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Rockefeller Foundation to support implementation global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa

The Rockefeller Foundation has awarded a $630,100 project support grant to the American Medical Informatics Association to support the initial implementation this year of a global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa designed for primary care providers, technical staff and health policy-makers.

20 Feb 2010

Workforce issues: Health care jobs boom in Nevada; Florida nurses lobby for safer hospital staffing

News outlets report on the health care workforce, including the thriving job market in Nevada and an effort to institute mandatory staffing ratios for nurses in Florida hospitals.

20 Feb 2010

Health care fraud: Massachusetts hospital to pay $2.79M for settling False Claims Act allegations

Mercy Hospital Inc. (d/b/a Mercy Medical Center) of Springfield, Mass., has agreed to pay the United States $2,799,462 to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act between 2005 and 2006 by failing to provide, or failing to document that it provided, the minimum number of hours of rehabilitation therapy required under Medicare guidelines, the Justice Department announced today.

20 Feb 2010

Researchers show how extracts from seeds of Moringa oleifera tree can be used for water purification

Pure water is a key requirement for good health and alternative cheap, safe methods are required in many countries. In a paper that has just been published in the leading American Chemical Society journal on interfaces, Langmuir, researchers from Uppsala University in co-operation with The University of Botswana describe how extracts from seeds of the Moringa oleifera tree can be used for water purification.

20 Feb 2010

Obama plans to offer own health bill before summit as parties stake claims

President Obama will offer "comprehensive" health reform legislation in advance of next week's planned summit with Republicans, The New York Times reports. "Democratic officials said the president's proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority."

20 Feb 2010

Stalled health bills could lead to increase in hospital mergers

Some analysts expect an increase in hospital mergers if health care overhaul remains stalled and the head of the Cleveland Clinic discusses why he thinks an overhaul won't lower health costs.

20 Feb 2010

Ethicon Endo-Surgery resolves longstanding patent litigation with Hologic

Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, announced today that it has reached an agreement with Hologic, Inc., and Hologic subsidiary Suros Surgical Systems, Inc., settling litigation in Ohio and dismissing pending cases in Delaware. The disputes involved patents relating to the Ethicon Endo-Surgery MAMMOTOME® Breast Biopsy System, and the Hologic ATEC and EVIVA biopsy devices. Under the terms of the agreement, Ethicon Endo-Surgery will receive $12.5 million from Hologic.

From Hologic, Inc. 20 Feb 2010

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

Medical News

Rockefeller Foundation to support implementation global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa

Workforce issues: Health care jobs boom in Nevada; Florida nurses lobby for safer hospital staffing

Health care fraud: Massachusetts hospital to pay $2.79M for settling False Claims Act allegations

Researchers show how extracts from seeds of Moringa oleifera tree can be used for water purification

Obama plans to offer own health bill before summit as parties stake claims

Stalled health bills could lead to increase in hospital mergers

Ethicon Endo-Surgery resolves longstanding patent litigation with Hologic

State lawmakers address 'troubling trends' in insurance market

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

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

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

UCSF professor receives 2010 AADR Distinguished Scientist Award

Animal study shows calcineurin enzyme is critical for normal heart function

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

National poll examines public health response to anthrax attack

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

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

US scientists develop new technique to track the progression of cancer

HIT Roundup: The push for electronic records continues

Abbott increases quarterly dividend payment by 10%

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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