Health
Why is DHHS always asking for more money?
When the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee met last Sunday for a rare weekend session, the focus was a May 28 deadline for lawmakers to approve $35.3 million in additional funding so the Department of Health and Human Services could make its final Medicaid payments of the fiscal year. It was far ...
Collins sounds alarm on shortage of critical Lyme disease drug
on May 24, 2013, at 2:32 p.m.
Concerned over a shortage of a key medication used to treat Lyme disease, Maine Sen. Susan Collins is calling on federal drug regulators to take immediate action. Joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Collins on Friday urged U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg to take steps to ...
California reveals prices for health insurance, offering glimpse of Obamacare’s rollout
By Sandhya Somashekhar, The Washington Post on May 24, 2013, at 9:28 a.m.
California health officials on Thursday unveiled the likely rates that insurers will charge under the health-care law backed by President Barack Obama — and they are lower than expected, rebutting warnings by critics that many people will experience “rate shock” once the law is fully implemented. On average, a person ...
Panel urges schools to make exercise a core subject
By Susan Heavey, Reuters on May 23, 2013, at 6:05 p.m.
WASHINGTON — U.S. schools need to boost efforts to get students moving and make gym class as critical as other core subjects if they want to increase test scores as well as students’ general well-being, a leading group of health advisers said on Thursday. The Institute of Medicine called for ...
Central Maine hospitals partner with Mass General to treat cancer patients
LEWISTON, Maine — Brian Jordan remembers feeling lethargic when he visited the doctor on March 17, 2011. The Livermore Falls man never expected that later that day he’d receive a diagnosis of leukemia that would turn his life upside down. In an unlikely twist of fate, Jordan, 54, was sickened ...
ERIK STEELE
America to health care: We want our money back
Last week, for the first time ever, I paid for my health insurance directly out of my bank account; I wrote a check for $1200 to cover our health insurance for the month I am between jobs. For the last 30 years, most of the cost of my family’s health ...
MICHAEL NOONAN
The downside to getting an MRI for low back pain
By Dr. Michael Noonan on May 23, 2013, at 10:23 a.m.
My patients often bring a CD to their first visit that has MRI studies of their problem area, usually the low back. The images are really breathtaking from a health care standpoint — you can scroll through images of the spine, seeing “slices” at regular intervals, from left to right, ...
From the community
Maine Coast Memorial/ Wright Cancer Center win Komen grant
ELLSWORTH, Maine — The Maine Affiliate of Susan G. Komen has announced its 2013 grantees, awarding nearly $265,000 to eight Maine programs. Among the eight grants funded this year is the Commit2Care program through a partnership between Maine Coast Memorial Hospital and the Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center. Grant ...
Michaud criticizes Defense Department move toward private-sector bid in integrated hospital records system
By Steve Vogel, Washington Post on May 23, 2013, at 5:59 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday directed the Pentagon to find new health-care management software that would better integrate military health-care records with the Veterans Affairs Department. The inability of the Defense Department and the VA to develop a single, integrated electronic health record has been the source ...
From the community
FRIENDS IN ACTION CONTINUES EVENTS FOR “OLDER AMERICANS MONTH”
Friends in Action is celebrating “Older Americans Month” and the theme “Unleash the Power of Age!” with a series of special programs at the Senior Center in the Moore School, 125 State Street, Ellsworth. On Tuesday, May 28, pharmacist Tri Cao, Pharmacy Manager of Walgreen’s in Ellsworth, will be at ...
Maine settles with Cigna companies over disability income claims
on May 22, 2013, at 3:41 p.m.
Maine has reached a major multi-state settlement with three companies operated by insurance company Cigna over how the firms handled claims for disability income insurance. Maine Insurance Superintendent Eric Cioppa announced Wednesday that Maine has settled with Life Insurance Company of North America, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, and Cigna ...
From the community
Ken Nadeau, PA-C, named outstanding Maine PA
BANGOR, Maine — Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) is pleased to announce that Ken Nadeau, PA-C, associate medical director, Helen Hunt Health Center, was named the 2013 Outstanding Maine Physician Assistant by the Downeast Association of Physician Assistants on Saturday, May 4, at the Maine Medical Association office in Manchester. ...
