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Popular Articles

New Phone Number To Make Urgent Care Easier To Access, UK
A consultation on a new national three-digit number - 111 - that will make it easier for patients to access urgent care wherever they are was launched by Ofcom.

Children's Hospitals And Clinics Of Minnesota Receive Level III Trauma Designation
The Minnesota Department of Health recently designated Children"s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota"s two hospital locations as Level III Trauma Hospitals. Children"s of Minnesota has the sixth busiest pediatric emergency department in the nation with over 84,000 visits per year, and already treats around 450 trauma cases each year. Children"s voluntarily participated in the intense designation process, which included an external review of the hospitals" res and capabilities to care for young trauma patients. Children"s met the required standards of commitment, clinical and equipment res, and staff training.
News of the day
Department Of Justice, HHS Boosts Number Of Investigators, Prosecutors Looking At Medicare, Medicaid Fraud
HHS and the Department of Justice on Wednesday launched the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team to detect and prevent fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, the Washington Post reports (Johnson, Washington Post, 5/21). DOJ also plans to establish teams to address fraud in the Medicare Part D program and CHIP (Kennedy, AP/Houston Chronicle, 5/20). Wednesday"s announcement also included a recommendation by President Obama"s administration to include $311 million in the fiscal year 2010 budget to address health care fraud, which is a 50% increase from FY 2009. According to Attorney General Eric Holder, efforts to combat health care fraud will contribute to the administration"s health care overhaul plans (Clark/Weaver, McClatchy/Kansas City Star, 5/20). The task force, which will include HHS and DOJ staff members, law enforcement agents and prosecutors, will meet biweekly, CQ HealthBeat reports (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 5/20). Under the plan, existing enforcement teams in Miami and Los Angeles will be expanded and new teams will be established in Houston and Detroit, where officials say suspicious billing patterns have emerged. In addition, the plan will set up task forces in 10 other major cities, which were not named (AP/Houston Chronicle, 5/20). The enforcement teams will increase site visits to durable medical equipment suppliers upon their enrollment. In addition, officials will expand training to help providers identify and prevent fraud or other mistakes (CQ HealthBeat, 5/20). The task force will use electronic claims data to detect "unusual billing problems," according to the Post (Washington Post, 5/21). HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the task force also intends to simplify billing systems and assist state officials in conducting Medicaid audits (CQ HealthBeat, 5/20). According to Holder, the joint task force will allow officials to share real-time intelligence data on health care fraud by monitoring claims payments, billing patterns and targeted surveillance (AP/Houston Chronicle, 5/20). Money
Diagnostics

Enhanced Digital Breast Imaging From US Navy-Funded Technology

A breakthrough technology adapted for breast cancer detection based in part on research originally sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is set to air July 23 during a CNN International news segment on Vital Signs, a program hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The technology, referred to by the U.S. Navy as enhanced digital imaging, developed out of the Navy"s need to improve capabilities to detect, localize and classify underwater mines. It later served as the point of departure for research conducted by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Division Newport (NUWC), part of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), designed to enhance the discrimination of data in complex underwater environments. Researchers at NUWC later patented the enhanced digital imaging process. The NUWC"s Technology Transfer program, also known as T2, made possible the transfer, commercialization and transition of the digital enhancement technology. The innovative concept was adapted by software developer, Advanced Image Enhancement (AIE), to provide improved enhancement of digital mammography images, thereby increasing the potential for improved reliability in the early detection of breast cancer. The Vital Signs July program series is reporting on select medical advances born from military research, both on the battlefield out of necessity and other s, highlighting how innovations eventually are applied in emergency rooms and medical procedures around the world. AIE technology complements existing radiology devices by yielding more detailed images, especially by uncovering the often faint cancerous lesions in dense and hard-to-detect breast tissue. It is expected to be commercially available in the late summer 2009. Peter Vietti Office of Naval Research


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