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Discussion of SGR fix heats up

Conferees negotiating the legislative package to extend the payroll tax break and to prevent a scheduled Medicare physician pay cut increased their focus on the physician payment piece of the puzzle. Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing exploring private sector ideas for creating a new physician payment system.

9 Feb 2012

Negotiations at impasse on efforts to prevent a scheduled cut to Medicare physician payments

The gridlock is over how to pay for the fix and could threaten the broader legislative package, which includes the payroll tax break extension. Meanwhile, lawmakers examine familiar offset possibilities, as well as some ideas from the private sector.

8 Feb 2012

Proposed Australian e-health records system criticised

Both the Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA) and the Australian Privacy Foundation have criticized the private corporation established by the federal and state governments to roll out the federal government's proposed electronic health records. They have told a Senate inquiry hearing in Canberra that personally-controlled e-health records should not go live on July 1 as planned.

7 Feb 2012

UCR's 23nd annual Science and Engineering Fair to be held Feb. 7-9

What are you really eating when you're eating chicken? Do different types of wood produce the same heat when burned? Do twins have similar fingerprints? How does sleep affect your memory? Does your eye color matter? Hundreds of K-12 students from 33 local schools will answer these and other intriguing questions at the 23nd annual Science and Engineering Fair at the University of California, Riverside, Feb. 7-9. The fair will take place at the Pentland Hills Bear Cave on campus.

7 Feb 2012

Scientists search gene alterations in three-parent kids

Researchers from Australia want to find out if using the DNA of three parents will prevent children inheriting life-threatening diseases. They add that if the technique proves successful in preventing the transfer of mitochondrial DNA mutations from mothers to babies, then laws on the use of embryos will need to be changed to allow the procedure.

6 Feb 2012

State developments: Florida hospitals dodge budget bullet

Spending cuts to health programs will be less than half as much as forecast in the Senate budget, that chamber's health-spending chief announced today. Now, the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Human Services Appropriations will have to cut only $390 million from current spending levels, rather than the more-draconian $850 million that had originally been assigned, said Sen. Joe Negron, chair of the panel.

6 Feb 2012

Starkey delivers gift to 235 hearing impaired children and adults from Indianapolis

With the help of a star-studded line up of football and entertainment legends, Starkey Hearing Foundation, which strives to change the social consciousness of hearing and hearing health care, delivered the gift of hearing today to 235 hearing impaired children and adults from the Indianapolis area ranging in age from 3 to 92. The event, which marked the Foundation's 3rd annual Super Bowl Week Hearing Mission, was held at the SportZone in Indianapolis.

4 Feb 2012

Cardinal Health receives TRO to resume controlled medicine shipments from Lakeland

Today Cardinal Health was granted a temporary restraining order against the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) immediate suspension order of its Lakeland, Fla. DEA registration.

4 Feb 2012

Electronic app may help schizophrenia patients to avoid hallucinations

When a patient afflicted with schizophrenia hears inner voices something is taking place inside the brain that prevents the individual from perceiving real voices. A simple electronic application may help the patient learn to shift focus.

3 Feb 2012

House votes to repeal CLASS Act — A part of the 2010 health law

The GOP-led push to repeal this long-term care insurance program, which the Obama administration already made clear it would not implement, drew some Democratic votes. During floor speeches, Republican lawmakers cast it as a barrier to achieving a real reform.

3 Feb 2012

VA purchase of $1.2 billion in pharmaceutics termed a 'team failure'

These comments came during a Wednesday House Veterans Affairs Committee Hearing. Meanwhile, in other news related to veterans' health, USA Today reports that the return of combat troops is driving a medical-care backlog.

3 Feb 2012

Over-exposure to noise can cause more lasting changes to auditory circuitry

We all know that it can take a little while for our hearing to bounce back after listening to our iPods too loud or attending a raucous concert. But new research at the University of Michigan Health System suggests over-exposure to noise can actually cause more lasting changes to our auditory circuitry - changes that may lead to tinnitus, commonly known as ringing in the ears.

2 Feb 2012

USF receives DOD grant for battlefield-related TBI research

The University of South Florida (USF) has received a $1.57 million U.S. Department of Defense grant to conduct translational research on traumatic brain injury and other battlefield related injuries and diseases.

2 Feb 2012

A mind-reading machine could be reality soon

Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley have devised a method by which they can hear thoughts. They conducted a small study in which they could predict what people were thinking based on their brain activity.

1 Feb 2012

Minn. lawmakers set to resume health insurance exchange fight

Gov. Mark Dayton says his administration may be unable to build an exchange without legislative approval. But the Republican-controlled legislature is split over whether to support implementation of that provision of the health care law.

1 Feb 2012

Musical training can avoid age-related hearing loss

Age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with musical training, according to a new study from Northwestern University. The study is the first to provide biological evidence that lifelong musical experience has an impact on the aging process.

31 Jan 2012

States roundup: 'Cost-conscious' coverage in Mass.; Health exchange planning to Gov. in Minn.; Kansas judges gave to anti-abortion PAC

In just three years, a new way of paying for medical care has spread rapidly across Massachusetts, and now more than 1.2 million people are covered by plans that put providers on a budget in an effort to restrain health spending.

30 Jan 2012

Too much social networking makes girls less happy: Study

Researchers have studied the effects of too much social networking among young girls and found that it is ruining their girlhood. The new Stanford University study looks at data from girls between the ages of 8 and 12 who spend “considerable” time using social media and finds that they are likely to be “less happy” than their unplugged peers.

30 Jan 2012

Research Down Syndrome enters second year of national running program

Research Down Syndrome (RDS), a nonprofit foundation that is among the leading sources for funding of Down syndrome related cognitive research, is entering the second year of its national running program, Race for the Extraordinary, to help increase public awareness and funding for Down syndrome research. The mission of RDS is the development of safe and effective therapies to address the intellectual difficulties associated with Down syndrome.

30 Jan 2012

PIP breast implant mastermind arrested

The founder of the company - Poly Implant Prothese or PIP was arrested Thursday in an early-morning police raid on his luxury home in the south of France. The PIP implants have been the center of controversy and fear after reports of rupture of the breast implants due to use of second grade materials in their manufacture.

29 Jan 2012