Month: September 2013

By David Jones NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) – Seven hospital systems in New Jersey and Pennsylvania will form what executives say will be the largest U.S. healthcare alliance in the country. The number of hospital mergers has soared in the past several years as providers band together to increase their power to negotiate higher reimbursement rates from insurers. Called AllSpire Health Partners, the alliance will allow the member institutions to save on costs and share medical expertise, the hospital systems said on Thursday. …

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report says nearly half of all seniors who need some form of long-term care have dementia.

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The risk of developing cloudy lenses in the eyes may be linked to the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins, according to a new study. While the researchers can’t prove the drugs caused the eye condition, they found that people who took statins – such as Zocor and Lipitor – were about 27 percent more likely to develop cataracts, compared to people who didn’t take the medication. “The results were consistent that there was a higher risk of being diagnosed with cataracts among statin users,” Dr. …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A stop-gap federal spending bill that also would deny funding for President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law cleared its first hurdle in the House of Representatives on Thursday, paving the way for passage of the measure on Friday. By a vote of 230-192, the Republican-controlled House approved the rules governing debate of the legislation, which is scheduled to occur on Friday. The measure is designed to provide money for government agencies to continue operating at the start of the new fiscal year and avert shutdowns on October 1. …

By Ros Krasny WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate on Thursday easily passed a measure that would prevent a shutdown of the U.S. helium reserve program in early October. Helium – best known as the gas used to fill party balloons – is a critical product in the aerospace and defense industries and also used in the manufacture of smart phones and medical equipment, among other things. Under current law the Federal Helium Program was scheduled to end on October 7, barring reauthorization by Congress. …

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Following are excerpts from Pope Francis’s interview with Jesuit publications on Thursday, as translated by the U.S. Jesuit magazine America: – On himself: “I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.” – On what the Church needs: “I see the church as a field hospital after battle… The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. …

By Gene Emery NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In the first large-scale test of whether wearing a brace helps to prevent an already-curved childhood spine from twisting further, bracing was nearly twice as effective as a watch-and-wait approach at preventing kids from needing corrective surgery. But the study also found that too many children with scoliosis are being given a brace when they don’t need one. Data from the new research may help doctors identify which children need to wear the brace and when it is better to just keep tabs on the child. …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government plans to spend as much as $273 million over the next five years on tobacco-related research in a bid to help reduce the number of deaths from smoking. The Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health said on Thursday they have awarded an initial $53 million to 14 institutions to conduct research that could help the FDA shape tobacco product regulations. In 2009 the agency was given authority to regulate cigarettes, cigarette tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco, though not pipe tobacco, cigars or e-cigarettes. …

LONDON (Reuters) – A global rise in cases of the mind-robbing Alzheimer’s disease is creating a chronic shortage of carers, with the number of old people dependent on care set to nearly treble to 277 million by 2050, according to a report by a leading dementia charity. Half of all older people who need personal care have dementia, the report by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) said, and governments should make dementia a priority by implementing national plans and starting urgent debate on how to ensure long-term care for future generations. …

By Maria Ajit Thomas (Reuters) – Rite Aid Corp, the No. 3 drugstore chain in the United States, reported a surprise quarterly profit after generic drug sales boosted margins, sending its shares up by a fifth to their highest in more than five years. Like rivals Walgreen Co and CVS Caremark Corp, Rite Aid has benefited in the last year from a new wave of generic drugs that have replaced more costly blockbusters. The company’s latest quarterly profit was its fourth in a row. …