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Roger C. Lipitz Center to offer free Guided Care training and tools for ACOs

The Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will offer free training and technical assistance for organizations that seek to use the Guided Care model to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

19 Nov 2011

Insurers charging companies more if workers have unhealthy lifestyles

A Towers Watson survey found that the percentage of employer-sponsored policies that impose lifestyle-related financial penalities have doubled in the last two years.

19 Nov 2011

AMP announces Council's unanimous approval of strategic plan for personalized medicine

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) today announced the AMP Council's unanimous approval of a strategic plan intended to guide the organization over the next four years.

19 Nov 2011

Super committee still at loggerheads on deficit, agreement still elusive

With just days remaining to overcome the impasse, deficit panel members appear to be making no progress toward an agreement to reach the 10-year savings target. Still, meetings and discussions continued regarding possible tax increases and cuts in the growth of programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

19 Nov 2011

Colo. Gov. dismisses GOP call for Medicaid waivers; Fla. sanctions Medicaid docs

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Thursday rejected a Republican suggestion that he seek a federal waiver to rules governing Medicaid to balance the state budget. The Democratic governor's reaction comes amid a standoff with Republicans over suspending a property-tax break for seniors that costs the state $100 million a year.

19 Nov 2011

Millions of Afghans face hunger, disease after drought destroys crops

"Up to three million people in Afghanistan are facing hunger, malnutrition and disease after a severe drought wiped out their crops and extreme winter weather risks cutting off their access to vital food aid, a group of aid agencies warned Friday," Reuters reports.

19 Nov 2011

Recent scientific progress in developing new HIV/AIDS interventions

Kaitlin Christenson, coalition director for the Global Health Technologies Coalition, "reflects on recent progress made by the scientific community in developing new interventions to combat HIV/AIDS as a result of leadership from the U.S. government" in this ONE blog post.

19 Nov 2011

HHS, CCSC to recognize healthcare professionals with excellence in preventing HAIs

Teams of critical care professionals and healthcare institutions with a record of reducing or eliminating healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are encouraged to submit their best practices to a national awards program.

19 Nov 2011

States weigh health law's expected positive and negative impacts

Connecticut now has more health benefit mandates than nearly all other states, a consultant told a state board Thursday. And when federal health reform rolls out in just over two years, that could leave the state, not the insurers, with a bill to pay. ... Although it's not yet clear what benefits federal government will require, as many as three-quarters of the benefits that Connecticut mandates could exceed what the federal government requires.

19 Nov 2011

Experts to discuss new research at IOF Regionals - 1st Latin America Osteoporosis Meeting

Physicians across a broad range of medical fields, clinical researchers and bone experts from throughout Latin America will meet in S-o Paulo, Brazil from May 24-27, 2012 for the region's leading bone event - the IOF Regionals - 1st Latin America Osteoporosis Meeting.

19 Nov 2011

Roundup: Fla. Medicare HMO closed; Tufts and BCBS resume talks

Quality Health Plans, a Medicare HMO with 10,000 Florida members, has been ordered into liquidation after failing to come up with the cash reserves the state says were needed. Its members will be moved to another -- still unnamed -- plan by Dec. 1.

19 Nov 2011

U.S., U.N. food agencies downgrade three Somalia famine zones to emergency status

U.S. and U.N. food agencies on Friday said three famine zones in Somalia had been downgraded to emergency status, as aid had reduced death rates, but "three other areas -- including the refugee communities of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu -- remain in the famine zone," the Associated Press/CBSNews reports.

19 Nov 2011

Columbia University P&S reports unprecedented growth during 2011

Research, education, and clinical programs at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) have shown unprecedented growth during 2011, the School reports.

19 Nov 2011

AHRQ: Primary care experiencing 'diminishing economic margins'

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality notes in an upcomping installment of its "Facts and Stats Series" that, despite primary care's importance to the health care system, the discipline is facing a number of challenges.

19 Nov 2011

New website helps small business owners to review health insurance plans

A greatly expanded website to give small business owners an unprecedented detailed review of their health insurance plan choices was announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

19 Nov 2011

Lancet examines WHO Euro Health 2020 initiative

The Lancet examines Health 2020, "a 'process of consultation' between WHO Euro and its 53 diverse member states" that "will build partnerships to tackle the complex determinants and drivers of health and health equity."

19 Nov 2011

Outreach program director at CINJ to take part in unique cancer control program

Kiameesha Evans, MPH, MCHES, program director of the Office of Community Outreach at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), has been selected to take part in a unique pilot program for cancer control practitioners through the National Cancer Institute.

19 Nov 2011

Sony Corporation, Global Fund enter into partnership to implement behavior change projects

"Sony Corporation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have entered into a partnership for the implementation of behavior change projects, in which Sony provides state of the art equipment and movies and the Global Fund ensures it gets to agencies best able to reach communities most in need," a Global Fund press release states, noting, "This partnership is the first pilot case that combines pro bono and in-kind contribution."

19 Nov 2011

Panel discussion on ethics behind sports concussion treatment

Experts from NYU Langone Medical Center and NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies' Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management held a panel discussion Tuesday night on the ethics of who is responsible for ensuring appropriate medical treatment of an athlete that is injured - particularly if they may have a concussion.

19 Nov 2011

Aid targeting high mortality diseases 'lays the groundwork' for improving primary health care services

"In recent years, initiatives such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria have helped rein in some of the biggest scourges," Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners in Health and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

19 Nov 2011