Allina in the News

Here's recent news featuring Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a not-for-profit family of hospitals, clinics and other care services dedicated to meeting the health care needs of communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
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Newer, Bigger and More Modern

[Farmington Independent, November 20, 2008] Allina Medical Clinic - Farmington has been around in one form or another since for more than 50 years ago. But it's never had a home like the one that opened last week. At 13,500 square feet, the new clinic is nearly 300 square feet bigger than the clinic's old space, located just across the street to the south. But clinic manager Jan Barbo said the new clinic feels a lot bigger. Read the full story on farmingtonindependent.com...

Ambulance Change Official

[Farmington Independent, November 19, 2008] The name may have changed, but residents can rest assured many of the faces will remain the same once the Apple Valley-Lakeville-Farmington ALF paramedics become part of Allina Medical Transportation next year. Read the full story on farmingtonindependent.com...

Area health news

This summary of health news throughout the areas Allina serves includes links to the full articles on different Web sites. Read more headlines and news stories on Allina.com.

Nurses Urge 'Ounce of Prevention' on Minnesota's Traffic Laws

[Star Tribune, November 20, 2008] Minnesota's refusal to pass stricter traffic safety laws earned it the second-lowest score in a new national ranking.

The Emergency Nurses Association released its 2008 scorecard of traffic safety in a St. Paul conference room with vivid views of Interstate 94 and the State Capitol. The group is hoping to persuade the Legislature to save lives -- and lots of money -- by beefing up the rules. Read the full story on startribune.com...

US Justice Department Sends Medtronic Subpoena

[New Ulm Journal, November 20, 2008] The U.S. Department of Justice has sent a subpoena to medical device maker Medtronic Inc. as part of an investigation into unapproved, or ''off-label,'' uses of its Infuse spinal graft. Read the full story on nujournal.com...

Deductibles Soaring Even for Traditional Health Care Plans

[Star Tribune, November 19, 2008] A national survey of employer fringe benefits has found that the median deductible for individuals in traditional health plans known as PPOs jumped to $1,000 this year, up from $500 last year, as a way for companies to shift more of their health care costs to employees.

The advent of consumer-directed health plans, with deductibles of more than $1,100 and health savings accounts (HSAs), may have encouraged employers to raise PPO deductibles without fear of employees rebelling. The Twin Cities has been a national leader in the number of employers offering those consumer-directed plans Read the full story on startribune.com...

MSP Ranks 7th in Healthy Food Report

[Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, November 19, 2008] Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) ranked seventh among the nation's busiest airports when it comes to healthy food offerings, according to a recent study by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Read the full story on bizjournals.com...

St. Cloud Hospital's Heart Center Repeats Award

[St. Cloud Times, November 19, 2008] The Central Minnesota Heart Center at St. Cloud Hospital was named one of the 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the United States — an award it has won seven times before. Read the full story on sctimes.com...

100 Attend Town Hall on Opiate Abuse

[Northfield News, November 18, 2008] Drug use, except for prescription painkillers, among youth nationwide is on the decline, Dr. Charles Reznikoff told more than 100 gathered Sunday to discuss the problem of opiate use in Northfield, Minnesota. Read the full story on northfieldnews.com...

Column: Words from a Family Caregiver

[Owatonna People's Press, November 15, 2008] After sharing his personal experience with an elderly parent, columnist shares "what caregivers need," an essay by a woman who asked to remain anonymous in order to protect her mother, who is in the early stages of dementia. Read the full story on owatonna.com...

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL HEALTH NEWS

Read more headlines and news stories on Allina.com.

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Health Insurers Would Accept All Customers if Congress Mandated Coverage

Health insurers would agree to accept all customers, regardless of illness or disability, if Congress required all Americans to have coverage, two main industry trade associations said Wednesday.

If people aren't mandated to have coverage, many would wait until they suffer health problems before they buy insurance, said America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, The New York Times reported.

The industry's position could help ease passage of legislation to expand health care coverage and control health care costs. Such legislation is favored by President-elect Barack Obama and has widespread support in Congress, the newspaper said.

However, there's one major difference between Obama's position and that of the insurance industry, the Times reported. The industry wants the federal government to require all Americans to have and maintain insurance, while Obama wants the rule, at least initially, to apply only to children.

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Lung Cancer Drug Trial Halted

A late-stage clinical trial of the experimental lung cancer drug motesanib was halted because patients taking the drug had higher early death rates than patients taking a placebo.

The trial by U.S.-based Amgen and Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. was stopped after an independent monitoring committee noted the pattern of deaths among the study's 600 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, Bloomberg news reported.

Motesanib was designed to starve tumor cells of the blood supply they need to grow by blocking a protein called VEGF, which is involved in the growth of blood vessels that feed tumors.

The clinical trial suspension applies only to patients with the squamous non-small cell form of cancer, Bloomberg reported. Amgen said the monitoring committee didn't recommend suspension of the study for patients with the non-squamous form of the lung cancer.

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China Introduces New Rules for Dairy Industry

A number of new food safety measures designed to tackle problems in the dairy industry were announced Thursday by the Chinese government. The new rules will cover all areas of the industry, including cow breeding, animal feed, and packaging and sales of milk, The New York Times reported.

The action is in response to the melamine-tainted milk powder scandal, which claimed the lives of at least four infants and sickened more than 50,000 Chinese children. Chinese milk products have been recalled worldwide, and the scandal has embarrassed the Chinese government and caused major damage to the country's dairy farmers and milk producers.

"The crisis has put China's diary industry in peril and exposed major problems existing in the quality control and supervision of the industry," an official with China's National Development and Reform Commission said in a posting on the agency's Web site, the Times reported.

The tainted milk crisis is the latest in a series of problems with China's agriculture industry.

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Former Senate Leader Tom Daschle Offered HHS Post: Reports

President-elect Barack Obama has settled on former Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to published reports.

Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, was an early and close adviser to Obama during the just-concluded presidential campaign. He recently wrote a book on his ideas to improve health care, and is working with former Senate leaders on recommendations to improve the health-care system, the Associated Press reported.

If his nomination is approved by the Senate, Daschle would lead a department with a budget this year of $707.7 billion, and nearly 65,000 employees spread across 11 divisions. He would be responsible for the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Food and Drug Administration, public health programs and the National Institutes of Health, the Washington Post reported.

Daschle has emerged as Obama's main adviser on efforts to expand health-care coverage, while at the same time lowering costs. During the campaign, Obama promised to reduce the average family's medical bill by $2,500, according to the Post.

Besides health reform, the next HHS secretary will have to manage the growing budgetary problems facing some of the nation's most important health agencies. For instance, years of funding that didn't keep pace with inflation means the National Institutes of Health has lost 14 percent of its buying power, said Dr. Harold Varmus, NIH's former director and a science adviser to Obama's campaign. That has left promising disease research without money to move forward, the AP said.

Daschle has already been chosen to head the Obama transition team on health policy, the Post said.

"Clearly, Daschle getting this appointment means the Obama administration is strongly committed to making health care reform an early and top priority," said Ron Pollack, executive director of the health advocacy group Families USA.

Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.

Published on: 11/20/2008

TODAY'S HEALTH NEWS, a compilation of local, national and international health news, comes courtesy of Allina.com.

Link broken? Links to area health news articles may change without notice. For the full text of stories, please contact the editor .

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