Uninsured RX

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) announced that newly-formed bioscience organizations in Oklahoma and Nevada have agreed to join the Council of State Bioscience Associations (CSBA), an autonomous council operating within BIO.

California has not been complying with a state law that requires the Medi-Cal director to review physician reimbursement rates annually and ensure that Medi-Cal beneficiaries have access to physician and dental services, the Sacramento Bee reports. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program.

The highest rate of stroke hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries exists among African-Americans and in counties located primarily in the southeastern states, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Summarizes of recent news about medical malpractice developments in two states appear below.New York: A coalition of groups and trial lawyers on Monday sent a letter to New York Gov. David Paterson (D) opposing a proposal to establish a state-sponsored indemnity fund to pay for medical malpractice claims, the New York Sun reports.

Summarizes of Medicaid developments in Missouri and Oklahoma appear below. Missouri: The Missouri House on Wednesday voted 88-61 to reject a bill that would have expanded Medicaid coverage to state residents with incomes up to 90% of the federal poverty level -- nearly four times the current eligibility limit, the Kansas City Star reports.

U.S. residents are focusing more attention on the national economic slump than the potential insolvency of Medicare reported by program trustees on Tuesday, according to experts at a panel discussion on Wednesday, CQ HealthBeat reports. The panel was hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (Cooley, CQ HealthBeat, 3/27).

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) during a Wednesday interview with the

In the current U.S. employment market, "where most individuals change employers many times over a lifetime," the "reliance on employers" to provide health care coverage "makes little sense economically," Peter Beilenson -- founder of Maryland's Health Care for All initiative and health officer for Howard County, Md. -- writes in a

Blunt cerebrovascular injuries can be diagnosed using whole body 16 multi-detector CT (MDCT); there's no need for an additional neck MDCT angiography examination according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center and R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, both in Baltimore, MD. The study showed that whole body MDCT is just as accurate as neck MDCTA.

Heart rhythm disorders are a major cause of sudden death and disability, but for many sufferers a modern pacemaker or other device can save life and reduce symptoms when implanted by a simple operation. Following on from its first systematic survey last year of device provision in England and Wales, the Network Device Survey Group (http://www.devicesurvey.