Obama: Health Care Reform Closer than Ever
from The Associated Press via CBS News
President Barack Obama said an overhaul of the U.S. health care system is closer than ever, but he warned of tough battles ahead as major industries such as insurance companies fight hard to preserve their profits. Obama said that America has no choice but to overhaul the health care system to make insurance cheaper for families, businesses and the government. More    

Reid Says He Will Bring a Health Care Bill with Public Option
from the Washington Post
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) announced Monday that he will seek to bring a health-care bill to the Senate floor that includes a government insurance plan, a major reversal from just two weeks ago, when Reid was leaning against the idea. He also called for the bill to include a version of the so-called public option with an clause that would allow states to decide by 2014 not to participate in the government plan. More    

Bill would Halt Reductions of Medicare Payments to Doctors
from the Los Angeles Times
In an effort to reconcile a nearly $250-billion difference between the House and Senate approaches to overhauling healthcare, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is pushing a bill to halt scheduled reductions in Medicare payments to physicians. More    

Health Care Bill's Plan to Cut Medicare Payments to Hospitals that Readmit Ill Seniors Could Have ‘Serious Consequences,’ Says Hospital Association
from CNSNews.com
Slashing Medicare payments to hospitals that readmit ailing senior citizens--a component of the health care reform bill under consideration in Congress--could have serious consequences for the hospitals, including raising costs on hospitals an estimated $19 billion over 10 years, according to the American Hospital Association. More    

High-tech Triaging by Emergency Dispatchers
from Modern Healthcare
Emergency medical specialists triaging ambulance patients at the front end of an emergency call is one thing, but using a computer to help dispatchers do the triaging is, well, something else. The emergency medical service in Yokohama, Japan, apparently is at the "something else" end of the spectrum. More    

'National Emergency' for H1N1 No Cause for Alarm, Experts Say
from USA Today
President Obama declared the H1N1 flu outbreak a national emergency over the weekend, but experts in infectious disease and emergency medicine say the public should not be alarmed by the move. "This is not a reaction to any new developments; it's a proactive step, a useful tool going forward," White House spokesman Reid Cherlin says. More    

H1N1 Flu 'Pushing Hospitals to Their Limit'
from USA Today
To Mitchell Goldstein, the flood of sick children seemed endless. Day after day, nearly three times as many kids as usual streamed into the rainbow-colored pediatric emergency room at Johns Hopkins Hospital, sniffling and feverish, worried parents hovering. The press of children with swine flu was so relentless that doctors opened an annex in a hospital dining room to handle the overflow. More