Managed Care Weekly articles from August 2004

Managed Care Weekly archives from August 2004

Patients given intensive outpatient treatment have better outcomes.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Results of a U.K. study suggest that intensive monthly outpatient treatment with antirheumatic drugs and steroid injections can substantially improve patients' symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis compared...

Physicians fail to prescribe proper medication for asthma patients.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A U.S. study of treatment for asthma patients who visited the emergency department (ED) suggests that physicians are not following the recommended asthma guidelines and are underprescribing controller...

Study shows diabetes disease management reduces costs, improves quality.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A newly released study concludes that a diabetes disease management program addresses concerns by both reducing costs and improving the quality of care. The study findings are published in the...

HCV screening for drug users/transfusion patients only is most cost-effective.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hepatitis C virus screening for drug users and transfusion patients only is the most cost-effective. According to recent research published in the journal Gastroenterologie Clinique Et Biologique,...

Women with pre-existing UI may benefit from intrafascial approach.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A comparison of urinary urge incontinence (UI) after intrafascial and extrafascial abdominal hysterectomy did not turn up any differences between the two in most women, but those who had pre-existing UI...

Alere Medical receives full NCQA disease management accreditation.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Alere Medical, Inc., announced that it has received the Patient Oriented Full Accreditation for its Heart Failure Disease Management program from National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). ...

University of Florida teams with Tufts on food and drug interactions.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new University of Florida (UF) research center is investigating how foods and drugs interact to prevent potentially harmful side effects and improve patient outcomes. The Center for Food-Drug...

Thousands pay Montana mine owners for chance to breathe radon.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Is health, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder? If that's the case, thousands of people every year find healing relief from a variety of ailments, from cataracts and emphysema to arthritis and...

Group supports Medicare reimbursement for brain scans.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the hope that it will drive early intervention for the increasing number of Americans with Alzheimer disease, the Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) announced its support of the federal...

Hundreds of athletes with asthma compete in Athens.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A diagnosis of asthma used to mean a seat on the bench for amateur and professional athletes. But with advances in asthma treatment and management, asthma - not the athlete - is sent to the...

Blue Cross of California pays out $56.9M in physician bonus incentives.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Blue Cross of California (Blue Cross) announced its HMO Quality Scorecard award recipients for calendar year 2003. Throughout the state this week, 134 participating physician groups were paid an...

Aetna launches employee assistance program.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Aetna (AET) announced that it has introduced a new and expanded Employee Assistance Program (EAP) through Aetna Behavioral Health (ABH) to help boost productivity in the workplace. It has sold the...

Congress OKs bill to create vaccines, antidotes to biological, chemical weapons.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Enough new-generation anthrax vaccine to dose 25 million people: That's first on the U.S. government's shopping list under a massive new program to develop and stockpile antidotes to biological and...

Southeastern Michigan Red Cross says blood banks out of type O, others types low.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Southeastern Michigan American Red Cross Blood Region reports that the available supply of type O, the most critical type, is at zero. Other blood types are below acceptable levels and can be...

Other brain disorders often mistaken for Alzheimer disease.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Ask anyone to name a brain disease that causes dementia and eventually death, and the most likely answer you'll get is Alzheimer disease. Though that's one correct answer, it's not the only one....

LifeTree Technology awarded contract by brain injury center.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- LifeTree Technology LLC has been awarded a contract by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center to support its project, "A Randomized...

Electronic healthcare transaction services company added to Russell 2000 Index.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ProxyMed, Inc. (Nasdaq:PILL) announced its inclusion in the Russell 2000 Index of publicly traded companies. The addition of ProxyMed to the Russell 2000 Index results in the company being included...

Insurer's stockholders approve merger with UnitedHealth Group.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Oxford Health Plans (NYSE:OHP) announced that its stockholders have approved the adoption of the merger agreement between UnitedHealth Group and Oxford Health Plans pursuant to which Oxford Health Plans...

New Jersey hospital retains financial consulting firm.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pascack Valley Hospital announced that the financial consulting firm, Cambio Health Solutions (Cambio), has been retained to prepare a report making recommendations with respect to the operations of the...

Projected per share earnings from Health Care Horizons acquisition clarified.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Molina Healthcare, Inc., (NYSE:MOH) has issued a clarification of its release made earlier regarding the anticipated per share earnings accretion resulting from its acquisition of Health Care Horizons....

Swiss Re receives Taiwan branch license.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Swiss Re has been granted a reinsurance branch license from the Taiwan Ministry of Finance. Swiss Re is the first international reinsurance company to operate a branch in Taiwan. The branch,...

