Headlines Archive for March 2010

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3/31

Adoption of health care IT is on a steady incline in the small physician practice as revealed in a March 2010 survey done by NaviNet, a real-time health care communications network.

3/31

VITA publishes new research Issue Brief:  The Value of Care Management Programs.  Go to Research for PDF download

3/31

A federal judge’s decision Monday to strike down several patents on human genes could ultimately be a boon for genetic research and a benefit for public health

3/31

Waxman convenes the first death panel, denouncing businesses for complying with the law – the health care law is only a week old and already the bullies are throwing their weight around

3/31

The states can be the laboratories where the US experiments to ascertain which mix of taxes, incentives and public administration works best when it comes to health care – Obamacare threatens such experiments

3/31

A former Food and Drug Administration scientist said Tuesday that his job was eliminated after he raised concerns about the risks of radiation exposure from high-grade medical scanning.

3/31

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is planning a broad effort to blunt the health overhaul by trying to shape its regulatory language and spending heavily to unseat vulnerable Democrats who voted for it

3/31

So the wave of corporate writedowns isn’t caused by ObamaCare after all. The White House claims CEOs are reducing the value of their companies and returns for shareholders merely out of political pique.

3/31

Yesterday AT&T announced that it will be forced to make a $1 billion writedown due solely to the health bill, in what has become a wave of such corporate losses.

3/31

As business owners across the country weigh the new law, they’re looking to Massachusetts for harbingers of things to come.

3/31

With the government’s blessing, a drug giant is about to expand the market for its blockbuster cholesterol medication as a preventive measure for millions of people

3/31

The new U.S. health care law will give 32 million more Americans the means to visit physicians who might not have the time — or financial incentive — to see them

3/31

A series of video interview clips of Don Berwick:  Berwick is President Obama’s choice to run the nation’s largest health system, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

3/30

Under the health care overhaul, young adults who buy their own insurance will carry a heavier burden of the medical costs of older Americans

3/30

Some experts say the world is on the cusp of a “golden age” of genomics – yet the $3 billion international Human Genome Project, whose first phase was completed a decade ago, has not led to a single blockbuster diagnosis or product

3/30

The Supreme Court may ultimately decide the fate of health reform as more than a dozen states have called on the courts to strike down the health insurance mandate  – a move that would threaten the entire law

3/30

Provisions of the health-care law that expand benefits for home-bound elderly, certain early retirees and coal miners will likely cost more than expected, say analysts and even some of the measures’ proponents.

3/30

To truly change the nation’s chronic overuse of medical care, there will have to be a substantial change in the way patients think about health care, how medicine is practiced and how it is paid for, economists and doctors say.

3/30

An association representing 300 large corporations urged repeal of a provision of the health care overhaul that prompted AT&T, Caterpillar and other companies to announce substantial charges for the current quarter.

3/30

The Class Act sets up the first national government-run long-term care insurance program, which will be offered primarily through employers.

3/30

Better beat the crowd and find a doctor.  The landmark health overhaul will bring primary-care physicians, already in short supply in parts of the country, millions more newly insured patients in the next few years.

3/30

In a ruling with potentially far-reaching implications for the patenting of human genes, a judge on Monday struck down a company’s patents on two genes linked to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

3/30

So what is buried in those pages? Here are some thoughts from health care experts on what the changes will mean for Americans, sick and well alike.

3/30

Now mental health advocates are almost giddy. The law signed by President Obama last week expands parity to a much wider pool, making it possible for millions more people to get the same coverage for substance abuse and illnesses

3/30

Tucked inside the huge health reform bill signed into law last week were many surprising and little-noticed provisions that will affect consumers in ways large and small.

3/30

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) became the first medical society to sue to overturn the newly enacted health care bill

3/29

It makes sense for a company that sells printers to sell the ink cartridges. Why shouldn’t the company that sells the devices that diabetics use also sell the insulin that they consume to control their disease?

3/29

A three-month-old baby suffering from shortness of breath recently was checked into a small hospital in the Haitian capital. A radiologist at work in his New York office diagnosed that the child’s lungs were collapsing.

