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6 people accused of UCI tax fraud
Orange County Register - 08-27-2008 - Six people accused of stealing personal information from UCI student health forms and using it to get bogus tax refunds have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Texas. According to federal authorities, the conspirators set up fake companies and filed electronic returns, using information stolen from UCI students and others. More than 1,100 UCI students had their personal information taken by someone working inside Texas-based United Healthcare, police said. At least 163 discovered that bogus 2007 tax returns had been filed using their social security numbers.
Diabetes researchers convert pancreas cells to produce insulin
Los Angeles Times - 08-28-2008 - Injecting a cocktail of proteins directly into the bodies of diabetic mice, researchers have converted normal pancreas cells into insulin-producing cells -- a genetic transformation that could pave the way for treating intractable diseases and injuries using a patient's own supply of healthy tissue.
Medicare overpaid on drugs with new generics, report says
Los Angeles Times - 08-28-2008 - Medicare overpaid for drugs that had generic versions because of a time lag in computing prices from when the cheaper medicines became available, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's inspector general said. Payments for cancer drug irinotecan, sold by Pfizer Inc. as Camptosar, remained at more than double the average manufacturer's sales price after the generic version was cleared for sale Feb. 20, said the report, released Tuesday. Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, would have saved $6.5 million in March had it factored the generic price into its rate.
Report: Hospital costs slow under pressure by insurers
Denver Post - 08-28-2008 - Cost increases incurred by hospitals in the United States slowed in 2006 as health insurers pressed for discounts and directed more people to outpatient care, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Expenses for providing care rose 0.9% in 2006, the latest year reviewed, compared with the average annual increase of 4.8% for 1997 through 2006, the report found.
New genetic technology has revealed that the human body swarms with more benign bacteria than ever imagined -- more than 2,000 species, whose cells outnumber the body's own by a 10-1 ratio. But that isn't such a bad thing. Many of these bacteria are needed for tasks such as the digestion of nutrients and the development of organs.
Nonprofit Hospitals
Flex Pricing Power
Wall Street Journal - 08-28-2008 - In 1989, the U.S. Department of Justice tried but failed to prevent a merger between nonprofit Carilion Health System and this former railroad town's other hospital. The merger, it warned in an unsuccessful antitrust lawsuit, would create a monopoly over medical care in the area.
