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State lawmakers address 'troubling trends' in insurance market

Des Moines (Iowa) Register: "State lawmakers want to press Iowa health insurers to release more details to help lawmakers decide whether rate increases are justified. This week, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer, said it would raise rates an average of 18 percent for about 80,000 Iowans who buy their own health insurance" (Jacobs, 2/19).

20 Feb 2010

P4P programs may be effective in incentivizing low performing physicians: Study

Pay-for-performance (P4P) programs are payment models that reward workers for meeting certain performance measures for quality and efficiency. In the healthcare setting, P4P programs use a variety of methods to reward physicians financially for achieving targets, including fee differentials and bonuses.

20 Feb 2010

Amgen's Prolia Complete Response submission: FDA classifies and sets PDUFA date

Amgen Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has evaluated the content of the Company's Complete Response submission for Prolia™ (denosumab) in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis and classified it as a Class 2 resubmission. With the Class 2 designation, the FDA set a corresponding Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date of July 25, 2010.

20 Feb 2010

Obama Administration releases details of over $400M Healthy Food Financing Initiative

The Obama Administration today released details of an over $400 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which will bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved urban and rural communities across America. The initiative was announced today in Philadelphia by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

20 Feb 2010

UCSF professor receives 2010 AADR Distinguished Scientist Award

The American Association for Dental Research (AADR) has announced that John Greenspan, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is the recipient of the 2010 AADR Distinguished Scientist Award. This award will be presented to Greenspan at the 39th AADR Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Washington, DC, March 3, 2010.

20 Feb 2010

Animal study shows calcineurin enzyme is critical for normal heart function

Scientists are reporting the first-ever data to show that the enzyme calcineurin is critical in controlling normal development and function of heart cells, and that loss of the protein leads to heart problems and death in genetically modified mice.

20 Feb 2010

Sebelius issues sharp rebuke against health insurance premium hikes across U.S.

News outlets paid close attention to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' release of a new report detailing double-digit insurance premium hikes for individual plans in six states across the country.

20 Feb 2010

National poll examines public health response to anthrax attack

In a national poll aimed at helping with planning efforts for a public health response to a possible bioterrorism attack, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that, in response to a fictional scenario describing a significant anthrax attack in their city or town, most Americans (89%) will likely follow public health recommendations to obtain prophylactic antibiotics.

20 Feb 2010

Emory School of Medicine to enroll nearly 1,140 people for Phase III clinical trial of progesterone for TBI

Researchers at 17 medical centers across the country soon will begin using the hormone progesterone to treat patients who experience traumatic brain injury (TBI). The treatment is part of a randomized, double-blind Phase III clinical trial that will enroll approximately 1,140 people over a three- to six-year period beginning in March, 2010. The trial is funded by a grant to Emory University from the National Institutes of Health.

20 Feb 2010

Florida faces fight over Medicaid reform expansion; In Kansas, cuts hurt a mental health clinic

Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration may broaden that state's Medicaid-reform pilot program to include 19 more counties to save more than $58 million by requiring Medicaid beneficiaries enroll in managed-care plans, Health News Florida reports.

19 Feb 2010

US scientists develop new technique to track the progression of cancer

US scientists have developed a new technique that allows them to track the progression of a person's cancer by uncovering changes in their tumour's genetic material.

19 Feb 2010

HIT Roundup: The push for electronic records continues

The Patriot-News: "A statewide partnership has been awarded a $100 million grant in federal economic stimulus funds to expand access to broadband Internet in 39 counties across south and central Pennsylvania, U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Robert P. Casey said Thursday." One purpose of the network is to link medical facilities (Miller, 2/18).

19 Feb 2010

Abbott increases quarterly dividend payment by 10%

The board of directors of Abbott today increased the company's quarterly common dividend 10 percent to 44 cents per share.

19 Feb 2010

MHCC receives $500,000 grant to operate research project on mental health and homelessness

The Mental Health Commission of Canada has received a $500,000 grant from the City of Vancouver. The funds will help operate part of a research demonstration project on mental health and homelessness at a downtown hotel.

19 Feb 2010

Janssen-Cilag International's European MAA for ZEFTERA: CHMP adopts negative opinion

Janssen-Cilag International NV announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a negative opinion on its Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) for the antibiotic ZEFTERA(TM) (ceftobiprole medocaril), for the treatment of complicated skin and soft tissue infections.

19 Feb 2010

AFH Holding & Advisory donates funds to support children with cancer

AFH Holding & Advisory, a financial advisory and consulting firm, has donated to Lifedriven Foundation, a non profit dedicated to finding a cure for cancer and providing support to children and their families affected by the disease.

19 Feb 2010

L-3 Communications enters into agreement to acquire Insight Technology

L-3 Communications announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Insight Technology Incorporated. Insight develops and manufactures mission critical night vision and electro-optical equipment including laser aiming and illumination devices, laser rangefinders, laser markers and designators, night vision goggles and monoculars, and thermal imaging systems.

19 Feb 2010

Women more likely to read true crime than nonfiction books:Study

When it comes to violent nonfiction, men are from Mars, the planet of war, but women are from Earth, the planet of serial killings and random murders.

19 Feb 2010

Researchers identify specific metabolic profiles that predict risk of heart attack and death

Tiny bits of molecular "trash" found in circulating blood appear to be good predictors of cardiovascular disease and untimely death, say researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

19 Feb 2010

ALEC congratulates Idaho State Representatives for sponsoring Idaho Health Freedom Act

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—the nation's largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators—congratulates Idaho State Representatives Jim Clark, Lynn Luker, and Raul Labrador for their successful sponsorship of HB 391, the Idaho Health Freedom Act, which was passed by the Idaho House of Representatives by a vote of 52 to 18 last week.

19 Feb 2010