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Diverting nonemergency cases from EDs in Canada does little to improve care quality for other patients

Diverting nonemergency cases from emergency departments in Canada does not have much impact on the efficiency or timeliness of care given to sicker patients, according to a study published Wednesday on the Annals of Emergency Medicine Web site, the Houston Chronicle reports.

24 Aug 2006

WellPoint to expand consumer-driven health plans to individuals, more companies

Officials for Indiana-based WellPoint, the largest U.S. health insurer in terms of membership, on Tuesday announced that the company on Jan. 1, 2007, will begin to offer consumer-driven health plans to individuals and companies of all sizes, the Indianapolis Star reports.

24 Aug 2006

Medicaid reimbursements for emergency care for undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma increase 154% in three years

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority paid health care providers $9.7 million to treat 4,450 undocumented immigrants under Medicaid's Alien Emergency Services Program in the fiscal year that ended June 30, compared with $3.8 million to treat 2,054 people in 2003, the Daily Oklahoman reports.

24 Aug 2006

Medicare policy offering coverage for certain treatments to clinical trial participants examined

"Medicare's Requirement for Research Participation as a Condition of Coverage: Is it Ethical?" Journal of the American Medical Association.

24 Aug 2006

New Jersey Gov. Corzine signs bill to track company employees enrolled in public health insurance programs

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) this week signed a bill (S539) that will track how many employees at large companies are enrolled in the state's public health insurance programs, the Newark Star-Ledger reports.

24 Aug 2006

Michigan Civil Rights Commission rules that small businesses must include birth control coverage

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission on Monday ruled that businesses that have fewer than 15 employees in the state and offer comprehensive prescription coverage to their employees must cover birth control prescriptions, the Detroit News reports.

24 Aug 2006

Massachusetts Agency proposes health care premium levels for low-income residents

The Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector, which is tasked under the state's new health insurance law with determining what premiums are affordable for low-income state residents, is proposing that the state's lower-income uninsured residents spend up to 6.6% of their income to purchase health coverage, the Boston Globe reports.

20 Aug 2006

Groups that oppose abortion rights object to nomination of Von Eschenbach to permanently head FDA

Groups that oppose abortion rights are calling on President Bush to withdraw the nomination of acting FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to permanently head the agency because FDA might approve Barr Laboratories' application for nonprescription sales of its emergency contraceptive Plan B for women ages 18 and older.

20 Aug 2006

Federal report calls for changes in procedures for evacuating nursing home residents during disasters

The emergency evacuation plans of nursing homes located in the Gulf States during four hurricanes within the past year met federal and state regulations but had a number of problems, according to a report issued on Friday by HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson, the New York Times reports.

20 Aug 2006

CMS rejects Georgia plan to raise threshold for exemptions to Medicaid estate recovery rules

CMS has rejected a Georgia law that would have prohibited the state from recovering up to $100,000 of a deceased Medicaid beneficiary's estate to recover costs for nursing home care, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

20 Aug 2006

UK hospitals not prepared for terrorism

UK hospitals are poorly prepared to cope with a "major incident," such as an act of terrorism, say doctors in Emergency Medicine Journal.

17 Aug 2006

Georgia physicians file lawsuit alleging that HMOs have not paid Medicaid claims

Three private HMOs contracting with Georgia to oversee care for Medicaid beneficiaries have not paid providers for millions of dollars in outstanding claims, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Fulton County, Ga., Superior Court, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

17 Aug 2006

New plan to confront HIV-related health worker shortages

Launch of a coordinated global plan to address a major and often overlooked barrier to preventing and treating HIV/AIDS: the severe shortage of health workers, particularly in developing nations.

15 Aug 2006

Pride, prejudice, and paediatrics

Actively barred from pursuing medical careers elsewhere, women paediatricians were able to carve out careers in the specialty because it paid poorly and carried insufficient status, reveals a brief history of the profession.

2 Aug 2006

New rules for hospital visitors in the UK

A major hospital group in the UK has banned visitors from sitting on patients' beds in hospital in an attempt to curb the spread of the superbug MRSA.

2 Aug 2006

Government money for sexual health used to pay off debts

According to the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV (IAG) in the UK, a significant amount of the £300million set aside for sexual health is being used by NHS trusts to reduce their financial deficits.

2 Aug 2006

Don't cut direct line to Welsh doctors says BMA

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has been warned he will cut through his only 'direct line' to Welsh doctors if presses ahead with controversial plans to strip medical committees of their statutory advisory functions.

26 Jul 2006

Hospitals and physicians organize and market services targeted at specific diseases, organ systems and populations, raising cost and quality concerns

The proliferation of heart institutes, cancer centers, orthopedic hospitals and other niche specialty centers signals an escalation in a new medical arms race as hospitals and physicians develop and market profitable specialty-service lines.

26 Jul 2006

Burgess bill important step toward ensuring seniors get needed health care

Rep. Michael C. Burgess, MD. (R-TX) took an important step toward replacing the flawed Medicare physician payment formula with the introduction of the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Bill and Quality Improvement Act of 2006.

26 Jul 2006

Community hospital care as cost-effective as regular hospital care for older people

A community hospital is as cost effective as a district general hospital for post-acute care of older people, according to a study published on the British Medical Journal website.

21 Jul 2006

Healthcare News

Diverting nonemergency cases from EDs in Canada does little to improve care quality for other patients

WellPoint to expand consumer-driven health plans to individuals, more companies

Medicaid reimbursements for emergency care for undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma increase 154% in three years

Medicare policy offering coverage for certain treatments to clinical trial participants examined

New Jersey Gov. Corzine signs bill to track company employees enrolled in public health insurance programs

Michigan Civil Rights Commission rules that small businesses must include birth control coverage

Massachusetts Agency proposes health care premium levels for low-income residents

Groups that oppose abortion rights object to nomination of Von Eschenbach to permanently head FDA

Federal report calls for changes in procedures for evacuating nursing home residents during disasters

CMS rejects Georgia plan to raise threshold for exemptions to Medicaid estate recovery rules

UK hospitals not prepared for terrorism

Georgia physicians file lawsuit alleging that HMOs have not paid Medicaid claims

New plan to confront HIV-related health worker shortages

Pride, prejudice, and paediatrics

New rules for hospital visitors in the UK

Government money for sexual health used to pay off debts

Don't cut direct line to Welsh doctors says BMA

Hospitals and physicians organize and market services targeted at specific diseases, organ systems and populations, raising cost and quality concerns

Burgess bill important step toward ensuring seniors get needed health care

Community hospital care as cost-effective as regular hospital care for older people

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

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