3/29

In 2006, CMS tried to limit unjustified billing in the ultra-high categories. But the effort backfired when nursing home operators found a loophole that made it easier to put residents in those categories.

3/29

Donald M. Berwick, a Harvard University scholar and long-time critic of U.S. health care, will be thrust into the political fight over the overhaul law as President Barack Obama’s choice to run Medicare and Medicaid.

3/29

Primary care physicians already are in short supply in parts of the country, and the landmark health overhaul that will bring them millions more newly insured patients in the next few years promises extra strain.

3/29

The U.S. drug industry fended off price curbs and other hefty restrictions in the health care law even as it prepares for plenty of new business when an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans gain health coverage.

3/29

Shares of inVentiv Health Inc. continued their climb in Monday premarket trading after the company confirmed that it has been approached by a potential buyer.

3/29

As governors begin to sort through the murky details, they’re quickly realizing this albatross is worse than originally feared.

3/29

The White House disputed arguments that the health-care legislation signed by President Barack Obama may cost jobs and increase costs to employers.

3/26

Open standards and interoperability are key to mobile health offerings scaling in developing markets, Ericsson told the Financial Times in a recent interview

3/26

Up to a third of breast cancer cases in Western countries could be avoided if women ate less and exercised more, researchers at a conference said, renewing a sensitive debate about how lifestyle factors affect the disease.

3/26

The nation’s largest public hospital system plans to slash its work force—including doctors and nurses—by about 10% over two years as government aid drops and the number of uninsured patients jumps.

3/26

An increasing share of young physicians, burdened by medical school debts and seeking regular hours, are deciding against opening private practices. Instead, they are accepting salaries at hospitals and health systems.

3/26

Another look at the details of the health care overhaul law

3/25

STMicroelectronics, has announced that it will develop a “smart” contact lens incorporating a wireless MEMS sensor that will enable better management of glaucoma patients via earlier diagnosis and treatment

3/25

Ingenix, a leading health information, technology, consulting and services company, announced today that it has expanded its health outcomes measurement capabilities with the acquisition of QualityMetric Incorporated

3/25

The health-care overhaul that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday boosts funding by $10 billion over five years for the clinics, known as community health centers.

3/25

While it is impossible to gauge the precise impact of the overhaul, since many options vary by location, here are some of the main ways the overhaul will affect certain types of households

3/25

The Class Act, a legacy of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, was signed into law and sets up a voluntary government-run long-term care insurance program available through employers

3/25

People fighting chronic illnesses are less likely than others to have Internet access, but once online they are more likely to blog or participate in online discussions about health problems

3/25

A couple retiring this year will need a quarter of a million dollars, on average, to cover medical expenses in retirement, according to a study to be released Thursday by Fidelity Investments

3/25

Page 1,617 of the 2,400-page health reform bill sparked little of the debate  – however, the overhaul creates an institute, funded with $500 million or more annually, to spur studies of which drugs, devices and medical procedures work best

3/25

The retiree drug subsidy is paid to companies that provide coverage for prescriptions to former workers who would otherwise be on Medicare Part D plan.  Under prior law, the payment was tax-exempt – the new law requires companies to immediately account for the present value of this tax increase

3/25

Senate Republicans learned early Thursday that they will be able to kill language in a measure altering newly enacted health care overhaul, meaning the bill will have to return to the House for final congressional approval

3/25

AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions (AHS), one of the nation’s leading providers of medical billing and practice management services, has acquired AHP Billing Services, Inc., a former division of Anodyne Health

3/25

Vitality, Inc. and AT&T announced Tuesday that AT&T will provide the nationwide wireless network connection for Vitality GlowCaps, intelligent pill caps designed to help patients take medications regularly.

3/25

The remote health management market (RHM) is the smallest, but fastest growing segment of the home health management (HHM) market, according to global strategy consulting firm, Scientia Advisors

3/24

The health-care overhaul bill may boost employment at small businesses this year, said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economist

3/24

Lawsuits by 14 states seeking to scuttle health-care legislation were given little chance of success in the face of the broad powers granted Congress by the U.S. Constitution, scholars said

3/24

GE Healthcare announced Wednesday morning the acquisition of MedPlexus

3/24

Another Overview:  Some features of the health care overhaul bill signed, along with details on a package of changes under consideration by the Senate

3/24

Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, met with The Washington Post’s editorial board and a group of newsroom reporters and editors

3/24

One of the astonishing aspects of the health-care debate is how little is actually known about the implications of a change this far-reaching.

