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Today's Globe: health insurance contract delay, hospital reimbursement win, sleep loss, no Google health account ads

Posted by Elizabeth Cooney February 29, 2008 06:54 AM

State officials, struggling to keep down the cost of the subsidized insurance program at the heart of healthcare law changes, abruptly pulled back from new contracts with insurers this week, according to three sources close to the bidding process.

A group of Massachusetts hospitals are closer to collecting up to $200 million from the federal government after a federal judge ruled in favor of the hospitals in a long-running dispute over Medicare reimbursement rates. Hospitals that sued the government include Anna Jacques Hospital in Newburyport, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

With late-night TV watching, Internet surfing, and other distractions, Americans are getting less and less sleep, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.

Google Inc. won't sell ads to support a new Internet service that stores personal medical information, chief executive Eric Schmidt said yesterday in the search giant's first detailed comments about a venture that has raised privacy concerns.

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Elizabeth Cooney covers health for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. She previously reported on business and was an editor at the paper. Earlier in her career, she edited medical books and journals at Little, Brown, and worked for Boston magazine.

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