Healthcare News and Research

Latest Healthcare News and Research

Hatch backs out of health reform talks, Pelosi says she has votes

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told reporters Wednesday that he is "officially stepping away from health care negotiating table," FoxNews reports.

22 Jul 2009

Six finance Senators strive for bipartisan compromise

As the public face of health reform devolves into a partisan fight - with one GOP Senator [Jim DeMint, S.C.] saying the reform push is President Obama's "Waterloo," and Democrats retorting that Republicans would derail the overhaul for political gain - a group of legislators in the Senate Finance Committee has continued to strive for a compromise behind closed doors, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

22 Jul 2009

Admin, Dems face challenge in showing voters what reform means for them

As health reform proposals emerge from congressional committees, partisan fighting boils and the president wades into the debate with a series of televised addresses, news reports turn to an unanswered question. "What's in it for me?" asks David Leonhardt, the New York Times business columnist. "On the subject of health care reform, most Americans probably don't have a good answer to the question. And that, obviously, is a problem for the White House and for Democratic leaders in Congress," he writes.

22 Jul 2009

Health care experts examine top performing, low cost communities

Talk about health care reform efforts has focused largely on all that is wrong with the current system. In contrast, an event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., examined best practices in ten top performing communities where they spend less and have better quality of care.

22 Jul 2009

Massachusetts proposal to end fee-for-service could be national model

A proposal in Massachusetts to end the practice of paying doctors for individual procedures could prove a model to hold down costs for U.S. health care reform, Reuters reports.

22 Jul 2009

Mentally ill becoming an underclass in Australia

A recent survey by mental health charity SANE Australia, involving 371 patients, has found that many Australians with mental illness are often forced to choose between medical treatment and putting food on the table.

22 Jul 2009

National stroke quality improvement program passes the million mark

The American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program reached a major milestone last week, as participating hospitals entered the one millionth stroke patient record into the program's database.

22 Jul 2009

Schering Plough’s CMO ‘very concerned’ about Obama’s healthcare reform agenda

Robert Spiegel, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP), the global science-based healthcare company, says he is "very concerned" that changes to the healthcare system by the Obama administration could affect public health.

22 Jul 2009

Obama continues pressing health reform, but softens on the deadline

President Barack Obama in remarks on Monday called out critics of his push for health reform and softened his timeline talk, The Associated Press reports.

20 Jul 2009

House face-off looms over sweeping health bill

House Democrats, who last week touted their health overhaul bill after it passed two of three committees have fight on their hands this week.

20 Jul 2009

Obama readies stronger hand on health reform, plans meetings with players

The next two weeks of a health reform fight may prove pivotal for President Barack Obama's image and his ability to use his popularity to get things done, The Washington Post reports.

20 Jul 2009

Taking positions: Some docs, businesses cheer while others oppose effort

As advocacy groups with a stake in health reform take positions in the health reform debate, their battle lines don't necessarily observe the boundaries of a given sector, industry or professional affiliation. "Business is far from unified in its lobbying efforts for health-care reform," McClatchy/Chicago Tribune reports. "The disparity dilutes its power and may contribute to a plan no faction wants -- or no plan at all."

20 Jul 2009

Small businesses, doctors voice concerns about health reform

"Small business is suddenly playing a big role in negotiations over health care," NPR reports. "Supporters and opponents of various plans to overhaul the system are all trying to paint themselves as champions of mom and pop entrepreneurs."

20 Jul 2009

Efforts to 'fix' Medicare payments at center of reform

The Wall Street Journal reports: "A plan to end a program that would cut government payments to doctors is emerging as the flash point in the debate over whether President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health system would increase the federal budget deficit.

20 Jul 2009

Health overhaul issues fill the Sunday talk shows

The Associated Press reports: "President Barack Obama's advisers are urging critics of their health care overhaul to wait for Congress to finish writing legislation before issuing verdicts. They also signaled they are willing to wait longer than their White House-imposed August deadline for action if it means they can sway wary lawmakers.

20 Jul 2009

Clinton says U.S. will work with India to address health challenges, hunger

The U.S. will work to address the health challenges facing India among other countries and will aim to improve maternal and child health care services through comprehensive dialogue, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday after visiting a Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) trade outlet in Mumbai, India, PTI/Yahoo! News reports.

20 Jul 2009

Researchers expose the biology of Clostridium difficile transmission in mice

New research suggests that antibiotic treatment could be asymptomatically inducing the transmission of the healthcare-acquired infection, C. difficile, contributing to the outbreaks that have recently been widely reported in hospitals and other settings. A team of scientists have successfully mirrored the infection cycle of C. difficile by generating a 'mouse hospital' with conditions mimicking the human environment in which C. difficile is transmitted.

20 Jul 2009