3/24

Screening women for breast cancer failed to significantly reduce the number of deaths from the malignancy, contrary to earlier findings, a Danish study found

3/24

Dozens of endowments, foundations and pensions funds are banding together to demand lower fees and greater oversight of their investments in a private-equity industry noted for its opaqueness

3/24

The legislation also creates an Independent Payment Advisory Board to suggest cuts in spending by Medicare,that could threaten payments for drug and device-makers

3/24

The historic overhaul of the nation’s health care system  when combined with the fixes making their way through Congress, will raise taxes over the next 10 years by more than a half-trillion dollars

3/24

IMI Health, a health care information company, has acquired Minneapolis-based BoundaryMedical, a leading outcomes measurement software company

3/24

Measurement Specialties introduces the 4400 Series family of disposable medical temperature probes for continuous patient monitoring applications

3/23

Apple’s iPhone med-apps excitement may be dampened somewhat with a recent FDA decision to classify an iPhone image viewing application as a class III device requiring premarket approval

3/23

A requirement tucked into the nation’s massive health care bill:  more than 200,000 fast food and other chain restaurants will have to include calorie counts on menus

3/23

Health care reform leaves Americans with a burning question: How’s this all going to work?  Some questions and answers on the health care bill

3/23

Comprehensive health-care legislation will set in motion a fundamental shift across a sprawling industry, from insurers who will face an expanding list of restrictions to hospitals and doctors confronted with new incentives to practice more-efficient care

3/23

Broadband.gov:  Overview of Section 10.1 reviews the potential value that broadband-enabled health IT solutions can unlock

3/23

Researchers at Korea University in Seoul have transmitted data at a rate of 10 megabits per second through a person’s arm, between two electrodes placed on their skin 30 centimetres apart.

3/23

The health-care overhaul will make as many as 15 million more Americans eligible for Medicaid nationwide starting in 2014 and will cost the states billions to administer.

3/23

A Venture Capitalist’s Take On Health-Care Reform

3/23

The future holds potential for a major improvement that capitalizes on modern technology— and its promise goes way beyond doctors’ having to rely on the incomplete or inaccurate memories of their patients.

3/23

Residents of New York State who want to send saliva for DNA testing by 23andMe should do their spitting outside state lines

3/23

The Senate parliamentarian dealt Republicans a setback in their bid to derail the Democratic health-care overhaul package

3/22

After more than a year battling Democratic health-overhaul proposals, insurers face changes that will reshape their market. But they also realize it could have been worse.

3/22

Health legislation passed yesterday by the U.S. House changes some rules immediately on insurance coverage while leaving much of the fight over how to remake the medical system to federal regulators, states and courts

3/22

Some features of the legislation, which makes changes to the bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve:

3/22

What, and when?  The effective dates of major provisions of the health-care overhaul legislation

3/22

Hospitals and drug makers, which supported the final legislation, would be clear beneficiaries, analysts say, even if the outlook for insurers was less certain

3/22

American consumers, who spent a year watching Congress scratch and claw over sweeping health care legislation, can now try to figure out what the overhaul would mean for them

3/22

The Senate’s health care bill approved in the House in a 219-212 vote when a last-minute White House executive order convinced a small group of pro-life Democrats that the bill wouldn’t fund abortions

3/19

The National Institutes of Health announced today that it is creating a public database that researchers, consumers, health care providers, and others can search for information submitted voluntarily by genetic test providers.

3/19

A pilot project at the Cleveland Clinic has found that patients with chronic diseases manage them more effectively when they use medical devices to submit health information online regularly to physicians

3/19

For the first time, the Medicare payroll tax would be applied to investment income, beginning in 2013. A new 3.8 percent tax would be imposed on interest, dividends, capital gains and other investment income

3/19

The release of Medicare data could have a powerful effect on the quality and cost of U.S. health care.  The Senate health-reform bill is just the most current example.

