WellPoint Profit Beats Estimates, Shares Rise

Health insurer WellPoint Inc said on Wednesday profit fell 10 percent, as medical costs ate further into premiums, but its shares rose more than 6 percent as results beat projections, helped by strength in its pharmacy and behavioral health businesses. Although the largest U.S. health insurer by membership tempered its full-year profit and enrollment forecasts, […]

Quest Diagnostics Campaign Challenges Colorectal Cancer Screening Status Quo

'Do You Have the Guts?' aims to reach five million in five yearsMADISON, N.J., March 31, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX), the nation's leading provider of diagnostic testing information and services, today announced the launch of a novel campaign designed to help increase compliance with take-home colorectal screening […]

President Bush signs Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007

President Bush signed into law the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act (P.L. 110-173), and some of the bill’s provisions will affect Medicare payments to anesthesiologists. The legislation provides a temporary 0.5 percent increase to Medicare payments for physicians for dates of service through June 30, 2008.  This increase, combined with the 32 percent anesthesia […]

Acupuncture for Neck Pain

Acupuncture TodayApril, 2007, Vol. 08, Issue 04   By Tina Beychok, Associate Editor Various studies have placed the lifetime prevalence of neck pain at anywhere from 26 percent to 71 percent. In one study, 10 percent of men and 17 percent of women reported neck pain lasting up to six months. Another study found that […]