The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today the award of $9 million from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to help Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) programs across the nation continue their work fighting Medicare fraud. This is part of President Obama’s initiative to educate people with Medicare about how [...]
During National Diabetes Awareness Month, The Minnesota Optometric Association (MOA) urges those living with diabetes to schedule yearly comprehensive eye exams to help detect diabetic eye disease. Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults 20-74 years of age in Minnesota. About 38,000 Minnesotans report that diabetic retinopathy affects their eyes, [...]
Women under 50 with rheumatoid arthritis are at greater risk of breaking bones than women without the condition, according to a Mayo Clinic study being presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual scientific meeting in Chicago. Men with rheumatoid arthritis also are in more danger of fractures, but that risk seems to surface when [...]
X-ray images known as CT scans can help confirm gout in patients who are suspected of having the painful condition but receive negative results from traditional tests, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The type of CT scan analyzed, dual-energy computed tomography, is also valuable for diagnosing people who cannot be tested with the typical [...]
The holiday season is upon us. Before planning that Thanksgiving dinner or Black Friday shopping spree, put a flu vaccination at the top of the list. Flu vaccinations are the first line of defense for staying healthy during the flu and holiday season. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), flu activity [...]
Decision Resources has published a study that says that the breast cancer therapy market will decline to $9.3 billion in 2011 before rising to $10.6 billion in 2020 in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan. The findings from the Pharmacor topic entitled Breast Cancer reveal that declines in sales, [...]
The prostate-specific antigen test, commonly known as the PSA test, is valuable in predicting which men should have biopsies and which are likely to be diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The findings were released today during a meeting of the North Central Section of the American Urological Association in [...]
Shahab Asgharzadeh, MD, a physician-scientist in the Cancer Program at The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, has received two competitive grants to continue his research aimed at finding gene-based treatment solutions for two deadly pediatric cancers that originate in the nervous system. Dr. Asgharzadeh’s investigations are focused on medulloblastoma, a highly malignant [...]
Anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologist assistants who last validated their enrollment in Medicare prior to March 25, 2011 are going to have to revalidate again by March 23, 2013. The revalidation is required under Section 6028 of the Affordable Care Act. According to this statutory provision, all providers and suppliers who were initially enrolled before [...]
Parkview Regional Medical Center has included a fleet of delivery robots in its building design to solve the logistics challenge of covering nearly 1 million square feet in a timely and efficient manner. The hospital’s new TUG robots®, built by Pittsburgh-based Aethon, will transport medications, meals, linens, equipment, supplies and trash to and from patient [...]