Chicago executive linked to whistleblower lawsuit steps down.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An investment banking executive has resigned amid published reports that he was named as a defendant in a whistleblower lawsuit involving hospital construction in Illinois. Nicholas Hurtgen stepped...

Integrated Healthcare Systems relocates to support growing business.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Integrated Healthcare Systems, Inc., (IHS) has relocated its corporate headquarters to a larger location to support its growing business. Since its inception in 2000, IHS has experienced significant...

Kaiser considers delaying opening of new clinic in Hawaii.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Kaiser Permanente is considering a 2-month delay in the opening of its new Maui Lani clinic as a cost-cutting measure needed because the health maintenance organization's requested rate increase was...

Lobbying firm used by both Illinois governor and hospital.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A lobbying firm enlisted by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's administration to suggest new members for the state agency that oversees hospital expansion was then hired by a Naperville hospital to...

Omnicell ranks first in customer satisfaction by medication dispensing vendors.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Omnicell, Inc., (OMCL) continues its leadership in customer satisfaction among the nation's major medication dispensing vendors, according to industry intelligence specialist MD Buyline. In its...

PriMed renews contract with management and technology company.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MED3OOO Group, Inc., (MED3OOO) announced that it has entered into a new long-term management agreement with PriMed, LLC, a large integrated medical group with 17 locations throughout the greater...

Prudencia selects online pharmacy for mail order services.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- drugstore.com, inc., (Nasdaq:DSCM) announced that it will provide mail-order pharmacy services for Prudencia, Inc. In addition to the new arrangement with Prudencia, Inc., the drugstore.com...

Roquette America announces expansion.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Roquette America, Inc. is expanding its operations in Iowa and Illinois, citing the nation's health craze. The company is expanding its wet corn milling plant in Keokuk and the capacity of its...

M.D. Anderson named U.S.'s top cancer hospital.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For the third consecutive year and fourth time in 5 years, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is ranked the nation's top cancer hospital in U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best...

Maine gets high marks in American Cancer Society report.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Maine was given the nation's top ranking in the ongoing fight against cancer in a report released by the American Cancer Society. The report, titled "How Do You Measure Up?," grades states on five...

Memorial Health breaks ground for heart and vascular institute.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Memorial Health officially broke ground for a new $45 million, 189,000-square-foot facility that will house the Heart and Vascular Institute at Memorial Health University Medical Center in southeast...

U.S. state governments receive antidotes against chemical weapons.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American state governments are beginning to receive long-awaited federal shipments of antidotes against chemical weapons, under a program that aims to have stocks in every state within 2 years. The...

Claimsnet to provide services to Detroit HMO.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Claimsnet, Inc., (CLAI), a provider of Internet-based ASP electronic claim processing solutions for the healthcare industry, announced that a well-established health maintenance organization (HMO) in...

Alameda County Medical Center selects contracting, procurement provider.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Broadlane, a provider of business services to the healthcare industry, announced that Alameda County Medical Center, one of the major hospital systems serving the Northern California Bay Area, has...

America's Health Insurance Plans selects new partner.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) announced that it has formed a new strategic alliance between its vendor affinity program, AHIP Solutions, and Concentra Preferred Systems, Inc., a healthcare...

Auxilio announces image management deal with Huntington Memorial Hospital.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Auxilio, Inc., (AUXO) through its subsidiary, The Mayo Group (TMG), a leading Southern California based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm for Healthcare Facilities, announced that it has secured a...

GTESS announces alliance with MultiPlan.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- GTESS Corp., a provider of business process outsourcing services for the healthcare industry, announced an alliance with MultiPlan, Inc., which greatly expands the GTESS PPO Connect solution by...

Hospira and Consorta enhance medication management partnership.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hospira (HSP) and Consorta, Inc., announced an amendment to the companies' existing infusion therapy pump agreement, which allows Consorta's healthcare facilities more flexible terms to access Hospira's...

Lab company signs Indiana Correctional Healthcare contract.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc., (BRLI) announced that Prison Health Services, Inc., (PHS), a subsidiary of America Service Group, Inc., (ASGR), has amended its master contract for prison health...

Quest Diagnostics signs agreement for statewide lab services in Florida.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) and its HMO subsidiary, Health Options, Inc., (HOI), and Quest Diagnostics (DGX) have signed a 3-year agreement for Quest Diagnostics to become a BCBSF and...

