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Survey: 60 percent of Americans doubt health reform will pass this year

While a growing segment of people are becoming more optimistic that a health care overhaul will pass this year, they're still largely outnumbered by people who think reform won't happen, The New York Times reports.

5 Feb 2010

With health reform stalled, Medicare coverage for some therapies subject to caps

Stalled health care reform efforts have created several unresolved issues, some of which related to Medicare and Medicaid.

5 Feb 2010

Virginia AG works to increase outpatient treatment for mentally ill; Iowa hospitals oppose Medicare fraud bill

News outlets report on health care developments in Virginia, the District of Columbia, California, Iowa, Maryland, Maine and Michigan.

5 Feb 2010

Indiana medical school cuts number of students amid budget cuts

The Louisville Courier-Journal: "Facing a $7 million budget cut, the Indiana University School of Medicine plans to reduce the number of new students next year -- a move that will save money but could reduce the number of physicians when the state is already facing a shortage. After several years of ramping up acceptances of new medical students, IU was forced to cut back after Gov. Mitch Daniels recently ordered state-funded universities to reduce their budgets, said Dr. D. Craig Brater, dean of the school.

5 Feb 2010

Majority of rural hospital stays are covered by Medicare

Medicare patients accounted for almost half of all stays (45 percent) at rural hospitals in 2007, while the percentage of Medicare beneficiaries who were admitted to urban hospitals was considerably lower (35 percent) , according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

5 Feb 2010

House to move forward to end antitrust exemption for health insurers

"House Democratic leaders are moving forward with Plan B for passing health care reform by introducing a stand-alone measure to strip the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies — a popular piece of their stalled health care reform package," Roll Call reports. "Freshmen Reps. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) and Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) will file legislation on Friday aimed at barring the insurance industry from fixing prices and setting their own markets without being investigated.

4 Feb 2010

Health spending consumes more of U.S. economy, will tip toward government

A new report by federal actuaries shows government programs will pay for more than half of all U.S. health care spending by 2012, and that total spending on health grew as a share of the economy by 1.1 percent last year to 17.3 percent, the largest leap ever, the Los Angeles Times reports.

4 Feb 2010

Obama tries to bridge Democratic divide on health reform

Speaking with Senate Democrats Wednesday, President Obama "suggested that Republicans could be enlisted to play at least some role in negotiating a final bill, The Washington Post reports.

4 Feb 2010

Arizona Oncology physicians provide advanced cancer care for MHC patients

Cancer patients in Marana now have more options for cancer care. Arizona Oncology physicians will now treat patients at Marana Healthcare Clinic (MHC). Drs. Laurie Chen and Y. Haroon Ahmad, medical oncologists, are now actively caring for patients at MHC.

4 Feb 2010

COBRA extension likely part of Senate Democratic jobs plan

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today said he plans to move the " first part of a job-creation package next week." In discussing the measure during a Capitol Hill press conference, Democratic leaders were short of specifics "but pledged to make the issue of job creation their top priority in 2010."

4 Feb 2010

VA hospitals urged to accomodate growing number of female veterans

NPR: "The traditionally male-dominated environment often doesn't recognize that women veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced the same psychological, physical and emotional trauma as male veterans." Jill Feldman, manager of the Women Veterans Health Care Program at the Milwaukee VA, says the hospital is working to change a culture that has traditionally been more masculine.

4 Feb 2010

Medicaid cuts, past and proposed, a concern to businesses and patient advocates

Kansas Health Institute: "The Kansas Hospital Association will throw its lobbying clout behind a proposed increase in the state tobacco tax to restore a cut in the Medicaid rates paid to providers" (McLean, 2/3).

4 Feb 2010

Texas Health Dallas offers heart and vascular screening program for women

When Mary Gill went to bed that night, nothing would have made anyone think heart disease — not even Mary. She was thin and 42 years old. She exercised regularly, ate a healthy diet and never smoked.

4 Feb 2010

CHUM receives $1.25M donation from Pfizer Canada to set up patient health education program

The Fondation du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) has received a $1.25 million donation from Pfizer Canada for a patient health education program to be set up at CHUM.

4 Feb 2010

Clinic closure leaves indigent dialysis patients looking for treatment

A clinic closure in Atlanta has patients and clinic officials struggling to find new providers that will treat low-income patients who need kidney dialysis, The Associated Press reports.

4 Feb 2010

First Edition: February 4, 2010

Health care spending is taking an increasingly big bite out of the nation's economy, according to today's headlines.

4 Feb 2010

Secretaries to release new report on children’s health insurance

One year after President Obama signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will visit the Mazique Parent Child Center to discuss efforts to identify and enroll children in health coverage and announce new steps the Departments are taking to insure more kids.

4 Feb 2010

Closing funding gap for federal viral hepatitis education, screening and surveillance programs stops liver cancer

With most liver cancer caused by undetected or untreated hepatitis B or C viral infection, the 22,000 new cases of liver cancer that are diagnosed each year could be dramatically reduced if Congress took decisive action to close the funding gap for federal viral hepatitis education, screening, and surveillance programs, the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR) said today.

4 Feb 2010

First annual Translational Regenerative Medicine Forum in Winston-Salem

The Regenerative Medicine Foundation today announced the first annual Translational Regenerative Medicine Forum to be held April 6-8, 2010 at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem.

4 Feb 2010

State of Michigan keeps lethal hospital infections in check

The state of Michigan, which used a five-step checklist developed at Johns Hopkins to virtually eliminate bloodstream infections in its hospitals' intensive care units , has been able to keep the number of these common, costly and potentially lethal infections near zero — even three years after first adopting the standardized procedures. A report on the work is being published in the February 20 issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal).

4 Feb 2010