Managed Care Weekly articles from October 2003

Managed Care Weekly archives from October 2003

Experts concerned about insurance coverage of second-generation antihistamines.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Julie B. Henderson, senior medical editor - A trio of allergists believes the reduction or elimination of prescription coverage for second-generation antihistamines by managed care companies is...

Study: Mandated programs don't reduce prescription errors or improve care.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- After examining data from six state Medicaid programs, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have concluded that drug utilization review programs do not improve patient...

Report finds healthcare system's "quality gaps" cause 57,000 deaths annually.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new report shows that the U.S. healthcare system is riddled with "quality gaps" that prevent millions of Americans from receiving "best practice" care. These gaps, the result of factors such as...

Preliminary study results show overall employer & employee satisfaction.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In Minnesota, the state known as the birthplace of health maintenance organizations, researchers are taking a close look at another option to control skyrocketing healthcare costs: consumer-driven...

Report suggests ways to evaluate physician access in public insurance programs.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Since the late 1980s, the federal government and states have expanded coverage for low-income children and families under Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). While...

Study blasts privatized Medicaid program; data questioned.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An article in the September 17, 2003, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (see Managed Care Weekly Digest, NewsRx, September 29, 2003) caused a firestorm in the world of managed...

Abington Memorial Hospital earns magnet designation.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The nursing service at Abington Memorial Hospital has received one of the nation's highest forms of recognition for excellence. Magnet designation is being awarded to Abington Memorial Hospital,...

Chest pain units improve the treatment of heart attacks.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chest pain accounts for a considerable number of consultations in emergency departments. Among several other causes of chest pain, heart attacks need to be ruled out promptly since a fast diagnosis...

Study to examine effectiveness for mentally ill patients.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has awarded a Duke University Medical Center team $1.98 million in research funding to study the use and effectiveness of "psychiatric advance directives...

Longevity's healthcare costs reassessed.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More "golden years" do not cost the health care system more: Whether people are healthy at age 70 and live independently for many more years or are sickly and die sooner, their medical costs are about...

Brief telephonic questionnaire detects early signs of dementia.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have developed a brief telephonic questionnaire that reliably distinguishes between people with signs of dementia and people with normal cognitive function. The questionnaire provides a...

Asthma attacks at school are disruptive to routine, under-diagnosed.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- According to a national sample of members surveyed from the National Association of School Nurses, asthma is more disruptive of school routines than any other chronic condition and has a significant...

Tennessee seeks new service organizations for mentally ill TennCare enrollees.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Tennessee is seeking new companies to provide services for mentally ill TennCare enrollees. The state currently has two behavioral health organizations (BHOs), Premier Behavioral Health Systems of...

Medix resources announces agreement with CarePoint.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medix Resources, Inc., (MXR) announced that it has entered into a revenue-generating service agreement with a major pharmacy benefit manager. The object of their agreement is to achieve successful...

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield provides e-tools to Spanish-speaking members.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem) announced that it has expanded MiSalud@Anthem, its Spanish-language health and wellness website, and added Directorio de Proveedores, an online provider...

Longer commute for cancer treatment associated with better survival.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cancer patients who travel more than 15 miles for treatment appear to survive longer than patients who live closer to their treatment center, even after controlling for factors such as disease stage and...

Method to keep track of comorbidities is successful.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Many cancer patients have other diseases, and those ailments can influence their chance of survival and response to treatment. Although physicians take a person's overall health into account when...

Learning skills greatly limits stress for family caregivers, study finds.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Interventional skill-building programs ease the depression, anxiety, and anger common among family caregivers coping with a loved one who has dementia, say Stanford University Medical Center...

Study shows overweight, obesity linked to increased cancer risk.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study by researchers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) suggests being overweight could double a woman's risk of developing one type of cervical cancer, known as cervical adenocarcinoma....

Banyan opens chiropractic clinics nationwide.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Banyan Corporation (BANY) subsidiary, Chiropractic USA, Inc., on September 1, 2003, opened its first franchised clinics, with the conversion of various chiropractic clinics in California, Hawaii,...

GHN-Online teams with UHC to offer integrated revenue transaction solutions.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- GHN-Online, a national provider of online healthcare transaction processing, announced that a direct vendor partnership agreement has been signed with United HealthCare Services, Inc., (UHC). This...