3/19

iVillage, one of the largest Web sites for women, is hoping to capitalize on a female penchant for seeking help online for health concerns or questions

3/19

Health insurers are fighting demands by hospitals for sharply higher reimbursement rates by threatening to drop the hospitals from their health-plan networks, and blaming them for higher insurance premiums.

3/19

How can the bill spend so much and still reduce the deficit?  The answer lies mainly in new taxes and curbs on Medicare spending.

3/19

Summary of some features of the released final version of legislation, which makes changes to the bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve

3/19

Arizona on Thursday became the first state to eliminate its CHIPs when Gov. Jan Brewer signed an austere budget that will leave nearly 47,000 low-income children without coverage

3/19

Sprint’s wireless health efforts include clinician offerings, patient tools, ambulatory care connectivity and home health solutions

3/18

Create a wellness philosophy first and then build your programs around that philosophy, Mary Williams, senior counsel of global compensation and benefits, at Coca-Cola Co. told attendees at a conference on employer-sponsored health benefits

3/18

Middle-class Americans are becoming uninsured at a faster pace than lower- or upper-income earners, according to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released during the annual Cover the Uninsured Week.

3/18

Wellness Possibilities, a national online directory of holistic wellness services and providers, announces its merger with The Holistic Option, Inc.

3/18

The UK is leading the way in the use of telehealth and telecare to transform health and social care delivery, with large-scale projects already under way and many more emerging

3/18

The FCC calls connected health “eCare” but often refers to mobile health, smartphone apps, wireless sensors and telemedicine.

3/18

Medtronic has announced results from the CONNECT trial showing the median time to clinical decision was significantly reduced for cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) patients

3/18

President Obama’s agenda has so overloaded Congress that its legislative gatekeepers – the analysts who score each bill and the auditors who weed out waste and fraud – can’t keep up.

3/18

Idaho is leading the charge in a states-rights push to defeat a proposal in Congress that would require people to buy health insurance, a key piece of reforms being pushed by President Barack Obama.

3/18

Virginia will file a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Democratic health-care reform bill if Congress approves the measure

3/18

Democrats inched closer to building a majority that could pass a monumental restructuring of the health-care system, with two key House members announcing plans to vote yes

3/18

With many SEIU members employed in health care, the union believes that if more Americans have health insurance, the demand for health care will expand and so will employment and with it,  union dues

3/17

In order for telemedicine case management to be more widely adopted, less expensive technology is needed to lower implementation costs,  according to a recent study from The Journal of Medical Informatics Association.

3/17

Millions of people around the world have experienced the revolution in home fitness since last spring with EA SPORTS Active, the number one rated fitness program for the Wii

3/17

GE Healthcare, Intel and Mayo Clinic Explore New Models of Health Care Delivery: Yearlong study to focus on evaluating potential benefits of remote monitoring device for home-based patient care

3/17

Nearly 1 in 4 Californians under 65 had no health insurance last year, according to a new report, as soaring unemployment propelled vast numbers of once-covered workers into the ranks of the un-insured

3/17

Emdeon signed a definitive agreement to acquire Healthcare Technology Management Services, a management consulting company focused primarily on the payer market

3/17

GI Partners has partnered with the senior management team of AdvoServ to recapitalize this private specialist healthcare services provider

3/17

Within the health care chapter of National Broadband Plan, the FCC recommended that it work with the FDA to clarify regulatory requirements (see Third Party Papers)

3/17

One of the great humdingers in the current debate over healthcare reform is the duplicitous role of technology in increasing costs.

3/17

Beginning April 1, Pacific Heart Institute, in Santa Monica, will charge some patients annual fees ranging from $500 to $7,500, in addition to the regular fees paid by patients and insurers.

3/17

Health insurers told a Massachusetts agency examining rising health care costs that “providing care in more expensive settings” is the primary driver of increasing health costs

3/17

Facing a sharp rise in costs, Pennsylvania has almost doubled the monthly bill for a state health insurance program for poor people who do not qualify for Medicaid

3/17

Pelosi and Reid can’t move forward until they have the cost estimate from the nonpartisan budget office – they have been going back and forth with CBO officials for days

3/16

“While telehealth remains an emerging category for Consumer Electronics, consumer-led telehealth services could prove to be the disruptive influence required for professional care authorities to drive telehealth forward.”

