Medicaid Growth In Stimulus Fills Gaps For Aetna, State Budgets
House and Senate negotiators gave states with the fastest- growing unemployment, among them California and Florida, a bigger share of new money to Medicaid, the U.S.-state program for poor families. The bill also would help people who have just lost jobs by subsidizing insurance premiums with $24.7 billion under Cobra, the law allowing ex-workers to remain on employer plans.
Legislative leaders backed the Medicaid and Cobra funding as part of $789 billion stimulus to spur the economy. With states considering cutting Medicaid because of dwindling tax revenue, [...]
Privacy Trumps Revenue In Obamas $19 Billion Health Stimulus
U.S. House and Senate negotiators compromise reflects stricter standards that privacy advocates wanted for marketing, selling and disclosing health data. Both houses may vote on the $789 billion stimulus today.
The legislation contains $2 billion in grants to create a national system of computerized health records and $17 billion in higher Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for doctors and hospitals to adopt the technology. Electronic records will improve care and reduce costs, President Barack Obama said. The legislation also will boost the health-records industry, led by Allscripts-Misys Healthcare [...]
Zimbabwe Doctors Leave as Health System Fails, Cholera Spreads
The exodus of medical professionals is compounding a “near total devastation” of Zimbabwes health-care system, Doctors Without Borders said yesterday. Thousands of doctors, nurses and other health staff arent being paid and have no money for basic needs such as buying a bus ticket to get to work.
Since the cholera outbreak began in Zimbabwe in August, 3,513 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization, compared with 4,031 fatalities recorded worldwide in 2007. The cholera bacterium is spreading through contaminated drinking water because sewage and [...]
Dengue Epidemic Worsens In Australia as Third Strain Detected
Two cases of dengue type-2 were diagnosed in Cairns yesterday, adding to 321 cases of dengue type-3 detected in the northeastern coastal city since an outbreak was declared Dec. 1, the state of Queenslands health department said in an e-mailed statement today. The type-2 virus was introduced from Papua New Guinea, the department said. No deaths have been reported.
“People who have had dengue previously risk serious health complications if they later contract another type of dengue,” said Jeff Hanna, medical director of the departments tropical population [...]
Money Talks: Cash Rewards Help People Halt Smoking, Study Says
Almost 15 percent of study participants who were given money as a reward were still not smoking six months after quitting compared with 5 percent in the group that didnt get the cash incentive, research in this weeks New England Journal of Medicine found. Some people in both groups eventually started smoking again after the financial offers ended.
Smoking is the top cause of preventable death in the U.S., responsible for killing about 438,000 people each year, according to the study. Getting one person to stop smoking [...]
No Butts About It: Study Finds Paying Cigarette Smokers to Quit Triples Success Rate
GE was so impressed it plans to offer an incentive program nationwide next year, aiming to save some of the companys estimated $50 million annually in extra health and other costs for smoking employees.
“This kind of reward system provides them with direct, positive feedback in the present,” not just delayed, intangible health benefits, said Dr. Kevin Volpp, the lead researcher of the study.
Volpp, who oversees the health incentives center at the University of Pennsylvania, called the study the largest ever of employer incentives to stop smoking. Several past studies failed to find higher quit rates linked to financial bonuses, but [...]
Obamas $20 Billion Stirs Secrets-for-sale Health Record Clash
The U.S. Senate bill approved yesterday favors industry- backed standards for sale, marketing and storing health data. The House version reflects privacy protections sought by consumer groups. The debate may damp what could be an historic boost for an electronic medical records industry led by Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc., Quality Systems Inc. and Athenahealth Inc., said Bret Jones, a Leerink Swann & Co. analyst in New York, said in an interview.
Both versions provide as much as $20 billion to create a national system of computerized records, [...]
Mediterranean Diet Lowers Mental Impairment, Alzheimers Risk
Those who adhered most closely to the Mediterranean diet had a 28 percent lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, which is a precursor to Alzheimers disease in many people, than those who didnt, research in the February issue of Archives of Neurology found.
The benefit was larger for those who already had cognitive impairment. People with the impairment who followed the diet closely had a 48 percent lower probability of developing Alzheimers disease than those who didnt eat similar food, according to the study, which is [...]
How to Help Patients Make Wiser Health Choices
Theres no single right answer for everyone yet patients often are ill-equipped to weigh increasingly complex medical options. Now theres a small but growing movement to get unbiased reports of the pros and cons of different tests and treatments into patients hands before they fall back on, “Doc, just tell me what youd choose.”
“No matter how hard I tried” to be objective, “inevitably my personal biases got involved,” recalls breast surgeon Dr. Dale Collins of New Hampshires Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, which helped pioneer the concept that it calls shared decision-making.
Think of it as “informed consent 2.0,” going a step beyond [...]
Sebelius, Once Mentioned For U.s. Health Job, Meets Barack Aide
The meeting yesterday in Washington with Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, was confirmed by Sebelius press secretary Beth Martino in an e-mail today. Martino wouldnt disclose the nature of the conversation or whether they talked about the job.
Obama is seeking to replace former U.S. Senator Thomas A. Daschle, who withdrew from consideration earlier this week after acknowledging he recently repaid $140,000 in back taxes and interest. Sebelius, a Democrat, had been an early contender for the post after Obamas election. The chief of the [...]