Medtronic Dispute Shows Need for Device Registry - NYTimes.com

Medtronic Dispute Shows Need for Device Registry - NYTimes.com: "Conflicting data this week about the failure rate of a critical and widely used Medtronic heart device has set off a debate among researchers who want to understand the discrepancies and the implications for patient care."

Obama Proposes $634 Billion Fund For Health Care - washingtonpost.com

Obama Proposes $634 Billion Fund For Health Care - washingtonpost.com: "President Obama is proposing to begin a vast expansion of the U.S. health-care system by creating a $634 billion reserve fund over the next decade, launching an overhaul that most experts project will ultimately cost at least $1 trillion."

MDT Buys 2 Heart-Valve Co.s - NYTimes.com

Medtronic to Buy 2 Heart-Valve Tech Makers - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com: "Medtronic said on Monday that it is buying two privately held makers of heart-valve technologies, paying about $1.03 billion in cash for both. Both CoreValve, based in Irvine, Calif., and Ventor Technologies, based in Netanya, Israel, make technologies that allow heart valves to be replaced using a catheter, instead of through surgery."

Leavitt says taking on Medicare is key to reform - Modern Healthcare

Leavitt says taking on Medicare is key to reform - Modern Healthcare: "Former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt told a panel of U.S. governors that tackling the misaligned incentives and almost invisible cost and quality data within the Medicare program is key to healthcare reform, but added that individual states should ultimately be allowed to tailor their own programs."

Health Care Industry in Talks to Shape Policy - NYTimes.com

Health Care Industry in Talks to Shape Policy - NYTimes.com: "Since last fall, many of the leading figures in the nation’s long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room. Now, with the blessing of the Senate’s leading proponent of universal health insurance, Edward M. Kennedy, they appear to be inching toward a consensus that could reshape the debate."

Lawmakers Seek to Return Right to Sue Device Makers - NYTimes.com

Lawmakers Seek to Return Right to Sue Device Makers - NYTimes.com: ". . . [A] Supreme Court decision last year stands as a barrier against suing medical device companies — an obstacle that some members of Congress want to remove. "

In California, Pricey Health Insurance Plans Get Pricier-WSJ Health Blog

In California, Pricey Health Insurance Plans Get Pricier-WSJ Health Blog: "Two California health insurers have been overcharging patients for a special type of coverage for people with pre-existing health problems, the Los Angeles Times reports."

Most Clinical Trials Done Abroad - WSJ.com

Most Clinical Trials Done Abroad - WSJ.com: "Most testing for the U.S. drug industry's late-stage human trials is now done at sites outside the country, where results often can be obtained cheaper and faster, according to a study."

CA Senate GOP dumps leader as budget standoff goes on - Sacramento Bee

CA Senate GOP dumps leader as budget standoff goes on - Sacramento Bee: "Senate Republicans ousted their leader early this morning as other lawmakers continued searching for one more GOP vote in the upper house to break the state's budget deadlock."

Howard Dean is Long Shot to Head Health and Human Services-WSJ Health Blog

Howard Dean is Long Shot to Head Health and Human Services-WSJ Health Blog: "As a doctor who expanded health insurance in Vermont and ran the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean appears to have credentials that would qualify him to replace Tom Daschle as the nominee to head Health and Human Services. But he’s a long shot for the job due to what his allies call Democratic “family politics,” the Hill reports this morning."

Specter Pulls Off a Coup for Health Money - NYTimes.com

Specter Pulls Off a Coup for Health Money - NYTimes.com: "For years, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania has been the National Institutes of Health’s most ardent champion on Capitol Hill. Having survived two bouts with cancer, open-heart surgery and even a faulty diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease, he has long insisted that research that results in medical cures is the best service that government can provide."

U.S., as Part of Stimulus Bill, Will Compare Effectiveness of Medical Treatments - NYTimes.com

U.S., as Part of Stimulus Bill, Will Compare Effectiveness of Medical Treatments - NYTimes.com: "The $787 billion economic stimulus bill approved by Congress will, for the first time, provide substantial amounts of money for the federal government to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness."

Congress Strikes $789 Billion Stimulus Deal - WSJ.com

Congress Strikes $789 Billion Stimulus Deal - WSJ.com: "Congress and the White House reached accord on a $789.5 billion economic-recovery package that would shower hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief on individuals and businesses and spark an infrastructure building boom, from the nation's ports and waterways to its schools and military bases. The deal all but clinches passage of one of the largest economic rescue programs since Franklin Roosevelt launched the New Deal."

Bloviation vs. Reality on Stimulus Health-Care Provision - washingtonpost.com

Bloviation vs. Reality on Stimulus Health-Care Provision - washingtonpost.com: "The report spelled out the committee's rationale for including $1.1 billion for something called 'comparative effectiveness research' in the massive economic stimulus bill. For those of not steeped in the argot of health policy, that's research done by doctors and statisticians who troll through large number of patient records to determine, for any particular disease, which treatments work best."