3/16

Shortly after becoming available for download from the AppStore, MIMvista’s  app was removed from the store -  the reason? FDA regulation

3/16

RMG Networks announced today the acquisition of Pharmacy TV, a digital place-based video network deployed near the pharmacist counter in major grocery chains and pharmacy retail

3/16

The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate Health Care bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers “deem” the health-care bill to be passed

3/16

The AHA 2008 guidelines declared deactivating a defibrillator an ethical end-of-life decision, similar to withholding other treatments in favor of comfort care

3/16

Recent studies undertaken to assess vitamin and mineral pill benefits were disappointing – they failed to prevent Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart attacks, strokes or Type 2 diabetes

3/16

If decisions based on Comparative Effectiveness Research inhibit the progress of personalized medicine—or in any way interfere with a tailored, most appropriate therapy—no one is helped

3/16

Although insurers generally oppose the health-care bill, an overhaul would give the industry a chance to boost its diminishing rolls with an influx of young healthy customers

3/16

A nationwide torrent of state cuts to Medicaid, results in patients finding it increasingly difficult to locate care givers who will accept their coverage

3/16

Australian private equity firm CHAMP plans to sell Healthcare Australia (HCA), the nation’s largest nursing and aged care staffing business

3/15

Senate Republicans are threatening to put up hundreds of amendments — one of the few weapons in their limited arsenal— to force Democrats to take difficult votes on politically sensitive subjects

3/15

Health Care 101: If it finally passes Congress, it’ll take the better part of a decade to write the user manual for consumers and doctors, employers and insurance companies.

3/15

MultiPlan, Inc. announced today that it has acquired Viant, Inc., bringing together the considerable expertise to produce industry’s most comprehensive provider of healthcare cost management services.

3/15

The vote counting:  The administration and House leaders will spend the coming days in a push to persuade several of last year’s no votes to switch to yes, while retaining at least a dozen yes votes who are wavering

3/15

The House’s chief Democratic head-counter said Sunday he hadn’t rounded up enough votes to pass President Obama’s health care overhaul as negotiations head into a make-or-break week

3/15

The White House is backing down from trying to get senators to remove some special deals from the health care bill

3/15

Rather than tackle the drivers of health inflation, the health care legislation chases the ever-increasing premiums with huge new subsidies

3/15

Survey released today by the Polling Company on behalf of Independent Women’s Voice indicates voters in key congressional districts are clear in their opposition to health-care reform

3/15

A Food and Drug Administration panel Friday narrowly backed the use of Medtronic Inc.’s “deep-brain stimulation” device in certain epilepsy patients.

3/15

Third-party outsourcing programs have come under fire at the FDA – the agency is weighing whether to end it given questions the quality of the reviews

3/15

Three aggressive treatment strategies doctors had expected would prevent heart attacks among people with Type 2 diabetes have proved to be ineffective or even harmful

3/15

Students who regularly eat lunch provided by their schools are more likely to be overweight and have higher levels of cholesterol

3/12

A growing focus on managing diseases more effectively to control long-term health care costs has boosted the prospects for diabetes-treatment companies

3/12

Recent reports and guideline changes suggest some medical tests should be delayed, avoided, or done less often

3/12

A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans – maybe even President Barack Obama – are being overtreated

3/12

Deploying undercover agents that pose as patients may be one approach to this problem – an alternative approach should be statistical research

3/12

House Democrats were meeting again Friday to discuss the still-evolving plan and for leaders to try to soothe lawmakers worried about the price they might pay in November

3/12

Democratic leaders struck a tentative agreement that would bundle overhaul of federal student loan programs with the Democratic health care legislation

3/12

The Senate parliamentarian told Republicans that a reconciliation bill has to “make changes in law”

3/12

A leading childhood obesity researcher says U.S. regulators should approve a procedure on children’s stomachs to help limit food intake

3/11

Insurance will be offered in Oregon in the most far-reaching and potentially controversial step in an effort by employers nationally to rein in medical spending by redesigning health benefits

