Alaska news and information

Catholic Health Initiatives, Englewood, Colo., has signed a letter of intent to affiliate with fellow Catholic care provider eight-hospital PeaceHealth, Bellevue, Wash.
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A paper released by the American College of Physicians highlights state and federal laws that it says limit physician-patient communication and present roadblocks to better care.
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Representatives for Alaska's Health and Social Services Department, which operates the state's Medicaid program, said Wednesday that they do not believe Medicaid data was stored on an employee computer that was stolen three years ago.
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Alaska's state Medicaid agency has agreed to pay HHS $1.7 million to settle possible violations of the security-rule provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and take actions to guard the...
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In a largely party-line procedural vote, the Senate blocked consideration of a measure to roll back a coming expansion of union formation powers opposed by many hospitals.
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The Federal Trade Commission has compelled Fresenius Medical Care to sell 60 outpatient dialysis clinics in 43 markets as a condition of buying Liberty Dialysis Holdings for $2.1 billion.
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Some 110 physician groups signed a recent letter to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) urging Congress to use leftover military contingency funds for a "cleaning of the books" that...
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The new Eagle Butte Health Center in South Dakota is set to open for business this week. The 10-bed, 138,000-square-foot Indian Health Service facility was paid for with $84.5 million from the stimulus law.
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In the past decade, states with the highest per-capita healthcare spending tended to have older populations and higher per-capita incomes, while states that spent less on healthcare had younger populations, lower per-capita incomes and a higher rate of uninsured, according to a CMS paper published...
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Three healthcare organizations are among the four winners of the 2011 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, announced Nov. 22. The awards recognize top-performing organizations for excellence in innovation, efficiency and quality improvement. This year's winners were chosen from a field of 69...
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