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Statements By Secretary Of Health And Human Services And Commissioner Of Food And Drugs, Regarding Passage Of The Family Smoking Prevention
Kathleen G. Sebelius: I am pleased Congress has taken swift action to pass the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of tobacco products will be a critical piece of a coordinated effort to save lives, lower costs and reduce suffering from heart disease, cancer and other tobacco-related illness. This is a great step towards a healthier America.
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Obama Plan To Cut Hospital Payments Draws Ire
The Obama administration has called for $200 billion in cuts for hospital reimbursements in an effort to overhaul the health care system. Federal funding under the reimbursement system known as "disproportionate share payments" is provided to hospitals in large part to help meet the cost of caring for the uninsured. Administration officials argue that as the number of uninsured decrease, reimbursements should also fall. However, hospital leaders and staff worry about such cuts as well as calls for a government-run insurance plan to compete with private plans.
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Vantia Therapeutics' Lead Candidate VA106483 Demonstrates Positive Anti-diuretic Effect In Phase IIa Trial In Nocturia
Vantia Therapeutics, an emerging pharmaceutical company developing novel, small molecule drugs targeting large, underserved medical markets, announces positive results from a Phase IIa clinical trial of its lead development compound VA106483 for nocturia. The trial showed that oral VA106483 was successful in producing a predictable and sustained anti-diuretic effect in patients, as determined by increased osmolality and decreased urine output. The study also found that VA106483 was generally well tolerated among the patient population.
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Maryland ICU Patients Connected To Remote Critical Care Staff, Improving Qualtiy And Safety

Maryland intensive care patients will now be connected by voice, video and data lines to specialized physicians and nurses at a tertiary care referral center 130 miles away. A year after announcing six, independent Maryland hospitals, with a $3 million grant from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, were joining together to provide state-of-the-art critical care to their patients, the first hospital, Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick, Md., is fully online with the sophisticated care system. "We are thrilled to bring Maryland patients this enhanced level of care," said Dr. Thomas Lawrence, Board Chair of Maryland eCare and Vice President of Medical Affairs for Peninsula Regional Medical Center, an eCare member. "This is an exciting step towards improving the already high quality of care for all Marylanders." Studies have shown improved patient outcomes and decreased lengths of stay for patients in intensive care units (ICU) managed by physicians who specialize in critical care. Yet, due to a current shortage in the specialty, it"s difficult for many hospitals to keep these physicians on-site 24 hours a day. eCare virtually connects physicians, nurses and patients via voice, camera and data, enabling hospitals to provide the highest level of specialized care around the clock. Calvert Memorial will work most closely with eCare on nights, weekends and holidays, times typically difficult for local specialists to remain on-site. Working with a remote monitoring center at Christiana Care in Wilmington, Del., eCare supplements local ICU staff with experienced critical care physicians and nurses. Christiana Care was the first health system in the country to adopt the eICU® Program to monitor critically ill patients in its emergency departments and post-anesthesia care units and currently uses the technology in four of its ICUs. With eCare, patients benefit from receiving timely, critical care when they need it and where they are most comfortable - close to home. Moment-by-moment monitoring quickly detects changes in patient condition, watching trends in crucial indicators such as blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels and respiratory rates, allowing remote staff to alert and work cohesively with on-site staff to improve patient status. eCare does not take the place of bedside staff. It provides an extra set of eyes and ears ensuring an added layer of safety and enabling a patient"s care plan to prevent a medical crisis instead of responding to one. For on-site caregivers, in-room help is available at the push of a button. Since the 2008 Maryland eCare announcement, eCare hospitals have been coordinating staff, securing data lines and working closely with the team at Christiana Care to ready their facilities for seamless inclusion of remote monitoring. Calvert is the first hospital to come online. Later this year, Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury and St. Mary"s Hospital in Leonardtown will also come online. By 2011, almost 80 ICU beds will be connected through Maryland eCare. eICU® is a registered trademark of Philips-VISICU, Inc. Maryland eCare


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