3/11

Some 35,000 patients in Buffalo, NY with BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York plans will soon have 24 hour access to their physicians via web cams, phone or secure text messages

3/11

This week The Wall Street Journal and VentureSource ranked the top 50 U.S. venture-backed companies with the most potential to become “the next big thing.” You can check out the list from this article

3/11

Medco Health is encouraging doctors to use genetic tests to determine whether drugs will work for particular patients — saving money and reducing harm caused when prescriptions are wrong

3/11

HHS Secretary Sebelius warned health insurers that opposing the administration’s health-care agenda and letting premium increases continue would hurt the health industry

3/11

Most big employers plan to shift a larger share of health-care costs to their workers next year, according to a survey to be released Thursday

3/11

A panel of medical experts recommended steps to reverse a trend: the increasing difficulty of finding doctors and hospitals that will let a woman try to give birth normally if she has had a Caesarean section in the past.

3/11

Comparing the genetic blueprint of parents and their children can narrow the hunt for disease-causing genes to a handful of candidates rather than the thousands that are identified when a genome is analyzed in isolation

3/11

The Senate voted 62-36 to approve a $138 billion bill that would temporarily prevent Medicare payment cuts to doctors as well as extend federal Medicaid assistance and COBRA premium subsidies.

3/11

Maveron LLC, a Seattle-based venture capital firm announced the asset acquisition of portfolio company Kinetix Living Corp. by Regence BlueShield of Washington

3/11

Mental health facilities operator Psychiatric Solutions Inc said it hired Goldman Sachs as its financial adviser after being approached by third parties about a possible acquisition of the company

3/11

QuadraMed® announced stockholder approval of QuadraMed’s acquisition by Francisco Partners

3/11

As they push to finish health-care legislation by the end of the month, Congress is weighing whether to add a popular proposal to overhaul the federal student loan program

3/11

Obamacare proponents believe that we will add 30 million patients to the system without adding providers, we will see no decline in the quality of care and we will save money in the process

3/11

Are there enough votes in the House to pass the Senate’s health-care bill? As of today, it’s clear there aren’t.

3/11

A widely used test to detect blockages in the heart’s arteries often turns up little or no evidence of disease, a new study found

3/11

The President’s new budget will raise taxes by $3 trillion and federal spending by $1.6 trillion over the next ten years and increase the 2010 deficit to more than $1.5 trillion

3/11

The President made his case for an overhaul of the U.S. medical system, emphasizing his efforts to curb waste and fraud in government health programs

3/10

Mental health facilities operator Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. confirmed Wednesday that it has been approached by third parties about a possible acquisition of the company

3/10

Researchers reviewed 328 medication studies published in six medical journals between June 2008 and September 2009 and found just 32% qualified as comparative-effectiveness studies

3/10

The downfall of Canopy created an opportunity for PayFlex, which purchased certain technology assets from Canopy for $3 million.  PayFlex won over other potential bids, including a $6.1 million December offer from TriZetto Group Inc

3/10

TriTech Software Systems, a leading provider of public safety and pre-hospital care software solutions, announces today it received approval from Ortivus AB and TriTech shareholders to complete the acquisition of Ortivus North America

3/10

The West Wireless Health Institute has appointed its first chief executive officer: Don Casey, the former worldwide chairman for Johnson & Johnson’s comprehensive care group

3/10

Over the past year of debate, 10 broad ideas have been offered for bending the health-care cost curve. The Democrats’ proposed legislation incorporates virtually every one of them. Here they are:

3/10

As Republicans work to prevent a health-care bill from reaching President Obama, they are scrambling to exploit divisions between Democrats in the House and the Senate.

3/10

Which matters more: what the plan does, or what it fails to do? It’s a tough call, and the answer depends on what you see as the alternative

3/10

The President is facing a renewed push against his health-care legislation as a coalition of business groups plans to spend as much as $1 million a day on advertisements to pressure lawmakers into voting “no.”

3/9

At the heart of Obama’s drive to rein in health costs is a proposal for federal review and regulation of health insurance premiums, with a new agency empowered to block excessive rate increases.