Agreements signed for cardiac safety monitoring, information distribution services.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- eResearchTechnology, Inc., (eRT, ERES), a provider of centralized electrocardiographic (ECG) collection and interpretation services, announced that it has received agreements for more than $1.4 million...

Hospital and technology company join forces to reach "performance excellence".
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and GE Medical Systems announced the signing of a multi-year, several hundred million dollar partnership in which GE Medical Systems will provide NewYork-Presbyterian...

Doctor's urging may boost screening for those at risk.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Encouragement from family physicians could persuade more relatives of colorectal cancer patients to take a life-saving screening test for the disease, according to a new study. More than 143,000...

Key healthcare statistics about U.S. population now online.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Want to find out what proportion of uninsured children had an emergency room visit? Or what percentage of elderly Americans reported they were in poor health? How about the percentage of low-income...

Screening at primary level could be next trend in health care.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Given that one out of three patients seen by a primary physician suffers from a mental disorder, administering a simple screening measure at this level is not only effective, it's needed, said a Texas...

Consensus group develops 18 criteria for clinical guidelines.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The great variation in documentation of many current guidelines can lead to misunderstandings by clinicians, patients, and reporters about what some guidelines actually recommend, thus reducing chances...

Eighteen sites selected to evaluate effectiveness of eHealth technologies.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Seeking to realize the full potential of the emerging field of eHealth, the use of interactive technologies to improve health behavior and disease management, 18 sites have been awarded $4.8 million in...

Health Alliance Medical Plans covers new OTC drugs.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health Alliance Medical Plans announced its coverage of two new over-the-counter drugs, saving members money and time by increasing the number of pills received for one payment. Alavert, a...

Florida HealthSource to acquire two Broward County physical therapy clinics.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- iBX Group, Inc., (IBXG) announced that its Florida HealthSource division has agreed on terms to acquire two Medicare-certified physical therapy and chiropractic practices in Broward County that are...

Disease management company acquires StatusOne Health Systems.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American Healthways (AMHC) announced the completion of the $65 million cash purchase of Massachusetts-based StatusOne Health Systems, a provider of health management services for high-risk populations...

Medical privacy laws frustrate police.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sgt. Andrew Gallagher knew the 9-year-old boy was hospitalized, but that was about all. The Stamford, Connecticut, police investigator tried to reason with a nurse: he was investigating a car accident....

Recommendations provided for back-to-school head lice problem.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Journal of Nursing (AJN) covers both sides of the controversy raised by the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) recommendation to eliminate "no-nit" policies in the nation's schools. ...

Resource provides access to latest information on headache conditions.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Salu, Inc., the provider of specialty focused online and offline tools and services to help physicians enhance patient care, has launched its new Headache Resource Center. This is the seventh in a...

Insurance rates rise in Vermont, Wisconsin.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Health insurance rates for many Vermonters were set to go up at the end of September 2003, as were those for small businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont was...

Poor health affects businesses' bottom line.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Chronic conditions like obesity and asthma cost U.S. businesses billions of dollars in health insurance costs and lost productivity, according to a report released September 16, 2003, by the U.S....

Aetna announces 2004 Medicare+Choice markets.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Aetna (AET) announced that it intends to offer a Medicare+Choice option in five states for 2004, remaining in all of the markets it served in 2003. The company will continue to operate its...

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida increases enrollment.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In remarks presented during Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida's (BCBSF) annual policyholders' meeting recently, Robert I. Lufrano, MD, president and chief operating officer, reported increased...

Report: Insurers won't reimburse weight-loss treatment; cite lack of data.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Decision Resources, Inc., has issued a report indicating that the obese population is highly underserved. The inability of patients to maintain weight loss with currently available therapies drives...

Company offers guaranteed private health insurance in Alabama.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new kind of health insurance policy being sold by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama could help plug a gaping hole in state medical care. Uninsured Alabamians can get private health insurance...

Study finds more New Yorkers lack health coverage.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A growing number of New Yorkers, including those with jobs, lack health insurance, according to a study released on September 12, 2003. The study, based on U.S. Census data, found that between 1999...

80% of patients eligible for minimally invasive surgery.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- After analyzing safety and efficacy data from an initial group of 120 minimally invasive hip surgery patients, Chicago's Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard A....

