Biotechnology Top 20 
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This page shows you the 20 most read items in the past 30 days within this specialty in the MedWorm directory.
UC student insurance may see hefty premium hike
University of California students, including those studying at University of California Davis, may face hefty health insurance premium hikes, according to the Daily Californian.
The UC health insurance plan expects a $57 million deficit, and premiums are recommended to be raised by an average of 25 percent. That might mean students may opt out of the plan, leaving them vulnerable when it comes to medical emergencies. (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 5, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
St. Joseph Medical Center losing millions in Medicare reimbursements
When University of Maryland took over St. Joseph Medical Center Dec. 1, it voluntarily gave up a Medicare certification that is likely causing it to lose millions of dollars in government reimbursements, the Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday.
Days after the acquisition, the hospital failed a critical federal inspection that is now preventing it from collecting millions in Medicare reimbursements it may never recover. (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 13, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
What do hospitals want from the state Legislature in 2013?
The Washington State Hospital Association has made its lobbying priorities for the 2013 legislative session.
The industry group (WSHA) is weighing in on a number of issues, including staffing levels for nurses, electronic health records and privacy during physician peer reviews and hospital evaluations.
The WSHA is stressing that its highest priority right now is Medicaid expansion, an element of the federal Affordable Care Act that gives states the option of implementing or not.
It would extend… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 1, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Valerie Bauman Source Type: research
17 Hawaii nursing homes get highest rating from U.S. News & World Report
About 35 percent of the 48 Hawaii nursing homes on U.S. News & World Report’s list of the best nursing homes received an overall score of five stars, based on data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Seventeen nursing homes in Hawaii earned the top score for their overall performance in health inspections, nurse staffing, and quality of medical care, according to U.S. News & World Report website. Three of the 48 were not rated.
Of the 17 that received five stars, five were hospitals… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 26, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
RNA Fragments May Yield Rapid, Accurate Cancer Diagnosis
Fragments of RNA that cells eject in fatty droplets may point the way to a new era of cancer diagnosis, potentially eliminating the need for invasive tests in certain cases. [More] (Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology)
Source: Scientific American Topic - Biotechnology - January 30, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Tags: Health,Health,Mind & Brain,Technology,Medical Technology,Neurological Disorders,Neuroscience,Biotechnology,Biotechnology,Biology,More Science Source Type: news
Carroll Hospital Center moves forward on $28M renovation
Carroll Hospital Center is breaking ground on a $28 million renovation and addition to its Dixon building.
The project calls for a 43,000-square-foot addition, for a total building size of 68,500 square feet. The building will house the Westminster hospital’s new William E. Kahlert Regional Cancer Center and the Tevis Center for Wellness.
The project is largely being supported by the hospital center’s $22 million fund-raising campaign, “Campaign to Cure & Comfort, Always.” About $12 million… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 5, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Sarah Gantz Source Type: research
Coventry secures rate increase for Kentucky Medicaid
Coventry Health Care Inc. (NYSE: CVH) has secured a rate increase for its money-losing contract in Kentucky.
MarketWatch reports that the company, one of three that began covering Kentucky Medicaid patients outside the Louisville area in late 2011, said in a Monday regulatory filing that it has agreed with the state to boost rates by 7 percent for each year left on the contract, which runs through late 2014.
MarketWatch adds that analysts believe the rate increases could make the company's state… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 13, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Ohio Medicaid expansion would add 275K to rolls
Ohio Gov. John Kasich's move to expand the state’s Medicaid program would add 275,000 Ohioans to the program’s rolls. Ohio now joins 18 other states and Washington, D.C., that have committed to expansion.
Expansion of Medicaid, which provides health coverage to low-income and disabled residents, is a key component of health care reform. But a summer U.S. Supreme Court ruling left states with the option to make any changes to their programs.
Kasich, a Republican and no fan of the reform bill,… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 5, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: James Ritchie Source Type: research
A.K. Desai expects to keep Universal ties after proposed acquisition
Dr. Akshay Desai said he would remain involved with Universal Health Care Inc., after a planned acquisition by America’s 1st Choice Holdings of Florida LLC.
However, there will be workforce reductions if the deal goes through, Desai, president and CEO of Universal, said in an email to the Tampa Bay Business Journal late Friday.
America’s 1st, a holding company controlled by Dr. Kiran Patel, has a letter of agreement to acquire certain health plan assets of Universal, a health insurance firm… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 1, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Margie Manning Source Type: research
WellCare expands in Florida
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration agreed to allow WellCare of Florida to expand its Staywell Medicaid managed care services.
The expansion adds 25 new counties to the company’s service area and positions WellCare as the only Medicaid managed care provider offering plans in all 67 Florida counties, a statement said.
“We serve more Florida Medicaid members than any other health plan,” said Chrissie Cooper, president of WellCare’s Florida and Hawaii division, in the statement.
An… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 5, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Margie Manning Source Type: research
N.C. lawmakers send Medicaid bill to McCrory’s desk
A bill blocking expansion of North Carolina’s Medicaid program as part of national heath care reform is heading to the desk of Gov. Pat McCrory.
McCrory has said he intends to sign the measure.
Both the North Carolina House and Senate took final votes on the measure on Tuesday. The House vote was 74-40. The Senate vote was 31-16.
Standing in opposition in the Senate was Orange County Democrat Ellie Kinnaird.
