Critical Care News: Breaking Critical Care News, Comments and Articles. - Page: 5

Health Care Spending Slowdown

Health care spending growth is slowing, and not just due to the recent recession.  A paper by Ryu, Gibson, McKellar and Chernew in Health Affairs finds the following. During and immediately after the recent recession, national health expenditures gr...

Aetna Helps Members Become Savvy Healthcare Consumers with Award-Winning Videos

Aetna (NYSE: AET) recently received an Award of Distinction in the Online Video/Education category from The 2013 Communicator Awards. Aetna was recognized for a series of educational videos that were designed to help members better understand and use their health care benefits. The short videos emphasize the importance of the member’s provider a...

HHS Report Finds Uptick In Doctors' Use Of Electronic Health Records

Also in the news, the Pentagon is in search of a new system for veterans' health care while San Francisco is "leading the way" in new health data applications. USA Today: Incentives Push Doctors To Electronic Medical Records More than half of doctors' offices and 80 percent of hospitals that provide Medicare or Medicaid will have electronic health records by the end of the year, the Department of...

L.A. Care Selected For Participation In California's Health Benefit Exchange

LOS ANGELES, May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest publicly operated health plan in the country, is pleased to announce its selection as a Qualified Health Plan (QHP) by Covered California, the state's health benefit exchange. Established by the passage of federal health care reform, Covered California is creating a new insurance marketplace that wil...

The Hill: Insurers Feel Pressure To Support Enroll America

The Hill reports that unnamed insurance industry sources say they feel that Enroll America, the non-profit group raising funds to support outreach to the uninsured, is "just an arm of the administration." In a separate story, The Hill notes new research concluding the trend toward part-time work and reduced health benefits began before the overhaul. The Hill: Insurers Feel Pressure From Health Gro...

Federal Appellate Court Hears Arguments Challenging Health Law's Birth Control Mandate

The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago is the first federal appellate court to hear arguments in cases challenging the mandate that took effect last August. With dozens of similar lawsuits pending, many say the issue seems likely to land before the Supreme Court. The case brought by Hobby Lobby Inc. is considered the most prominent of these efforts. The Wall Street Journal: Contrace...

Federal Appellate Court Hears Arguments On Health Law's Birth Control Mandate

The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago is the first federal appellate court to hear arguments in cases challenging the mandate that took effect last August. With dozens of similar lawsuits pending, many say the issue seems likely to land before the Supreme Court. The case brought by Hobby Lobby Inc. is considered the most prominent of these efforts. The Wall Street Journal: Contrace...

States Embroiled In Medicaid Expansion Battles Are Running Out Of Time

Politico reports that this health law implementation issue remains an open question for about a dozen states. Some are on the brink of giving up for the first year, but looking ahead to the next set of state legislature sessions. Meanwhile, news outlets report on related developments in Michigan, Texas, Ohio, California and Iowa. Politico: Clock Ticking On Full Medicaid Expansion Funds...

Idaho, New Mexico Ask Feds To Run Health Exchanges

In addition, media outlets report that the nation's largest for-profit insurers will not participate in California's online marketplace. Eleven insurers have applied to operate plans in Colorado. The Wall Street Journal: Two States Seek Help With Health Exchanges Two states that had planned to run their own health-insurance exchanges this fall are asking the federal government for help in the firs...

J&J plans to submit 10 new drugs for approval by 2017

Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceuticals segment plans to submit 10 new product filings for regulatory approval over the next four years. These products are aimed at addressing serious unmet medical needs, such as Hepatitis C, schizophrenia and influe...

NDI Launches Deep Brain Innovations, LLC

Optimizing electrical stimulation to treat Parkinson's disease and other neurological conditions. Cleveland, OH and Durham, NC (PRWEB) May 23, 2013 NDI Medical, LLC, a venture and commercialization firm that funds and develops innovative neurodevice technologies, has launched its next portfolio company, Deep Brain Innovations, LLC (DBI). DBI will commercialize its groundbreaking technology t...

Consumers Union Praises Covered California's Release of Plans and Proposed Rates as Important Milestone for Implementing the Affordable Care Act

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Covered California, the new statewide marketplace for private health insurance, announced today the health plans that have been chosen to participate, along with their proposed rates.  The announcement is an important milestone in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to Consumers Union, the policy and advocac...

