(09/03/2008)  --  Colorado recently became the first state to enact legislation requiring insurance companies to disclose the data and methodology they use to determine physician "designations," or ratings. Supporters have heralded the move as bringing a degree of transparency and openness to the physician profiling process that did not previously exist. More

(09/03/2008)  --  The Bush administration has delayed enforcement of a directive that would have limited the ability of states to expand their health insurance programs for children. The move allows states to keep current eligibility standards for their respective programs intact for the time being. More

(09/03/2008)  --  Although the alleged link between childhood autism and the vaccine preservative thimerosal still sparks occasional controversy, the good news is that by and large, parents don't seem to be buying into the hype. According to the latest reports available from the CDC, overall childhood immunization rates in the United States continue to steadily increase. More

(09/03/2008)  --  According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ, osteoporosis affects older individuals of both genders but is more common in postmenopausal women. About 1.5 million people each year in the United States suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture. Of those who experience hip fractures, one in five dies, and the same number ends up in a nursing home within one year of the fracture. Now, a new publication from AHRQ offers clinicians guidance on the effectiveness and safety of various treatments for preventing fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. More

(08/29/2008)  --  Notice to physicians: Hold on to your Medicare Provider Transaction Access Numbers, or PTANs -- also known as legacy numbers -- which were to have been retired after the mandatory use of National Provider Identifier, or NPI, numbers began on May 23. CMS has found another use for those old PTANs. Effective March 1, 2009, physicians will have to provide their PTAN, their NPI and the last five digits of their tax identification number, or TIN, when making written or telephone inquiries to CMS' customer service or interactive voice response systems. More

(08/27/2008)  --  Emergency rooms now serve as the main source of health care for a growing segment of the U.S. population that lacks adequate access to primary care services. That's according to a new CDC study. The annual number of emergency department visits jumped from 90.3 million in 1996 to more than 119 million in 2006, a 32 percent increase. More

(08/27/2008)  --  The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, or USPSTF, recently issued revised recommendations for screening for lipid disorders in adults. Although the USPSTF continues to strongly recommend screening all men ages 35 and older for lipid disorders and has not changed its stance on routine screening in men ages 20 to 35 (recommending neither for nor against), the guidance on screening women for these disorders has changed since the task force released its 2001 recommendations. More