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You won’t read about the International Classification of Disease (ICD) on TMZ or hear it discussed on The View, but it has the potential to be an unpleasant October surprise in the health care world. It is a list of codes that physicians and hospitals use when billing insurance companies. These codes cover all manner of medical diagnoses for diseases, conditions, and injuries. The first version of the ICD appeared in 1946, with periodic revisions since. Six months from now, on October 1, the latest version, the ICD-10, will be implemented in the U.S. We are late to the party,...

Doctors feel a "deep sense of outrage" at the failure to grant them a 1% increase in basic pay, the head of the British Medical Association has said. In a letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Dr Mark Porter urged the government to reconsider the decision. Many NHS staff will get a 1% rise, but those receiving automatic "progression-in-job" increases, "typically worth over 3%", will not get the 1% as well. The government said a 1% across-the-board rise would cost jobs. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation is currently at 2%, and the NHS pay review body had...

ACA Grace Period Rule Could Put Physicians at Financial Risk Mark Crane March 19, 2014 Physician practices could be put at financial risk because of a little-known rule in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that provides a 3-month grace period for consumers who do not pay their premiums on time, several national medical organizations have complained.The rule, published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), grants individuals who purchase subsidized coverage through the state insurance exchanges a 90-day grace period before their coverage is cancelled for nonpayment.During the first 30 days of the grace period, insurance companies are required to...

Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Heart Foundation have found there is actually no evidence that confirms changing the type of fat you eat from "bad" saturated to "healthier" polyunsaturated cuts heart risk. The researchers analysed data from 72 unique studies with over 600,000 participants from 18 nations and found total saturated fatty acid, whether measured in the diet or in the bloodstream as a biomarker, was not associated with coronary disease risk in the observational studies.

Last year Connecticut state senator Ed Meyer introduced a bill to create “physician-assisted suicide.” It failed, but this year he and state representative Elizabeth Ritter are trying again. H.B. 5326 would permit a competent person who is suffering from a terminal illness to “request aid in dying” through administration of prescribed medication. The bill is an affront to human life generally, but especially to elder or infirm adults and disabled individuals. For Connecticut citizens who respect life, it is unconscionable. The bill’s proponents say that assisted suicide is the compassionate answer. But an article in The New York Times summarized...

The age of politicizing everything is here and President Obama's pick for Surgeon General is no different. Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy has been tapped to lead the charge when it comes to promoting public health with the full weight of the federal government behind him. He also has a history of promoting gun control, of slamming the Second Amendment and has publicly called guns a "healthcare issue" and public health threat. Dr. Vivek Hallegere Murthy is the president and founder of Doctors for America, which grew from the campaign organization that was called Doctors for Obama, started in 2008....

A pediatric cancer charity is offering to pay for 7-year-old cancer survivor Josh Hardy to receive lifesaving medication that could cure him of a potentially deadly virus. But Chimerix, the pharmaceutical company that produces the medication, is still refusing to give Josh the treatment he so desperately needs. In fact, a representative for the charity said he tried speaking with Chimerix CEO Kenneth Moch about Josh's case - but Moch hung up on him. **SNIP** Josh’s mother, Aimee Hardy, has appealed to Moch to grant Josh emergency access to the medication, but the company is refusing to make an exception....

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today allowed marketing of the first device for the preventive treatment of migraine headaches (Cefaly, STX-Med). It is also the first transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device specifically authorized for use before the onset of pain, the FDA noted in a statement released today. "Cefaly provides an alternative to medication for migraine prevention," Christy Foreman, director of the Office of Device Evaluation at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in the statement. "This may help patients who cannot tolerate current migraine medications for preventing migraines or treating attacks." The device,...

Report From the Panel Members Appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC 8) FREE Hypertension is the most common condition seen in primary care and leads to myocardial infarction, stroke, renal failure, and death if not detected early and treated appropriately. Patients want to be assured that blood pressure (BP) treatment will reduce their disease burden, while clinicians want guidance on hypertension management using the best scientific evidence. This report takes a rigorous, evidence-based approach to recommend treatment thresholds, goals, and medications in the management of hypertension in adults. Evidence was drawn from randomized controlled trials, which represent the...

Today MarijuanaDoctors.com began airing a television commercial that looks to be the first ever marijuana commercial on a "Major Network". The spot began airing in New Jersey and is believed to be the first time that any major television network in the U.S. has allowed a commercial addressing the controversial subject matter and advertising the first ever medical marijuana service. The commercial will be on the COMCAST system and the networks that will air the commercial include: A&E, AMC, FOX, CNBC, CNN, COMEDY CENTRAL BRAVO, DISCOVERY, ESPN, FX, FOOD NETWORK, HGTV, HISTORY, and several others. With Comcast considered the largest...