CVS Caremark Supporting Tornado Relief Efforts in Oklahoma and Texas

WOONSOCKET, R.I., May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, a private foundation created by CVS Caremark, today announced that it will donate $25,000 to the American Red Cross to support the organization's tornado relief efforts in Oklahoma and Texas.   In addition, the Charitable Trust will match tornado relief donations to the Red Cross from CVS Caremark's em...

ConAgra Foods Improves Its Innovative Benefits Program With Health Care Transparency From Castlight Health

Health Care Management Suite Helps Employees Reduce Costs, Increase Engagement and Improve Outcomes ConAgra Foods, one of North America’s leading packaged food companies, has selected Castlight Health to enable its employees to make informed, value-based decisions about their health care. With Castlight’s health care management suite,...

CLE Contact Lenses Offering $5 Off 1 Day Sale

Today, only CLE Contact Lenses is offering $5 off all purchase when using their provided coupon code. Elmsford, NY (PRWEB) May 23, 2013 New York based Eye Care Associates enters its 14th year in business online as the operator of CleContactLenses.com, an online e-tailer that sells contact lenses, contact lens removers, contact solutions and other items that are eye care related. CLEContactLenses....

Birth Control Coverage Up for Federal Appeal

DENVER (AP) — In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that include...

Too Much to Ignore: Anne Wojicicki’s Plan for Health Care and Big Data

Bio-IT World | STANFORD, CA—The challenge in healthcare is to change what is—and what isn’t—a billable question, said 23andMe founder Ann Wojicicki, giving the opening keynote yesterday at the Big Data in Biomedicine conference at Stanford Un...

MDH Radiology Introduces Integrated Breast Imaging Solutions

NEW YORK, April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to a growing demand for high quality, technology-forward access to breast health, internationally renowned radiologist Monica Denisse Hurvitz has founded MDH Radiology.  The new company, led by Dr. Hurvitz, is poised to fill a nationwide gap in women's breast health by delivering a full scope of services to healthcare providers. ...

HHS-CCSC awards honor efforts to eliminate health care-associated infections

BOSTON, May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Critical Care Societies Collaborative (CCSC), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),  announces recipients in the 2013 National Awards Program to Recognize Achievements in Eliminating Health Care-Associated Infections (HAIs).  Eight hospitals and health care facilities were honored for successful and sustained...

Greenway Earns Two U.S. Patents for Care-Coordination Technology

Health Information Solution Provider Now Holds Four Patents for Usability, Data Liquidity, Connectivity and Access Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc., which delivers innovative information solutions for healthcare providers, has been granted two new U.S. patents related to electronic quality-of-care data liquidity. Both patents cover the receipt and t...

New collaboration between U-M Health System and St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor offers region specialized geriatric care

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a joint effort to improve health outcomes for the region's older adult patient population, the University of Michigan Health System and St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor will collaborate to open a medical care unit specializing in geriatric care. The new UM-SJMAA Acute Care for Elders (ACE) unit brings together the area's foremost geriatr...

Covered California Announces Plans and Rates for 2014

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Covered California™ today announced 13 diverse health insurance plans that will offer in 2014, affordable, quality health care coverage to millions of Californians.  The plans reflect a mix of large non-profit and commercial plan leaders, along with well-known Medi-Cal and regional plans. The tentative selection of health plans is...

Saddleback Memorial Surgeon First on the West Coast to Perform Single-Site Robotic Hysterectomy

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA recently became the first hospital on the West Coast to perform a hysterectomy using single site robotic technology. This new surgical option provides women with a state-of-the-art, minimally invasive approach to gynecological surgery. Marc Winter, M.D., a highly regarded Ora...

U.S. health care: Does more spending yield better health?

Health care spending is much higher for older Americans than for younger adults and children, on average, and analysts have said that increasing spending leads to longer life expectancy. But new research from the University of Michigan indicates that...

Verastem to Present at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting

Verastem, Inc., (NASDAQ: VSTM) focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat cancer by the targeted killing of cancer stem cells, announced that members of the research and development team will present the clinical design for an ongoing study of VS-6063 and preclinical data on the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor VS-5584 at the American Society of Clinical...