Healthcare News

RSS

IBC now qualified as 'patient-centered medical homes'

Independence Blue Cross (IBC) has reached a significant milestone with 100 primary care practices with more than 1,000 physicians now qualified as "patient-centered medical homes," and announced today that it is stepping up its efforts to support this transformation of primary care.

10 Jun 2011

Roundup: Maryland program treats prisoners' medical problems

A sweeping deal to cut pensions and health-care benefits for hundreds of thousands of New Jersey public workers was teetering Wednesday, as rank-and-file Assembly Democrats refused to go along with an agreement struck between top legislative Democrats and Gov. Chris Christie.

10 Jun 2011

FDA draft guidance outlines roadmap for discussion on nanotechnology in regulated products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today released draft guidance to provide regulated industries with greater certainty about the use of nanotechnology, which generally involves materials made up of particles that are at least one billionth of a meter in size. The guidance outlines the agency's view on whether regulated products contain nanomaterials or involve the application of nanotechnology.

10 Jun 2011

Spacelabs receives $3M U.S. hospital contracts for patient monitoring, connectivity products

OSI Systems, Inc., a vertically-integrated provider of specialized electronic products for critical applications in the Security and Healthcare industries, today announced that its Healthcare division, Spacelabs Healthcare, has received approximately $3 million in orders from US hospitals in the Southeast region.

10 Jun 2011

TriWest earns third consecutive Health Network reaccreditation from URAC

Successfully managing a network of 170,000-plus providers and meeting high compliance standards earned TriWest Healthcare Alliance yet another recertification from URAC, a national leader in promoting quality health care.

10 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Health law's latest day in court; Obama's "abdication" on Medicare; Blue Shield profits vs. premiums

Provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, "may violate the constitution of Ayn Rand, but they do not violate the Constitution of the United States," acting solicitor general Neal Kumar Katyal told a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday. Conversely, attorney Paul Clement, representing Georgia and 25 other states, framed the issue of mandated purchase of health insurance as an issue of liberty.

10 Jun 2011

Hospitals seek help with costs of caring for illegal immigrants

The American Hospital Association is urging President Barack Obama to consider the costs hospitals incur for treating illegal immigrants—and to include provisions in his legislative recommendations to Congress that would sufficiently reimburse them for doing so (Zigmond, 6/9).

9 Jun 2011

Several state legislatures debate abortion restrictions

State legislatures around the country are looking at a variety of measures dealing with abortion.

9 Jun 2011

Obama administration launches new program to spur health IT innovation

The initiative, announced Wednesday, uses prizes and challenges to encourage accelerated research and development activities in the health IT sector.

9 Jun 2011

Deadline extended for ACO pioneer program

The new deadline is Aug. 19. Meanwhile, in other policy-related news, the White House pushed back against study findings released earlier this week by McKinsey & Co. that as many as 30 percent of companies may stop offering health insurance to their employees and said the president's healthcare plan "will reduce costs overall."

9 Jun 2011

Tips for preventing outdoor home-related injury: AANS

The nail-gun neck injury and treatment incurred by a 25-year-old carpenter described in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine article might read like an oddity, but nail guns are actually a common form of penetrating low-velocity injury. What made this case unique was that the patient incurred a penetrating wound to the cervical spine by a barbed nail lodged in close proximity to the right vertebral artery.

9 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 9, 2011

Today's headlines include reports from yesterday's action in an Atlanta courtroom where oral arguments were held in an appeal related to the multi-state challenge to the health law.

9 Jun 2011

Claims and counterclaims over BPA health risks

Despite years of scientific studies, reports, lawsuits, congressional inquiries, claims and counterclaims, the question of whether bisphenol A (BPA) poses health threats to people lacks a definitive answer, according to a package of articles on the controversial substance in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS's weekly newsmagazine.

9 Jun 2011

Make antiretroviral therapy 'cornerstone' of HIV prevention

Ahead of the U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention and multiple signatories in a statement call on governments, advocates and researchers to act on the evidence from HPTN 052 and make antiretroviral therapy a cornerstone of the set of proven strategies we have to prevent and treat HIV.

9 Jun 2011

Leadership Reads Initiative to minimize teen alcohol consumption and drug use

The incidence of alcohol poisoning, alcohol-related violence, and alcohol-impaired driving is increasing at an alarming rate among teens. If teens start to drink early, they are six times more likely to develop alcohol dependence.

9 Jun 2011

VOA News examines debate over U.N. Women funding levels

VOA News examines advocates' concerns over funding levels for U.N. Women. "The mandate of U.N. Women is large, and some supporters are concerned that its starting budget of $500 million dollars is not enough to promote women and gender equality around the world, especially at the country level.

9 Jun 2011

UNICEF representative highlights humanitarian challenges in Yemen

Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF's representative in Yemen, said the country is facing humanitarian challenges and is "absolutely in dire need of humanitarian assistance," Reuters reports.

9 Jun 2011

Number of new E. coli cases abating but more deaths expected

"Germany reported two more deaths and 300 more E. coli cases Wednesday, but its health minister insisted that new infections were dropping, giving some hope that the world's deadliest E. coli outbreak was abating," Associated Press reports.

9 Jun 2011

Health law's independent payment board draws new opposition

Politico reports on the Independent Payment Advisory Board's growing unpopularity and CQ HealthBeat details the complexities that will be involved in the overhaul's expansion of health coverage for children and families. In the background, politics come into play as part of the run up to 2012.

9 Jun 2011

Study finds lifelong difference in health-related quality of life between rich and poor

"We can't buy our way out of ageing," says Nancy Ross, a McGill geography professor. "As we get older we start to have vision problems, maybe some hearing loss, maybe lose some mobility - ageing is a kind of a social equalizer."

9 Jun 2011