HHS Candidate Draws Fire, Fights Back - WSJ.com

HHS Candidate Draws Fire, Fights Back - WSJ.com: "Health-care advocates are actively campaigning to persuade Barack Obama to cross a leading candidate off his short-list for secretary of Health and Human Services: Tennessee Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen. And, in an unusual move for an official under consideration, the governor is fighting back publicly."

How Pfizer's Doctor-Payment Disclosure Compares to Grassley Plan- WSJ Health Blog

How Pfizer's Doctor-Payment Disclosure Compares to Grassley Plan-WSJ Health Blog: "Pfizer said yestrday that it would start reporting payments to doctors. The company joins Eli Lilly, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, all of which have reported similar plans in the past several months."

Health care's 5 points of fight-Politico.com

Health care's 5 points of fight-Politico.com: "With Congress eyeing billions of dollars in health care spending to prop up the nation’s crumbling economy, the economic stimulus package is shaping up as something of a precursor for health care reform."

Drug Makers Fight Stimulus Provision - WSJ.com

Drug Makers Fight Stimulus Provision - WSJ.com: "The drug and medical-device industries are mobilizing to gut a provision in the stimulus bill that would spend $1.1 billion on research comparing medical treatments, portraying it as the first step to government rationing."

Two Hospitals See High Death Rates from Heart Procedure-WSJ Health Blog

Two Hospitals See High Death Rates from Heart Procedure-WSJ Health Blog: "Two Massachusetts hospitals are trying to explain why their cardiac catheterization programs had unusually high death rates a couple of years ago."

Key Senators Want No Delay On Healthcare System Reform-National Journal Congress Daily

Key Senators Want No Delay On Healthcare System Reform-National Journal CongressDaily:
'The two most powerful senators on healthcare issues wrote President Obama Thursday to reaffirm their desire to pass a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's healthcare system this year.Some lawmakers have suggested that completion of an overhaul that would provide universal coverage could slip to next year -- an idea that gained traction this week when former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., relinquished his nomination to serve as HHS secretary.
"Incremental efforts will no longer suffice and we cannot afford to wait any longer," wrote Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy. "With your continued leadership and commitment, we remain certain that our goal of enacting comprehensive healthcare reform can be accomplished this year."
The three-paragraph letter did not provide any detail on how to achieve the goal, but it did suggest a new HHS secretary nomination needs to happen quickly.'

Google, IBM Promote Online Health Records - WSJ.com

Google, IBM Promote Online Health Records - WSJ.com: "Google Inc., moving to improve its online health-record service, is teaming with International Business Machines Corp. to allow patients to add data generated from home-health monitoring products, such as blood-pressure cuffs and glucose meters"

GOP Task Force Established To Draft Healthcare Reforms-CongressDaily

GOP Task Force Established To Draft Healthcare Reforms-Congress Daily: "Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., will lead a new Republican task force on health care, with a mission of finding ways to increase access to health care without moving toward a government-run system, House Minority Leader Boehner announced Wednesday.
Boehner also named 15 other Republican lawmakers to the task force, including Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, Education and Labor ranking member Howard (Buck) McKeon, Budget ranking member Paul Ryan, and Ways and Means ranking member Dave Camp.
The task force will begin meeting this week, Boehner said."

With Daschle Gone, Who Will Run Health and Human Services?-WSJ Health Blog

With Daschle Gone, Who Will Run Health and Human Services?-WSJ Health Blog: "After Tom Daschle was nominated for HHS secretary, it seemed as though he was coasting toward an easy confirmation. Now, President Obama’s advisers are “scrambling to find an alternative,” as the New York Times puts it this morning, after Obama had basically only seriously considered Daschle for the job."

As Nominee Trips, Health Care Drive Suffers a Setback - NYTimes.com

As Nominee Trips, Health Care Drive Suffers a Setback - NYTimes.com: "The abrupt collapse of Tom Daschle’s cabinet nomination on Tuesday undercut President Obama’s mission to expand health care by depriving him of an unusually well positioned architect for a big legislative campaign and leaving him without a backup plan."

Obama Says He Erred in Nominations - washingtonpost.com

Obama Says He Erred in Nominations - washingtonpost.com: "President Obama acknowledged yesterday that he had 'made a mistake' in trying to exempt some candidates for positions in his administration from strict ethics standards and accepted the withdrawal of two top nominees, including former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle, in the first major setback of his young presidency"

Daschle Withdraws Name for HHS Secretary - washingtonpost.com

Daschle Withdraws Name for HHS Secretary - washingtonpost.com: "Thomas A. Daschle, President Obama's choice to be secretary of health and human services, has withdrawn his nomination, White House officials announced shortly after noon."

WSJ, NYT Editorials Call for Daschle's Withdrawal; WaPo Backs Him-WSJ Health Blog

WSJ, NYT Editorials Call for Daschle's Withdrawal; WaPo Backs Him-WSJ Health Blog: "In a rare moment of agreement, the editorial pages of the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have both called for Tom Daschle to give up on becoming secretary of Health and Human Services. The Washington Post says Daschle still deserves the job."