Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

40% tax on individuals in “gold-plated, Cadillac” health insurance plans is tax on groups of the chronically ill: Med-Vision

Dan Ross, founder and president of Med-Vision, a Tampa-based medical consulting company, asserts that the Senate Finance Committee’s proposal to impose a 40 percent tax on individuals in “gold-plated, Cadillac” health insurance plans would be best described as a tax on groups of the chronically ill.

12 Oct 2009

First Edition: October 12, 2009

With the Senate Finance Committee scheduled to vote Tuesday on its sweeping health overhaul measure, the insurance industry is launching its attack.

12 Oct 2009

Data undermining Thai HIV vaccine trial not reported, AHF disappointed

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider in the US which now provides treatment and services for more than 110,000 individuals in 21 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, expressed frustration and disappointment at the news that data that seriously undermines a widely reported Thai HIV vaccine trial were not released publicly when other, more favorable data from the vaccine trial were publicly reported late last month.

12 Oct 2009

Press Ganey releases report on home care patient satisfaction

Home health care providers serve many chronically ill patients in the country, and a new report released today finds an upward trend in overall home care patient satisfaction. Press Ganey Associates, Inc., the leading provider of healthcare improvement solutions, has announced the results of the annual 2009 Home Care Pulse Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care.

12 Oct 2009

Federal stimulus funds for comparative-effectiveness research in cancer

Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington schools of Public Health and Pharmacy have been selected to lead four projects backed by approximately $16 million in federal stimulus funding for comparative-effectiveness research in cancer.

12 Oct 2009

Jason Beans, CEO of Rising Medical Solutions discusses logical solutions for healthcare reform

Jason Beans, CEO of Rising Medical Solutions, Inc. (Rising), a leading medical-financial solutions organization, discusses logical solutions needed for healthcare reform in his latest interview on the topic for OurBlook.com - an online community dedicated to dialogue and debate to get new ideas into the public sphere.

12 Oct 2009

CCHIT certifies Eclipsys’ PeakPractice EMR/PM solution

Eclipsys Corporation®, The Outcomes Company®, today announced that the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®) has listed its PeakPractice™ solution (version 1093) a CCHIT Certified® 08 Ambulatory electronic health record (EHR), and meets the Certification Commission’s EHR criteria for office-based use.

12 Oct 2009

New RecoverIt reconciliation solution launched by A-Life Medical

A-Life Medical, Inc., the pioneer and leading provider of computer-assisted coding (CAC) products and services to the healthcare industry, announced today that it is introducing its newest reconciliation solution, RecoverItTM.

12 Oct 2009

Dilon Diagnostics and Philips sign distribution agreement

Dilon Diagnostics, the leader in molecular breast imaging (MBI) also known as Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI) and Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI), today announce that they have entered into a distribution agreement. Philips Healthcare will sell and support the Dilon 6800 gamma camera in key European and Middle Eastern markets. The compact camera technology and related products and services are used for the detection of breast cancer as an adjunct to mammography and serve to complement Philips innovative women's health solutions.

12 Oct 2009

Medical liability reform to save $54 billion over 10 years

The nation’s neurosurgeons are urging lawmakers to pay close attention to the newly released findings of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which confirm that medical liability reform does indeed reduce the use of healthcare services and will save the system money. In an October 9, 2009 letter to Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf stated that a comprehensive set of tort reforms will reduce the nation’s deficit by $54 billion over 10 years.

12 Oct 2009

Concord Coalition sends list of suggestions concerning the healthcare reform bill

In the coming days, you have the unenviable task of combining the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform bill with the bill that emerged from the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Aware of the difficulty and the competing pressures you face, we have identified in the attached memorandum key areas where we believe the potential of the legislation to produce fiscal gains can be strengthened. We hope our views will help guide your work -- consistent with fiscal responsibility and sustainability.

12 Oct 2009

Public plan - or something like it - still on the table in health reform debate

Some news outlets looked beyond the Senate Finance Committee vote on health reform to what may be in the final package considered by the full Senate.

12 Oct 2009

InfoLogix retains SSG Capital Advisors as its investment banker

InfoLogix, Inc., a leading technology provider of enterprise mobility solutions for the healthcare and commercial industries, today announced that it has retained SSG Capital Advisors, LLC, a nationally recognized investment bank based in West Conshohocken, PA to assist InfoLogix in exploring its private placement alternatives.

12 Oct 2009

Critical moments ahead for health reform legislation

News outlets looked ahead as the President and Capitol Hill lawmakers prepare for Tuesday's vote in the Senate Finance Committee on health overhaul legislation.

12 Oct 2009

Eric Boerwinkle receives $26 million federal stimulus grant to identify genetic factors influencing common diseases

Eric Boerwinkle, Ph.D., a professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, has received a $26 million federal stimulus grant to lead an effort to pinpoint genetic factors affecting the risk of heart, lung and blood diseases.

12 Oct 2009

News media examine health reform roles of Snowe, Voinovich, Gregg

Newspapers focus on a few of the major players in health care reform: Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine; George Voinovich, R-Ohio; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; and Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

9 Oct 2009

The 'Turbocharged' health IT industry

Allscripts, the Chicago-based electronic medical records company, has more than doubled its profits since last year, Forbes reports in a special report. Its stock doubled, too, and it attracted nearly 50 percent more business. It's been a "sweet year" for Glen Tullman, the company's chief. That's due in part to a $19 billion infusion into the health information technology industry from the federal stimulus package.

9 Oct 2009

Controlled trial comparing Bevacizumab to Ranibizumab finds no difference in efficacy

Investigators from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the VA Boston Healthcare System have shown, at 6 months in a small group of patients, that there is no difference in efficacy between Bevacizumab (Avastin) and Ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

9 Oct 2009

U.S. bishops urge Congress to improve current health care reform legislation

Three chairmen of the bishops' committees working on health care reform urged the U.S. Congress to improve current health care reform legislation, expressing their "disappointment that progress has not been made on the three priority criteria for health care reform" cited in their previous letters.

9 Oct 2009

Today's editorials and opinions

After years of struggling with costs that were eating into his bottom line, David White, a small business owner in Maine, recently dropped health insurance for himself and his employees. It was a nerve-wracking decision (Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., 10/8).

9 Oct 2009