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Crothall releases new white paper on infection prevention

Leading environmental services provider Crothall Healthcare recently announced the release of its Infection Prevention White Paper, a comprehensive and exhaustively researched document summarizing both the importance of environmental hygiene to a hospital's infection prevention and control (IPC) program and Crothall's integrated environmental services approach to patient safety through reduced transmission of healthcare-associated infections.

15 May 2012

Energy-efficient LED devices use UV light to kill pathogens

Research from North Carolina State University will allow the development of energy-efficient LED devices that use ultraviolet (UV) light to kill pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. The technology has a wide array of applications ranging from drinking-water treatment to sterilizing surgical tools.

14 May 2012

Questions raised over U.K. DfID funding and sterilization in India

A Wall Street Journal editorial addresses reports published on April 14 in the Guardian alleging that the U.K. Department for International Development (DfID) funded a program in India that "has 'forcibly sterilized Indian women and men' -- a practice India supposedly left behind in the 1970s," the editorial states.

3 May 2012

CNN reports on China's 'one-child policy,' implications for women

CNN reports on how "the issue of forced abortions -- and in some cases, forced sterilizations -- in China has seized the spotlight in recent days with news of escaped activist Chen Guangcheng," who "rose to fame in the late 1990s because of his advocacy for what he calls victims of abusive practices, such as forced abortions, by Chinese family planning officials." China's so-called "one-child policy has been blamed for abuses," the news service reports.

2 May 2012

State roundup: Calif. exchanges forge ahead; Mo. grappling with costs, quality

Despite a potentially disruptive U.S. Supreme Court Decision expected this summer, California officials are moving forward with the creation of a new, online health insurance market. ... "There are many different scenarios," said David Panush, director of government relations for the California Health Benefit Exchange. "Rather than trying to crystal-ball what the court may or may not do, we've got our foot on the pedal and we're going full speed ahead."

26 Apr 2012

Providers can and should work toward 'sustainable anesthesia'

Anesthesia providers can and should begin taking steps toward practicing "sustainable anesthesia," according to the May special issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society.

25 Apr 2012

Researchers identify mechanism of TRPM2 regulation

Professor Makoto TOMINAGA from National Institute for Physiological Sciences (Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience), National Institutes of Natural Sciences, and his research team member Ms. Makiko KASHIO have identified the mechanism through which TRPM2 is activated by body temperature with hydrogen peroxide (a kind of reactive oxygen species) produced by immune reactions.

10 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Support for drug benefit merger; Health reform comes too slowly for some patients; Pinpointing Romney's views on mandate

It seems counterintuitive, but the Federal Trade Commission has just decided that a $29 billion merger of two of the three largest companies that manage pharmaceutical benefits for employers and health plans -; Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions -; would not substantially lessen competition. That judgment deserves credence because of the thoroughness of the F.T.C.'s eight-month inquiry and the willingness of the agency to oppose other mergers when the evidence warrants.

6 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: The argument for the health law; No one wins contraception battle

It's said that you can judge a man by the quality of his enemies. If the same principle applies to legislation, the Affordable Care Act -; which was signed into law two years ago, but for the most part has yet to take effect -; sits in a place of high honor.

20 Mar 2012

President trying to buy time over contraception mandate: FRC

As we approach the second anniversary of the healthcare law's passage, today the Obama administration issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in an attempt to placate the millions of Americans – at least until after the election – who have moral and religious objections to being forced to cover or pay for contraceptive services.

17 Mar 2012

Mount Sinai researchers argue different views of how to safely handle H5N1 flu viruses

In the controversy surrounding the newly developed strains of avian H5N1 flu viruses, scientists and policy makers are struggling with one question in particular: what level of biosafety is best for studying these potentially lethal strains of influenza? In a pair of commentaries, researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the University of Michigan argue their different views of how to safely handle H5N1 flu viruses.

6 Mar 2012

Contraceptive debate roils on in editorial pages

If the pill had never been invented, perhaps American politics would be very different today. ... Conflicts over gay marriage, transvaginal ultrasounds, Planned Parenthood funding and insurance coverage for birth control are not isolated events (Nancy L. Cohen, 3/4).

5 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: 'Romney's rebound,' Va. lawmakers' ultrasound vote, Kennedy's not sole interpreters of Senator's legacy

But Mr. Romney also improved his case for his own candidacy, stressing a reform agenda as much as his business biography. In the final days in particular, he pressed his new plan for a 20 percent across-the-board income tax cut, as well as Medicare reform. He stressed his ability to revive the economy, which remains the dominant issue even among conservatives, despite the prominence of social issues in the last week.

29 Feb 2012

CU professor to interview epilepsy sufferers and their families in depth

Sara Shostak, assistant professor in the department of sociology, along with principal investigator Ruth Ottman, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, and other collaborators were recently awarded a $2 million grant from The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to learn more about these questions.

29 Feb 2012

Seven states file lawsuit to block Obama administration birth control coverage rule

The states joined with Catholic groups and individuals to file the first major lawsuit challenging these regulations.

24 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Real 'doc fix,' Saint Santorum and why Supreme Court TV is 'a bad idea'

In last week's flurry of budget deals, Congress patched together yet another temporary fix for a flawed formula used to calculate the fees paid to doctors by Medicare. It will hold payments flat for the next 10 months instead of cutting them by 27 percent as the formula required, and the $18 billion to pay for it will be taken from other health care programs. But the fix only lasts until the end of the year. On Jan. 1, doctors will face another big cut unless Congress again steps in.

23 Feb 2012

Obama contraceptive rule reverberates through health care marketplace

Before the federal rule was advanced, the policies put in place by various states allowed employers room to manuever, The Washington Post reports. Meanwhile, the insurance industry fears it may be left holding the bag for this requirement, and the New York Times explores the market share of Catholic hospitals.

22 Feb 2012

Nebraska readies for exchange debate

Nebraska's state legislature is set to debate formation of a health insurance exchange as other states introduce measures that would extend exemptions on a controversial contraception rule in health reform to secular insurers and businesses, if they so choose.

22 Feb 2012

First Edition: February 21, 2012

Today's health policy headlines include reports about how the Supreme Court's consideration of the health law could prolong the fight over the sweeping measure.

21 Feb 2012

Contraception fight heads to state legislatures, federal court

Republican lawmakers in a handful of states are opening another front in the war against President Obama's health care overhaul, seizing on the hot-button issue of birth control with bills that would allow insurance companies to ignore new federal rules requiring them to cover contraception. Measures introduced recently in Idaho, Missouri and Arizona would go beyond religious nonprofits and expand exemptions to secular insurers or businesses that object to covering contraception, abortion and sterilization.

19 Feb 2012