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A scheduled House committee hearing on the Food and Drug Administration's progress toward implementing a federal law requiring it to develop a regulatory strategy for health information technology was postponed Thursday, as the government shutdown continued into its third day. Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, was scheduled to testify before the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the Food and Drug Administration Safety Innovation Act.
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PhRMA has sued to block implementation of a rule that lets providers in the 340B drug discount program buy orphan drugs at reduced prices if the drugs are used to treat non-orphan conditions.
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Having trouble logging in to healthcare.gov? Have no fear. In response to opening-day technical glitches and heavy traffic to its insurance marketplace website, HHS posted data Tuesday afternoon showing available plans and premiums across the 36 states with federally facilitated insurance exchanges. A total of 140 insurance issuers are offering 1,779 different insurance plans across the marketplace, according to the data.
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Planned Parenthood of the Heartland filed a lawsuit in federal court Sept. 30 asking a judge to grant a stay against a rule from the Iowa Board of Medicine that would restrict abortion access in the state. On Aug. 30, members of the state board voted to adopt rules that would ban telemedicine delivery for medical abortion and require that patients receive a physical examination before and after the administration of an abortion-inducing drug. The medical board asserts that the telemedicine practices “are inconsistent with the protocols approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the manufacturer of the drugs” because they don't include an in-person meeting with a physician.
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The annual Health 2.0 Conference is wrapping up in Santa Clara, Calif., today, and with it come several launches worth noting. One is the start of a $100,000 developer's challenge, seeking cloud-based, “innovative health applications that will revolutionize the way physicians and hospitals educate patients,” according to the contest sponsors.
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A Medicare test of accountable care in Wisconsin slowed cost growth last year for about 20,000 seniors. That's good news, of course, to economists and policymakers. But for hospitals, the news was not all good because most payers continue to reimburse on a fee-for-service basis rewarding more admissions and more volume of services. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association said that for hospitals that participate in Medicare accountable care programs, such as ThedaCare in Appleton, Wis., competing financial incentives can make their ACO efforts counterproductive.
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As healthcare providers work to adopt electronic health records and achieve Stage 2 meaningful-use standards, most Americans are confused and concerned about the transition from paper to digital, according to a survey by Xerox. Xerox, which polled about 2,000 U.S. adults in its fourth annual EHR survey, found that only 29% of them had been told by their physicians that their medical records would be converted from paper to digital format. And although most of the respondents think EHRs will reduce healthcare costs (62%) and improve quality of healthcare service (73%), even more (83%) worry about digital issues including security. Nearly seven out of 10 do not want their medical records in a digital format.
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More than 700,000 federal workers will be looking for ways to put food on the table as much of the federal government shut down Tuesday over budget squabbles in Congress. But if you're a federal rat, it's still fat city. Federal mice, too.
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Diagnostic errors produce the vast majority of medical malpractice suits related to primary-care practice, and it's harder to successfully defend such cases than other types of malpractice suits, according to a report in JAMA Internal Medicine. Using health information technology to prevent these errors should be a priority, the authors said. Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and other Massachusetts organizations examined malpractice cases handled and closed by the state's two largest medical liability insurers from January 2005 through December 2009. They found 551 (7.7%) cases were primary-care related and, of these, 397 (72.1%) were associated with diagnosis errors.
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The key to effective health information technology in a small, office-based medical practice is to properly install the newly purchased electronic health-record system, according to a new report from KLAS Enterprises. KLAS's review of 27 vendors' products found that unhappiness with an EHR vendor's installation effort leads to practices switching to another vendor. It also found that such flipping is on the rise. KLAS did not quantify, in aggregate, the percentage of practices committed to changing systems.
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Keehan
Ascension Health, Bon Secours Health System, the American Hospital Association, the Catholic Health Association and the Federation of American Hospitals are among more than 900 organizations, providers and businesses helping Americans learn about the healthcare reform law and sign up for health insurance coverage, HHS announced one day before open enrollment begins on the law's health insurance exchanges. Called “Champions for Coverage,” these volunteers—which include faith-based organizations, community health centers and bloggers—will use digital and print materials from the CMS to educate people about their options in the state health insurance exchanges that were created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Open enrollment on the exchanges will last from October through March, and those who enroll by Dec. 15 will have coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2014.
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