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By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, March 12, 2010
With a change here and a discussion there, a healthcare reform measure appears to have inched its way closer to a starting point on the route to a final passage. However, there are several new twists. Under the plan emerging Thursday, the House would first need to accept the bill that the Senate approved on Christmas Eve.
By: Cheryl Clark, for HealthLeaders Media, March 11, 2010
California's long-standing and severe smog problems cause many avoidable hospitalizations that added $193 million in hospital costs between 2005 and 2007, according to a RAND Corp. report. The researchers broke the cost of that dirty air down by the number of patients treated at sample hospitals in certain high air pollution counties in the state.
By: Andrea Kraynak, for HealthLeaders Media, March 12, 2010
Many hospital-based physicians puzzled by their apparent exclusion from EHR meaningful use incentives may find some relief in a provision included the latest Senate jobs bill, "The American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213)," which passed on Wednesday. Section 219 in the draft bill amends The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 language.
By: Ben Cole, for HealthLeaders Media, March 11, 2010
To meet increasing demand for pediatric care, Lehigh Valley (PA) Health Network has announced plans to establish a pediatric emergency department. The facility will be constructed in space adjacent to the current emergency department at Lehigh Valley Hospital Center-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township, PA, and is expected to be completed in spring 2011.
By: Joe Cantlupe, for HealthLeaders Media, March 12, 2010
Employers are frustrated that too many of their workers are failing to change their unhealthy habits and take advantage of health and wellness programs that include financial incentives, according to a survey by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health. As a result, some employers are "accelerating" efforts to find ways to further motivate employees and also tighten their requirements for participation in certain healthcare plans, says Ted Nussbaum, senior consultant for Towers Watson.
By: Sarah Kearns, for HealthLeaders Media, March 11, 2010
A recent survey among 179 nursing professionals in the healthcare industry show how the tumultuous 2009 economy had varying effects on facilities of all sizes in acute care, critical access, long-term care, ambulatory, home health, and rehabilitation settings.
By: Elyas Bakhtiari, for HealthLeaders Media, March 11, 2010
Early signs suggest that the HITECH program is pushing more physicians to adopt EHR systems, and that it is well on its way to accomplishing its long-term goals.
By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, March 11, 2010
One of the steps toward achieving quality care is getting patients more engaged in their health by working with their providers to better understand the treatment they are receiving.
By: March 10, 2010
Bruce McPherson, president and CEO at the Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care, talks about the state of nonprofit healthcare. [Sponsored by Emdeon]