Wound care company reports new partnership agreement.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Advanced Medical Solutions (AMS) has entered into a 3-year agreement with Cardinal Health, a provider of products and services supporting the healthcare industry in the United States, for private label...

GHI Dental expands its partnership with Dentistat.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Group Health, Inc., (GHI), a statewide not-for-profit health insurer in New York, has expanded its dental credentialing and provider profiling with Dentistat, Inc., to apply to all GHI dental offerings....

PA Secretary of Aging to serve on Medicare drug benefit commission.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging Nora Dowd Eisenhower has been appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to serve on the State Pharmaceutical Assistance Transition Commission, a...

Central Station consortium delivers electronic health-record system.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Central Station, a consortium of leading information technology products, process knowledge, and healthcare expertise, has delivered Canada's first region-wide electronic health-record (EHR) system to...

Midmark Diagnostics pledges support for AAFP Partners For Patients program.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Midmark Diagnostics Group has officially pledged its support for the American Academy of Family Physicians' (AAFP's) Partners for Patients program, which helps encourage physicians to move more...

Budget cuts end state support for poison control centers.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- About 200 times a day, the phone rings in a basement room at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio. Trained nurses and pharmacists, with a doctor on call, advise parents on urgent care issues, such...

CPR training tool available via CD.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Citizen Safety Institute announces technical advances in educational technology that now allow cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training and certification wherever and whenever you want. Our new...

MedicAlert announces new safety program.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MedicAlert Foundation announced a new program named, "Badge of Life," which will provide specially designed dog tags to the public safety community, a program supported by the American Society for Law...

Training may increase nurses' anxiety about death in the short term.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Educational programs on death and dying are available to help nurses learn how to care for dying patients and their families. But according to a recent study by Jane M. Kurz, PhD, RN, initially, such...

Lee Brass Company cited for exposing workers to health, safety.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The government has proposed a $122,200 fine against Lee Brass Company of Anniston, Alabama, for exposing workers to health and safety hazards observed during an inspection. The company, which...

Catholic Health East adds Maxis Health System to its network.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Catholic Health East (CHE) announced all legal and regulatory requirements have been met for Maxis Health System (Carbondale, Pennsylvania) to be added as its newest network health organization. ...

Building a better hospital just what doctor ordered for patients, staff.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hospitals are unnecessarily risky and stressful places, but a number of improvements to the design of hospital facilities could reduce stress and risk for patients and staff, reveals research by Texas...

Texas-based healthcare group announces addition of nine facilities.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- United Surgical Partners International, Inc. (USPI) in an update on its development in the second quarter of 2004 announced that it opened 3 new centers with existing hospital partners and entered into...

Universal Health Services, Inc. completes sale of two facilities.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) has completed the previously announced sale of the 106-bed River Parishes Hospital located in La Place, Louisiana. UHS also announced the sale of the 160-bed...

Center offers hope for families coping with birth defect.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than 1000 times a year, expectant parents receive a stunning diagnosis: a lung anomaly is threatening the health of their unborn child. A serious birth defect, a lung lesion can compromise...

American HealthChoice retires convertible debentures.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American HealthChoice, Inc., (AMHI) announced that the company has completed the issuance of 20,475,000 shares of its common stock to retire its obligations under a convertible debenture dated August...

Ceres Group added to the Russell 3000 Index.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Ceres Group, Inc., (CERG) has been named to the Russell 3000 Index of the 3000 largest U.S. stocks, based on Ceres' market capitalization as of May 31, 2004. The addition of Ceres Group to the...

Diagnostics/management-services company declares another dividend.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Clinical Data, Inc., (CLDA) announced the board of directors of the company has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.01 per common share, payable on September 24, 2004 to shareholders of record on...

Episcopal Health Services reports strong performance in 2003 after rough road.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Episcopal Health Services, Inc., (EHS) the healthcare organization of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, New York, reported net income of $8,718,000 for the year ending December 31, 2003. This...

Healthcare staffing firm announces pricing of follow-on offering.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Allied Healthcare International, Inc., (AHCI), a provider of flexible healthcare staffing services in the United Kingdom, announced that it will sell 14,500,000 shares of its common stock at a price of...

Homecare company gets approval for listing in securities manual.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- AMS Homecare, Inc., (AHCKF; AHC), a growing provider of mobility devices and other homecare and selfcare products, announced that Mergent's Editorial Board has approved the company for a listing in...

Insights Search anticipates annualized revenues of $1M over next 12 months.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Insights Search (ISIC), a division of Insights Service Corp., announced that as a result of its strategic entry into the health information management (HIM) personnel contract business, the company is...

