Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Northstar Healthcare second-quarter net patient service revenue decreases to $4.4 million

Northstar Healthcare Inc. today announced its financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010.

16 Aug 2010

Stockholders of Allscripts, Eclipsys approve fusion of two companies

Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (Allscripts), the leading provider of clinical software, information and connectivity solutions for physicians, and Eclipsys Corporation ,a leading enterprise provider of solutions and services for hospitals and clinicians, today announced that stockholders of each company approved the merger of Allscripts and Eclipsys.

16 Aug 2010

Allscripts commences public offering on behalf of Misys plc

Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of clinical software, information and connectivity solutions for physicians, today announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of 25,000,000 shares of its common stock on behalf of certain wholly-owned subsidiaries of Misys plc, Allscripts' majority stockholder.

16 Aug 2010

Treatment for diabetics cost U.S. hospitals 25% more than stays for non-diabetics

U.S. hospitals spent $83 billion in 2008 caring for people with diabetes, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In that year, nearly one of every five hospitalizations involved a person with diabetes.

16 Aug 2010

Study shows early diagnosis of atrial fibrillation reduces risk of stroke

The earlier that patients who suffer from atrial fibrillation obtain the correct treatment, the lower is the risk of serious secondary effects such as stroke. A thesis presented at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that a well-established measurement score can easily assess the risks for this patient group.

16 Aug 2010

The federal health IT push remains in the spotlight

Doctors across the country including Tahsina Atiquzzaman in Kissimmee, Fla., are "shredding paper charts and ushering in digital records as part of the health care milestones announced last month by the federal government," The Orlando Sentinel/Modesto Bee reports.

13 Aug 2010

Insurers defend less generous policies, medical loss ratio definitions; Obama to talk with insurance commissioners

Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with USA Today, reports on insurers who are defending less generous "limited-benefit" health policies as implementation of the health law proceeds. That law forbids annual dollar limits in such plans. "Starting this fall, most health care policies — except existing policies purchased by individuals on their own — will have to cover at least $750,000 in medical care per person.

13 Aug 2010

Four Mass. hospitals investigate trashing of patient health records, Calif. employers worry about workers using marijuana on job

"Four Massachusetts community hospitals are investigating how thousands of patient health records, some containing Social Security numbers and sensitive medical diagnoses, ended up in a pile at a public dump. The unshredded records included pathology reports with patients' names, addresses, and results of breast, bone, and skin cancer tests, as well as the results of lab work following miscarriages. By law, medical records and documents containing personal identifying information must be disposed of in a way that protects privacy, and leaving them at a dump is probably illegal, privacy lawyers and hospital officials said" (Kowalczyk, 8/13).

13 Aug 2010

Today's opinions: Rep. Ryan's plan to aid Medicare; The burden on health law supporters in Va.; Evaluating Medicare actuary's estimates

Only in Washington could the government raid one entitlement program to finance a brand-new one and still claim that deficits have been reduced and entitlements have been reformed (Rep. Paul Ryan, 8/13).

13 Aug 2010

Hospitals' 'bad debts' grow as even insured patients have trouble paying medical bills

A "local hospital group says the fastest-growing part of what hospitals call 'bad debt' -- basically, uncollectible bills -- is money owed by patients who have insurance. As employers dump costs onto workers, so now are workers dumping costs onto hospitals. Because of rising deductibles and cost-sharing rules, patients are increasingly faced with bills that would have been unusual for someone with insurance a few years ago. Growing numbers of them can't pay, or won't. Total bad debt grew 12 percent, from $490 million in fiscal 2007 to nearly $550 million in fiscal 2008, at 36 area hospitals that responded to a 2009 survey by the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council of HAP, a hospital association that released the data this week. But bad debt from insured patients grew twice as fast: 28 percent, from $76 million to $97 million."

13 Aug 2010

ACAM, AAEM sign agreement to host joint conference in Portland

The American College for Advancement in Medicine and the American Academy of Environmental Medicine are excited to announce they have reached an agreement to host a joint conference and tradeshow, November 16 - 20, 2011 in Portland, Oregon.