Group issues position statement on HRT use.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Based on the continuing influx of clinical trial data regarding hormone therapy (i.e., estrogen or, for women with a uterus, estrogen plus progestogen), the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) has...

IPC enters into three new consulting agreements.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- IPC - The Hospitalist Company announced that it has entered into three new consulting agreements with organizations looking to improve the performance of their existing hospitalist programs. The...

Diabetes care moves online.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ConnectiCare and Medem announced the launch of a new service that will, for the first time, allow insured patients with diabetes to send their glucose readings to their own doctors securely via the...

Gentiva launches CaseMatch software.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Gentiva Health Services, Inc., (GTIV), a home health services provider, announced the creation and launch of CaseMatch, a new software-based scheduling program for effective coordination and staffing of...

Merge eFilm enters partnerships with four European resellers and distributors.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Merge Technologies, Inc., (MRGE), dba Merge eFilm, announced signed agreements with four European companies to resell or distribute Merge eFilm's FUSION RIS/PACS and eFilm Workstation solutions. ...

Navigant and Ontario Systems partner to provide revenue cycle management.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Navigant Consulting, Inc., (NCI), a specialized independent consulting firm, and Ontario Systems, LLC, a leader in providing receivables management information systems to businesses, announced that they...

New U.S. Health & Human Services project will use MicroStrategy technology.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MicroStrategy, Inc., (MSTR), a provider of business intelligence software, announced that the MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform is providing critical support for an important new project...

Pharmaceutical company implements Phoenix sample accountability services.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Phoenix, an Express Scripts company, announced that AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals L.P. has broadened its long-standing relationship with Phoenix to now include sample accountability services. Under...

Rockford Clinic enhances medical transcription services.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Rockford Clinic, serving northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, announced an agreement to enhance their medical transcription services through a technology and management contract with CyMed,...

Software provides new surgery center with coding compliance.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ProVation Medical, Inc., announced that the newly opened Center for Specialty Surgery, a privately owned subsidiary of the Orthopedic & Fracture Clinic, will use its ProVation MD procedure documentation...

Healthcare premiums to rise 13% in 2004; rate of increase high but slowing.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Premium rates for managed care health insurance will rise nearly 13% in 2004, according to a Corporate Research Group survey of more than 50 major employers, coalitions, and health plans in 25 states....

Health plan company seeks inquiry into Minnesota cancer center.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medica, a Minnetonka, Minnesota-based health plan company, says it wants a federal and state investigation into Parker Hughes Cancer Center for possible fraud, overuse of diagnostic tests, and its...

Healthcare appeals process working, New York administration says.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- More than 2,000 people in New York have won healthcare coverage originally denied them by insurance companies under the state's 4-year-old External Review Law, Governor George Pataki's administration...

Ohio attorney general to investigate Medicaid claims related to equipment.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The federal prosecution of a subsidiary of healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories has the Ohio attorney general looking into whether customers of the subsidiary submitted fraudulent claims to the...

Report urges laws, practices to address needs of incapacitated elderly patients.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- After 10 years in a nursing home, an 89-year-old Alzheimer patient with no living relatives is admitted to the hospital with a high fever. Doctors find him to be suffering from severe bedsores and a...

High staff turnover linked to workplace environment.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- At a time when staffing direct-care positions is a huge obstacle for the aging services field, a new study shows that dissatisfaction in the workplace may affect recruitment and retention more than some...

Electronic medical record technology offered to physician offices.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- PSS World Medical, Inc., (PSSI) and GE Medical Systems Information Technologies, the healthcare IT business of General Electric Company (GE), have entered into a 3-year agreement under which Physician...

Antidepressant, proton pump inhibitor lead first half 2003 in drug promotion.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Forest Laboratories, Inc.'s, Lexapro and TAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s, Prevacid were the prescription drugs most heavily promoted to managed care pharmacy directors during the first 6 months of 2003,...

Drug-eluting stents improve outcomes in heart stent procedures.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- ECRI's technology assessment of published studies on the implantation of drug-eluting stents after angioplasty concluded that the rate of coronary artery restenosis (reblockage or renarrowing of the...

Governors ponder dilemma of soaring costs.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Governors of western states, tired of watching health care for the poor gobbling up ever larger chunks of their state budgets, were told on September 15, 2003, that proposed changes in a separate...