Using a 3D printer, scientists have made an elastic membrane that closely mimics the outer layer of the heart's wall. The new membrane, which was described Tuesday (Feb. 25) in the journal Nature Communications, contains tiny sensors that can track the heart's temperature, pH and level of strain. The device could one day be used to treat patients with rhythm disorders in the lower chambers of the heart, as well as the rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation, the researchers said. Heart rhythm irregularities are a common problem, with one of the most well-known forms, atrial fibrillation, affecting 3 million to 5...

It's called Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, after the region where almost all the patients have been reported. But the name may turn out to be a misnomer. A new study has found the virus in camels from Sudan and Ethiopia, suggesting that Africa, too, harbors the pathogen. That means MERS may sicken more humans than previously thought—and perhaps be more likely to trigger a pandemic. MERS has sickened 183 people and killed 80, most of them in Saudi Arabia. A couple of cases have occurred in countries outside the region, such as France and the United Kingdom, but...

Small advancements make big waves in the decades-long search for an HIV vaccine, and University of Miami researchers are optimistic that their latest findings are significant: They have developed a vaccine that triggers an immune system response strong enough to kill a model AIDS virus in mice. The vaccine is still in the early stages of development, said Geoffrey W. Stone, a UM assistant professor of microbiology and immunology who led the research study published in February’s Journal of Virology. “But in those modest beginnings,” he

I am a hard man to shock.I’ve seen and heard a lot of things. I’ve known people who have been through practically every imaginable kind of suffering. And I’ve been slugging it out in the culture war since I was just a kid. But every now and then I get caught by surprise.What was it that left me so stunned? A commentary by Will Saletan at Slate entitled, “After-birth Abortion: The Pro-Choice Case for Infanticide.”That an argument in favor of infanticide is an entirely logical consequence of the widespread public support for abortion is undeniable. Still, the detachment with which...

Employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) destroyed veterans’ medical files in a systematic attempt to eliminate backlogged veteran medical exam requests, a former VA employee told The Daily Caller. Audio of an internal VA meeting obtained by TheDC confirms that VA officials in Los Angeles intentionally canceled backlogged patient exam requests. “The committee was called System Redesign and the purpose of the meeting was to figure out ways to correct the department’s efficiency. And one of the issues at the time was the backlog,” Oliver Mitchell, a Marine veteran and former patient services assistant in the VA Greater...

Doctors in California say as many as 25 children are suffering from a mysterious, poliolike virus that is leaving them with paralyzed limbs... The cause of most of these cases is not known, health officials say. The average age of the children is 12.

Harvard scientists have developed a new bioprinting method that can create intricately patterned 3-D tissue constructs with multiple types of cells and tiny blood vessels. The work is a major step toward creating human tissue constructs realistic enough to test drug safety and effectiveness, researchers said. The method will also help bring closer the building of fully functional replacements for injured or diseased tissue that can be designed from CAT scan data using computer-aided design (CAD), printed in 3D at the push of a button. "This is the foundational step toward creating 3D living tissue," said Jennifer Lewis, senior author...

CBS affiliates bring us two updates on the ongoing disaster of Covered California, the ObamaCare exchange in the Golden State that has begun to look a lot more like Uncovered Californians. In Sacramento, Nick Janes reports on the plight of Katherine Cadman, who eagerly signed up for an insurance policy through the state’s exchange — and then tried to use it to see a doctor. Doctors, however, are not anxious to see customers from ObamaCare plans, thanks to the lousy reimbursement rates:(VIDEO-AT-LINK) One viewer said she did months of research before picking the plan that Blue Cross recommended. But it’s...

A multibillion-dollar tax that President Obama's health care law imposes on the insurance industry will be passed onto consumers, according to a new study by American Action Forum, costing individuals and families hundreds of dollars annually starting this year. As one way of financing the $2 trillion cost of expanding insurance coverage, Obamacare imposes a tax on the health insurance industry, which is assessed to each insurer based on their share of annual premiums collected by the industry. But according to the study by Robert Book of the center-right policy group American Action Forum, "insurers will have to pass most...

A California Democrat is looking to extend taxpayer-funded health-care benefits to illegal immigrants. State Sen. Ricardo Lara of Long Beach introduced legislation late last week that would extend health-care coverage to all Californians “irrespective of immigration status.” “The purpose of the Health For All Act is simple — provide health care coverage to California’s remaining uninsured by expanding Medi-Cal and creating a new health exchange where the undocumented can purchase coverage,” Lara said in a statement. Lara added that the fact that Obamacare expressly denies illegal immigrants coverage “hurts the overall health of our communities, and does not reflect California...