“The health of our people is at stake at this point,” Kinnaird says, adding that,… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 26, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Lee Weisbecker Source Type: research
Optometrist pleads guilty to Medicare fraud
An Augusta optometrist has pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare. Court documents say Jeffrey Sponseller billed Medicare more than $800,000 mostly based on lies, reports the Augusta Chronicle.
Court documents say Sponseller,47, the owner of Eye Care One in Augusta, came to the attention of federal agents due to complaints about his billing practices.
Sponseller, authorities found, was the highest recipient in the United States of Medicare payments for one specialized billing procedure, the August… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 21, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Carla Caldwell Source Type: research
Capital Region hospitals remove flu restrictions
Four health systems in the Albany, NY area have removed visitation guidelines implemented in January to protect patients from the flu virus. The restrictions have ended because the Capital Region has had a steady decrease in the number of influenza cases since early January.
Albany Medical Center; St. Peter's Health Partners hospitals including St. Peter's Hospital, Albany Memorial Hospital, Samaritan Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital (Troy) and Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital; Ellis Hospital and… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 13, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research
Houston's PBK to assist with billion-dollar hospital in Turkey
Houston-based PBK Architects Inc. will partner with a Turkish construction and development company for a 12.1 million-square-foot, $1.5 billion medical campus in Ankara, Turkey.
The medical campus will consist of eight hospital towers, which will be connected to a medical core, said Greg Hughes, PBK's director of health care. The campus will consist of women's, children's, cardiovascular, cancer and orthopedic hospitals and will have 3,662 beds total.
Hughes said PBK was approached to do the design-review… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 6, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Bayan Raji Source Type: research
Emergency contraception, paid leave, top Hawaii women’s legislative issues
Members of Hawaii’s Women’s Legislative Caucus, comprised of legislators from both the Senate and House of Representatives, unveiled this year’s bills for Hawaii women in a press conference Thursday morning.
The 17 bills, which must be approved by three-quarters of the 16 House members and eight senators who make up the Women’s Legislative Caucus to make the annual package, target a range of women’s issues from health, public housing, parental rights, women in the workforce, to breast-feeding.
One… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - January 31, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Jenna Blakely Source Type: research
Genentech sees promising results from late-stage cancer drug study
Genentech Inc.'s potential replacement for Rituxan as a treatment for two blood cancers helped patients live longer before their disease progressed again.
Genentech, the South San Francisco-based U.S. biotech arm of Swiss drug giant Roche, said the Phase III trial tested its drug, called GA-101, in combination with the chemotherapy agent chlorambucil in previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients. The results, when compared to patients treated with chlorambucil alone, showed an improvement… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - January 31, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Ron Leuty Source Type: research
Real‐Time Individual Predictions of Prostate Cancer Recurrence Using Joint Models
Summary Patients who were previously treated for prostate cancer with radiation therapy are monitored at regular intervals using a laboratory test called Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). If the value of the PSA test starts to rise, this is an indication that the prostate cancer is more likely to recur, and the patient may wish to initiate new treatments. Such patients could be helped in making medical decisions by an accurate estimate of the probability of recurrence of the cancer in the next few years. In this article, we describe the methodology for giving the probability of recurrence for a new patient, as implemented o...
Source: Biometrics - February 4, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Jeremy M. G. Taylor, Yongseok Park, Donna P. Ankerst, Cecile Proust‐Lima, Scott Williams, Larry Kestin, Kyoungwha Bae, Tom Pickles, Howard Sandler Source Type: research
UnitedHealth faces suit over hepatitis outbreak
A unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc. is facing lawsuits over a hepatitis outbreak in Nevada, with plaintiffs claiming the insurer didn't oversee the doctor's practice properly.
Bloomberg reports on the case, which involves a former gastroenterologist who gave colonoscopy patients hepatitis C by mishandling the anesthetic. The doctor is facing second-degree murder and fraud charges.
It's the first trial against Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth over the case. Plaintiffs for two of the doctor's patients… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 22, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Mark Reilly Source Type: research
Giant Eagle ends free prescriptions for some drugs
Giant Eagle Inc. has ended its program providing free antibiotics and diabetes drugs, moving the items to its $4 and $10 generic prescription lists, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
Giant Eagle said the program had served 3.2 million customers since 2009.
The Pittsburgh-based supermarket chain runs 229 supermarkets and 178 fuel and convenience stores, including 24 supermarkets in Central Ohio.
Morning Call is compiled from news reports originated by other media organizations and Columbus… (Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines)
Source: bizjournals.com Health Care:Biotechnology headlines - February 4, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Evan Weese Source Type: research
Estimating Strain‐Specific and Overall Efficacy of Polyvalent Vaccines Against Recurrent Pathogens From a Cross‐Sectional Study
This study presents a framework for defining and estimating strain‐specific and overall vaccine efficacy for susceptibility to acquisition of colonization () when there is a large number of strains with mutual interactions and recurrent dynamics of colonization. We develop estimators based on one observation of the current status per study subject, evaluate their robustness, and re‐analyze the two vaccine trials. Methodologically, the proposed estimators are closely related to case–control studies with prevalent cases, with appropriate consideration of the at‐risk time in choosing the controls. (Source: Biometrics)
Source: Biometrics - February 4, 2013 Category: Biotechnology Authors: Kari Auranen, Hanna Rinta‐Kokko, M. Elizabeth Halloran Source Type: research