HMS continues to administer estate recovery for Colorado program.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing has awarded Health Management Systems, Inc., a contract to administer the Colorado Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Program, which works to...

AMA will provide electronic ethics alerts to physicians.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Medical Association announced that it will provide free "ethics alerts" to physicians via ePocrates' DocAlert system, a messaging system for personal digital assistants (PDAs). These...

As healthcare problems persist, alliance breaks down.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cracks have appeared in the alliance of doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, and other groups that pushed limits on medical malpractice lawsuits through the West Virginia Legislature in 2003. ...

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield to process, pay claims in Rhode Island.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield will replace Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) as the Medicare claims processing...

HMO announces Medicare plans for 2004.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Oxford Health Plans, Inc. (OHP) announced its Medicare plans for the year 2004. Oxford will continue to provide service in a total of seven counties in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, which...

New efforts aimed at stopping abuse of the power wheelchair benefit.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in September 2003 a 10-point initiative to substantially curb abuse of the Medicare program by unscrupulous providers of power wheelchairs...

Industry study reveals behavioral health benefits pay off.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A recent study reaffirms the ability to demonstrate effective, measurable results to employers that provide behavioral health benefits. The study, led by G.S. (Jeb) Brown, PhD, of the Center for...

American Medical Security sells Accountable Health Plan network.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- American Medical Security Group, Inc., (AMZ, AMS) and IPACQ, Inc., have concluded an agreement for the sale of AMS' subsidiary, Accountable Health Plans of America, Inc., (AHP), to IPACQ. Under...

H-Net.Net advances acquisition strategy.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- H-Net.Net (HNTN) is making plans for an acquisition. The company announced it has now identified two distinct possibilities in its search for strategic acquisitions, aimed to bring significant new...

Medicare panel supports Visudyne therapy for use in patients with occult AMD.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- QLT, Inc., (QLT) announced a favorable vote by the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee (MCAC) regarding questions relevant to the decision to be made by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid...

Medicare coding instructions issued for Bexxar.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Corixa Corp. (NASDAQ:CRXA) and GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) announced that the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued coding instructions to hospitals for obtaining reimbursement for...

Doctors need to know alcohol, pregnancy don't mix.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some healthcare professionals believe that women who are pregnant can enjoy an occasional glass of wine with no ill effects to their unborn babies. They're mistaken, and an awareness campaign...

Massachusetts plan will cover pregnant women.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- On September 15, 2003, Massachusetts became the fifth state to get federal approval to extend state healthcare insurance to pregnant women and their unborn children. Health and Human Services...

Augmentin ES-600T more effective than Zithromax in study.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a large study of young children with acute otitis media (AOM, or middle ear infections), clinical and bacteriologic outcomes with Augmentin ES-600T (amoxicillin/clavulanate) were statistically...

Academy recognized for enhancing physician-patient communication.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A commitment to physician-patient communication has earned the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) the 2003 Bayer Institute for HealthCare Partner Award. In 2001, the AAOS established...

Horizon BCBS to educate parents about infant immunizations.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ) announced an immunization reminder program to help educate new parents about crucial vaccinations for their infant children. New...

Forrester Research highlights attitudes and behaviors of the uninsured.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Twenty-seven percent of Americans without health insurance are actively seeking coverage, according to a new Consumer Technographics report by Forrester Research, Inc., (FORR). Why is this...

As budget woes threaten children's access to dental care, states get creative.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Amid growing concern that state budget crises will turn back the clock on gains in children's access to oral health care, a new report from the American Dental Association (ADA) provides surprising...

JCAHO creates two options to address legal disclosure concerns.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) announced in September 2003 two options designed to address legal disclosure concerns related to the Periodic Performance Review...

Frank A. D'Amelio joins Humana board of directors.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Humana, Inc., (HUM) announced that Frank A. D'Amelio, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Lucent Technologies, Inc., has been appointed to the company's board of directors. With...

HMO announces new president.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon announced that Jack A. Friedman will become the company's next president effective October 1 and will also become executive vice president of The Regence Group....

HealthSouth names Lee S. Hillman as new board member.
October 6, 2003... 2003 OCT 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- HealthSouth Corp. (HLSH) announced that it has appointed Lee S. Hillman as a new independent member to the company's board of directors. Hillman's appointment was approved and recommended to the...