3/9

U.S. workers are more confident about having enough savings for retirement even after the percentage of savers declined, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

3/9

Lawmakers working to craft a new comprehensive immigration bill have settled on a way to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants: a national biometric identification card all American workers would eventually be required to obtain

3/9

The number of cosmetic-surgery procedures in the U.S. sagged for the second year in a row in 2009, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by a plastic surgeons’ association

3/9

The Senate Finance Committee has opened an investigation into patient deaths and allegations of substandard treatment at specialty medical centers that treat chronically ill patients

3/9

Prospects are good for resolving a dispute over abortion that has led some House Democrats to threaten to withhold support of  health care overhaul, a key Michigan Democrat said Monday

3/9

In the 1980s hospital administrators were required to bundle charges into DRGs – physician charges, however, are paid separately for each visit they make to a hospital patient

3/9

Doctors and hospitals are getting a new test that many think will help fight ovarian cancer, one of the deadliest cancers, by helping them to more quickly distinguish cancerous from benign growths.

3/9

Obama told an audience outside Philadelphia yesterday that insurers have calculated that higher premiums can more than make up for the loss of customers who can’t afford coverage

3/9

Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTIV) announced today that it has acquired Mississippi-based Heart to Heart Hospice

3/8

Get ready for an explosion in smart medical devices, infection-fighting nanotechnology, virtual biopsies and colonoscopies, bionic organs, and science fiction operating rooms

3/8

What if Obama’s sanctioned “reconciliation” gambit is really a false-flag operation, meant to lure House Democrats into voting for a bill that they would otherwise oppose?

3/8

80 percent of practicing physicians rely entirely on paper records that can be misplaced or lost, or unavailable in an emergency – but the future holds potential for a major improvement

3/8

The escalating battle among Democrats over abortion has grabbed headlines, but a few other intraparty disputes are endangering President Obama’s proposed health care overhaul

3/8

This really is the home stretch in the health care debate.  So here is a handy road map for the next three weeks — a sort of GPS guide to the health care finish line

3/8

As the battle over the state budget becomes more intense, Mayor has stepped up his call for the Legislature to pass a penny-per-ounce tax on soda

3/8

Democrats questioned whether health-care overhaul would curb health costs, highlighting a difficult issue that the White House and congressional leaders must address

3/8

The President this week kicks off a final push to salvage a health-care overhaul plan that faces opposition from the public and resistance from members of his own Democratic Party

3/5

Two of the nation’s largest healthcare information networks, Quest Diagnostics and Surescripts(R) announced an agreement to pioneer the formation of an integrated service to make laboratory and prescription information broadly and easily accessible to physicians.

3/5

Hewitt Associates announced it has acquired Senior Educators Ltd., a trusted, Web-based retiree medical insurance exchange that provides unbiased assistance to Medicare recipients seeking high-quality, affordable supplemental insurance products

3/5

Medical imaging technology company Merge Healthcare Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Boston radiology technology provider Amicas Inc. for $248 million in cash

3/5

Democrats set out Thursday to thwart defections and solidify support for their health care overhaul bill, focusing on skeptical rank-and-file House Democrats antsy about voting for the unpopular measure

3/5

Following Thursday’s meeting at the White House between major health insurance CEOs and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the managed care CEOs are out with some zingers.

3/5

The government’s top health official summoned health-insurance chief executives to the White House Thursday and told them they need to disclose more data justifying sharp premium increases.

3/5

U.S. House leaders are facing the possible defection of about a dozen anti-abortion Democrats from a health-care bill

3/4

Backed by employer medical insurance, couple fights cancer – how expensive?  $618,616, two- thirds of it for the final 24 months, much of it for treatments that no one can say helped extend his life

3/4

Hospital billings for a scan of the chest ranged from $550 in April 2001 in Portland to $3,232 in 2006 and 2007 at a hospital in Philadelphia

3/4

Jobs in health care, education, government and nonprofit organizations are likely to grow in coming years because of an aging population, pending retirements and demographic changes

3/4

The Food and Drug Administration plans to increase prosecutions of pharmaceutical and food industry executives as part of an effort to refocus its criminal division

3/4

Rep. Ryan:  the claim that the health plan will cost “about $100 billion per year”  is unlikely – it is far more probable deficits are $460 billion over the first 10 years, and $1.4 trillion over the next 10