All Maine hospitals sign on to electronic health records exchange
on May 22, 2013, at 11:54 a.m.
All of Maine’s acute-care hospitals have agreed to participate in statewide network that allows health care providers to share and view patients’ health records electronically. HealthInfoNet, a Portland nonprofit that operates the health records exchange, announced Tuesday that 34 of the state’s hospitals already are connected to the system and ...
From the community
Register for free cholesterol and glucose screenings
BELFAST, Maine — Would you like to have your cholesterol and glucose tested? On Wednesday, June 26, from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Waldo County General Hospital will be doing free community cholesterol and glucose screenings. In order to have the glucose screening, you must have fasted for 10 hours, ...
From the community
Learn about Mindful Eating
LIBERTY, Maine — Do you sometimes find yourself sitting down to a meal in front of the television or eating it while standing at the counter and before you know it, you’ve cleaned your plate and you aren’t really sure what you ate? Or you gobble down a meal and ...
If a shadow appears in your vision, don’t risk going blind like I did
By Bill Holleran, Special to The Washington Post on May 22, 2013, at 9:54 a.m.
It started late on a Thursday afternoon last May, when I noticed a wispy dark shadow in the lower left corner of my right eye. At first, I didn’t worry about it. But being 62 at the time — a baby boomer — I should have. For years, I have ...
From the community
Mid Coast Hospital To Offer Free Skin Cancer Screening
Mid Coast Hospital is hosting a FREE skin cancer screening on Saturday, June 22, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Board Certified Dermatologists Helge Riemann, MD and Nancy Egan, MD along with Susan Leveille, NP, and Mary Mraz, NP (both Nurse Practitioners specializing in Dermatology) will provide their services ...
Medical mystery: A clue to a girl’s painful ailment long overlooked
By Sandra Boodman, Special to the Washington Post on May 22, 2013, at 9:30 a.m.
“Oh my God,” Leigh Partridge remembers thinking, her mind reeling as she tried to contemplate the unimaginable. “This cannot be happening again.” Doctors in the emergency room of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) had just told Partridge that a mass in the abdomen of her 16-year-old daughter might be cancer. ...
Consumers who saw TV drug ads more likely to be prescribed medication
By Jill U. Adams, Special To The Washington Post on May 22, 2013, at 9:26 a.m.
I learned last week about two prescription drugs I’d never heard of before — not from my doctor, but from TV commercials. Axiron is applied like deodorant — under your arm. Well, under the arm of a man who has low testosterone and has been prescribed the product by a ...
CATCHING HEALTH (blog)
What to do with Asparagus
on May 22, 2013, at 7:16 a.m.
It’s asparagus season and thanks to my husband Barry, this wonderful vegetable grows right in our backyard. I’m sure I’ve never had any quite as delicious as when he cooks it fresh from the garden. The secret to asparagus is to not overcook it, because if you do it will ...
Former Bangor YMCA building sold to new dental technology school
LePage delivers instant veto after hospital debt, Medicaid bill passes Senate
‘Knife war’ led to fatal stabbing at Bangor apartments in April, witness says
Bangor man charged with murder, escape from psychiatric hospital found not competent to stand trial
After 27 years, a father continues to search for his daughter, presumed dead
Why is DHHS always asking for more money?
The scramble to fill the 2nd District seat if Mike Michaud runs for governor
Maine GOP disappoints on Medicaid
Goodwin steps down as Brewer High School boys basketball coach
University of Maine hockey job has been offered to former assistant Red Gendron
Bucksport’s Cassidy Adams strikes out 19 in single game
Live Updates: UMaine baseball vs. Binghamton in America East championship round
UMaine trails Binghamton 8-2 in suspended game at America East baseball tourney
Maine Democrats stooped to the governor’s level with TV complaint
Maine’s beer industry continues to brew double-digit growth
‘All That’ actress Amanda Bynes arrested after allegedly tossing bong out apartment window on 36th floor
Maine School of Science and Mathematics alumni drawn to give back to magnet school