MedCath Corporation announces closing of private placement, new credit facility.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MedCath Corp. (MDTH) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, MedCath Holdings Corp., completed its private placement of $150 million of 9-7/8% Senior Notes due 2012 and has entered into a new $200...

Medical device manufacturer receives $1.6M through exercise of warrants.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- IRIS International, Inc., (IRIS) has received $1,620,776 through the exercise of 853,040 warrants to purchase the company's common stock at an exercise price of $1.90 per share. The warrants are...

Microtek expects second quarter revenues of approximately $30M.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Microtek Medical Holdings, Inc., (MTMD) announced that it expects to report net revenues for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, of approximately $30.0 million, bringing revenues for the first 6 months of...

S&P announces upgrade of healthcare investment company's credit ratings.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Ventas, Inc. (VTR) said Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) raised its corporate credit ratings on Ventas and certain of its affiliates to 'BB' from 'BB-'. S&P also revised the outlook on the...

Venture capitalists still investing in healthcare, report indicates.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Venture capitalists pumped $2.0 billion into 111 investments in the healthcare markets, which showed sustained strength for the second quarter in a row, according to Jenks Healthcare Business Report....

Pharmaceutical company partners to support marathon relay event.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Silicon Laboratories Inc. (SLAB), Junior Achievement (JA), and the RunTex Foundation have formed a partnership to bring a new marathon relay event to Austin, Texas, on July 4, 2005. In conjunction...

Ankle sprains can hide more serious condition.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A frequent malady of summer activity is a sprained ankle, which sports-medicine experts from the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS) said is by far the most neglected injury in the U.S....

Generic drug to treat urinary tract disorders gets FDA approval for U.S. sales.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corporation has received FDA approval to market bethanechol chloride in the United States. Duvoid is indicated for the management of disorders of the urinary tract and bladder....

InforSense announces agreement with children's hospital in Canada.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- InforSense Ltd. announced a multi-user multi-year license agreement with The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) Microarray Facility at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. The...

Texas Commission plan calls for more elderly care staff, money.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The state's elderly care program, under review after some residents of El Paso, Texas, were left to live in squalid conditions, would receive more money and staff under a plan released by the Texas...

Public testimony given on adoption of health books.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some state activists are hoping to keep talk of sex out of Texas classrooms. Others, testifying before the State Board of Education, are trying to ensure high school students have access to complete...

North Dakota officials advise not panicking over whooping cough cases.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health officials in Minot, North Dakota, say people should use common sense and not panic in dealing with an outbreak of whooping cough. The state Health Department reported 88 cases statewide as of...

Army shows off latest in mobile medical care.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Attention, Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John: the new equipment is coming. The "MASH" protagonists would likely marvel at the mobile military medical gear under development at Fort Detrick, Maryland,...

Changes in federal rules helping South Dakota hospitals.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Federal rule changes have been good for smaller hospitals, the head of a health care group in South Dakota said. John Porter, president of the Avera Health System, said most operations rely on...

Libya opens aid corridor to Sudan while WHO warns of major health catastrophe.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Libya agreed to open a corridor for food aid and other U.N. humanitarian supplies to help about 1.2 million people displaced by the Darfur conflict in western Sudan. An agreement was signed July...

Report says economic, cultural gaps influence healthcare access.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Factors that deny quality health care to some Arkansans, including economic and cultural disparities such as language barriers, can't be fixed overnight, a new study says. "These problems are...

Group to start disclosing price comparisons.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than a dozen hospitals and doctors groups in Wisconsin plan to start publicly disclosing price comparisons for some procedures by this fall. The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality...

Caterpillar tells retirees they have to pay healthcare premiums.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Caterpillar Inc. retirees have been notified they might have to start paying for healthcare premiums. In a letter, the Peoria-based company said that a special fund created by the United Auto...

Cost and quality of South Carolina's healthcare still big concerns.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Trying to control Medicaid costs and growth while improving quality of care are a few of the biggest concerns for South Carolina's largest health agency, its director told Governor Mark Sanford and his...

Drug company launches initiative to expand prescription medication access.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pfizer Inc said it will launch the pharmaceutical industry's most comprehensive initiative to significantly expand access to prescription medicines across the United States. The program will...

Georgia board approves 'estate recovery' to reimburse Medicaid.
August 2, 2004... 2004 AUG 2 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Georgia state Department of Community Health's board has approved a controversial plan to go after assets of people receiving long-term care under Medicaid, beginning in August. Under estate...