3/4

With Democrats likely to use reconciliation and try to push through health-care legislation, experience underscores how unpredictable and acrimonious the path can be

3/4

The small study of about 140 overweight or obese women showed that those on diets “appropriate” for their genetic makeup lost more weight than those on less appropriate diets

3/3

A new study by the American Medical Association (AMA) that came out last week says that competition for healthcare insurers is “vanishing”

3/3

In medical applications, “smelling other kinds of molecules might be able to help us in early disease detection” – breath-type detectors detect skin cancer, diabetes  and cystic fibrosis

3/3

The screening the president and his doctors chose was a virtual colonoscopy—a relatively new, high-tech exam that uses a CT scan to visualize the entire colon

3/3

Followers of the health bill should hear how Sen. Evan Bayh thinks it will play out if the Senate uses the parliamentary tactic to complete the health overhaul.

3/3

The President plans today to give Democratic lawmakers a road map in an effort to end a stalemate in Congress over his proposal to remake the U.S. medical system

3/2

The food industry may face sodium limits from the U.S. government if it doesn’t voluntarily reduce salt content in processed foods, said the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

3/2

Adding an EKG would save 2.06 more life-years per 1,000 athletes at cost of $89 per athlete – or $42,900 per life-year saved (by comparison, kidney dialysis  is $20,000 to $80,000 per life-year saved)

3/2

It’s not a pretty process, but a deal seems to be shaping up to stave of the start of a 21% cut in Medicare fees paid to doctors.

3/2

The director of the Office of Device Evaluation, one of the highest-ranking positions at the Food and Drug Administration, is leaving this month to join the Washington office of Microsoft Corp

3/2

Many Americans do not know they have high blood pressure and doctors are lax about treating it, according to a new Institute of Medicine report that calls hypertension a “neglected disease”

3/2

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says members of Congress voting for legislation overhauling the health care system will be more than willing to defend it to voters in the fall elections

3/2

Federal regulators, radiology groups and hospitals are launching efforts to scale back use of the scans amid growing evidence that radiation may elevate the risk of cancer in the future

3/2

Most early studies demonstrating the benefits of exercise were done with men. Now a raft of recent studies has shown that active women reap comparable rewards

3/1

Hyland Software has purchased privately held eWebHealth, a leading provider of hosted medical records workflow solutions.

3/1

Billed as a low-cost alternative to primary care, retail clinics are filling a niche but are finding it hard to turn a profit

3/1

Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting Initiative continues to frustrate physicians that are looking to access feedback reports from past years and use them to improve their patient care

3/1

Awarepoint Corporation, a key market leader of real-time location systems (RTLS) for U.S. hospitals,  today announced it has raised $10 million of expansion capital

3/1

Private-equity firms tell investors that the years following recessions offer the best opportunity to make money. This time may be different.

3/1

The Continua Health Alliance noted in a recent newsletter that the FDA believes new laws for connected health device regulations are neither likely nor needed

3/1

Obese children as young as age 3 show signs of an inflammatory response that has been linked to heart disease later in life – likely to further stoke concerns about childhood obesity

3/1

The odds of obesity appear stacked against black and Hispanic children starting even before birth, provocative new research suggests.

3/1

Washington interest groups have burst back into action in hopes of bolstering or defeating a new Democratic push on health-care reform legislation

3/1

Democrats are calling for what they are framing as an “up-or-down vote” on a health care overhaul bill, signaling that they are preparing to pass it through reconciliation process

3/1

The drama over health-care legislation is reaching a critical stage, and soon the spotlight may land on Senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin.

3/1

Stroke victims may opt for stents to prop open their neck arteries if results of a 10-year study persuade officials to make the procedure more widely eligible for Medicare reimbursement

3/1

Gram-negative germs for the most part threaten only hospitalized patients whose immune systems are weak – what is most worrisome is their drug resistance

3/1

Endpoint Clinical, provider of integrated response software allowing clinical study administrators to change parameters and tests on the fly has brought in $1.7 million

Vita Advisors, LLC is a research-based strategic advisory firm serving the health care industry.

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