they want Medicaid eligibility restored for about 4,500 nursing home residents.

9 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Wilensky on bipartisan Medicare reform; Mass. 2006 health law and 2012 GOP politics; Reinstating advanced care planning

The Super Tuesday exit polls yielded a mountain of data in 10 states, but the most telling single statistic may have been in Massachusetts, which Mitt Romney won in a largely uncontested rout. Yet believe it or not, he still lost on health care. The exit poll asked voters their opinion of the "Massachusetts Health Care Law," with the options of Did Not Go Far Enough, About Right and Went Too Far. Remarkably, 51% said the bill went too far, while only 37% said it was about right, and 6% said not far enough.

9 Mar 2012

Cantel second quarter net income increases 28% to $7,294,000

CANTEL MEDICAL CORP. reported a 28% increase in net income to a record $7,294,000, or $0.27 per diluted share, on a 20% increase in sales to a record $97,297,000 for the second quarter ended January 31, 2012.

8 Mar 2012

FDA approves Teva's ProAir HFA with dose counter for asthma, COPD and EIB

Teva Respiratory announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ProAir HFA with a dose counter for use in patients 4 years of age and older for the treatment or prevention of bronchospasm with reversible obstructive airway disease and for the prevention of exercise-induced bronchospasm.

8 Mar 2012

Africare hosts panel discussion on issues of health care, women and economic development

In honor of International Women's Day, Africare in partnership with Global Health & Diplomacy (GHD) and the United Nations Foundation (UNF), hosted a panel discussion and press conference focused on issues of health care, women and economic development in Africa and the developing world.

8 Mar 2012

Public reporting improves diabetes care in Wisconsin clinics

In one of the first studies of the impact of publicly reporting quality measures on outpatient care, a research team has found that clinics made improvements in diabetes care when they began publicly reporting how they were treating patients with the chronic disease.

8 Mar 2012

Australian TGA approves Bayer's EYLEA for treatment of wet AMD

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Bayer HealthCare today announced that Bayer HealthCare has received approval from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for EYLEA (aflibercept) Injection for the treatment of patients with neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) at a recommended dose of 2 milligrams (mg) via intravitreal injection per month for three consecutive months, followed by 2 milligrams via intravitreal injection every two months.

8 Mar 2012

Tavenner: Final exchange rule release just weeks away

Modern Healthcare and CQ HealthBeat report that the final rule on health insurance exchanges will be out "very soon."

8 Mar 2012

House GOP slows down efforts to pass legislation aimed at Obama contraception coverage rule

In related news, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is reportedly having "voter's remorse" regarding her decision last week to vote for similar Senate legislation - the Blunt amendement.

8 Mar 2012

Romney claims Ohio victory on Super Tuesday but Santorum continues to press health reform issues

Santorum uses election night speech to again assail the former governor's support of a Massachusetts health overhaul that some say was a template for the federal law.

8 Mar 2012

Roundup: Calif. county mum on probe of Medicaid managed care firm; Suit alleges substandard care for Ariz. prisoners

A Ventura County commission is trying to keep secret the details of a state-ordered investigation into the management and claims procedures of a healthcare plan designed to serve the county's neediest residents. Complaints about alleged late payments and poor management prompted the Department of Health Care Services to request that auditors step in and examine the plan's financial condition and claims practices. Gold Coast Health Plan was launched last year to switch an estimated 110,000 Ventura County Medi-Cal beneficiaries into an HMO-style healthcare plan.

8 Mar 2012

Medtech acquires Camelot Healthcare Training Institute

Camelot Healthcare Training Institute, a post-secondary nursing and allied health care education provider in Central Florida, has been acquired by Medtech College. Camelot now joins the Medtech family of schools and will become Medtech College once appropriate state approvals have been obtained.

8 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 7, 2012

Reporting for Kaiser Health News in collaboration with The Washington Post, Susan Jaffe writes: "In the latest effort to enlist seniors in the fight against Medicare fraud, federal officials have overhauled Medicare billing statements to make it easier to find bogus charges without a magnifying glass."

7 Mar 2012