13 Aug 2010

Quick-Med Technologies, Biosara sign development agreement

Quick-Med Technologies, Inc., a life sciences company that is developing innovative technologies for the healthcare and consumer markets, announced today that it has signed a development agreement with Biosara Corporation, a medical device company targeting wound dressings for major medical and healthcare providers, along with the multi-billion dollar organized sports athlete markets.

13 Aug 2010

Activists, care providers, patients protest against Senator Nelson's silence on AIDS drug program

While Florida continues to add up to 300 people each month to its waiting list for its AIDS Drug Assistance Program, scores of AIDS activists, care providers and patients will gather at a protest and press briefing hosted by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Friday, August 13th at 12:00 Noon outside the Tampa offices of United States Senator Bill Nelson (D, FL).

13 Aug 2010

Health 2.0 Developer Challenge initiative announces four new challenges

The Health 2.0 Developer Challenge, an initiative designed to stimulate new innovative application development and data use, announces its four newest challenges which include prize money of over $15,000.

13 Aug 2010

Challenges in interrelated disciplines of information governance in effective e-Health systems

According to a new report from Accenture, healthcare organizations planning large investments in e-health solutions face challenges in five interrelated disciplines of information governance - data privacy, confidentiality, security, quality and integrity.

13 Aug 2010

First Edition: August 13, 2010

Today's headlines explore a variety of health policy issues, ranging from consumer protections regarding benefit rights to the cost of electronic medical records.

13 Aug 2010

Magnet hospitals don't provide better working conditions for nurses than non-magnet hospitals: Study

Magnet hospitals, while widely recognized for better patient safety and outcomes, don't provide better working conditions for nurses than non-magnet hospitals, according to a new study by the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

13 Aug 2010

General Dynamics awarded $80.3M contract to support HHS Early Retiree Reinsurance Program

General Dynamics Information Technology's ViPS, part of its Health IT Solutions business sector, has been awarded a contract to support the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP). The total potential contract value is $80.3 million over four years if all options are exercised.

13 Aug 2010

Research reveals self-care improves healing experience

New research conducted by Experience In Motion LLC (EIM), Minneapolis, reveals that when healthcare organizations, their staff and practitioners engage in self-care as an organizational strategy, it not only improves the healing experience for themselves and patients, but it also improves business measures.

13 Aug 2010

MedAssurant enters agreement with NCQA to develop new measures of healthcare quality

MedAssurant Inc., a leading provider of data-driven healthcare solutions, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the organization that maintains the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS ®)—the most widely used performance measurement tool in healthcare and a core component of the Medicare Star Rating system—to support the development of new measures of healthcare quality that NCQA is developing under a contract it has with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

13 Aug 2010

Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Northstar Healthcare second-quarter net patient service revenue decreases to $4.4 million

Stockholders of Allscripts, Eclipsys approve fusion of two companies

Allscripts commences public offering on behalf of Misys plc

Treatment for diabetics cost U.S. hospitals 25% more than stays for non-diabetics

Study shows early diagnosis of atrial fibrillation reduces risk of stroke

The federal health IT push remains in the spotlight

Insurers defend less generous policies, medical loss ratio definitions; Obama to talk with insurance commissioners

Four Mass. hospitals investigate trashing of patient health records, Calif. employers worry about workers using marijuana on job

Today's opinions: Rep. Ryan's plan to aid Medicare; The burden on health law supporters in Va.; Evaluating Medicare actuary's estimates

Hospitals' 'bad debts' grow as even insured patients have trouble paying medical bills

ACAM, AAEM sign agreement to host joint conference in Portland

Quick-Med Technologies, Biosara sign development agreement

Activists, care providers, patients protest against Senator Nelson's silence on AIDS drug program

Health 2.0 Developer Challenge initiative announces four new challenges

Challenges in interrelated disciplines of information governance in effective e-Health systems

First Edition: August 13, 2010

Magnet hospitals don't provide better working conditions for nurses than non-magnet hospitals: Study

General Dynamics awarded $80.3M contract to support HHS Early Retiree Reinsurance Program

Research reveals self-care improves healing experience

MedAssurant enters agreement with NCQA to develop new measures of healthcare quality

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Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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