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Romney calls for increase in Medicare eligibility age

Mitt Romney unveiled a sweeping budget-cutting plan today that would increase the eligibility age for Social Security and cap Medicaid payments to states. Romney's plan would also increase the eligibility age for Medicare and allow seniors to choose between the government-sponsored plan and private insurance.

5 Nov 2011

Roundup: N.Y. autism coverage mandate; Miss. 'personhood' referendum; Wis. MLR controversy

The dazzling new hospital that will open here in Hopewell on Sunday looks more like a five-star resort than a medical center. It may also be the best hope for survival of its corporate parent, Capital Health, a nonprofit company that operates three health care facilities in New Jersey.

3 Nov 2011

Study finds multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in 48% of infected patient rooms

Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) was found in the environment of 48 percent of the rooms of patients colonized or infected with the pathogen, according to a new study published in the November issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

2 Nov 2011

UL, IU and UMMS to implement Center for Excellence in Health and Life Sciences

Indiana University today announced that it is partnering with the University of Liberia and the University of Massachusetts Medical School to administer a transformative $7.2 million project that will address a national shortage of healthcare workers in Liberia, an African nation with which IU has had long-standing ties.

1 Nov 2011

Seven billion humans and counting

According to the United Nations Population Fund, the seven-billionth child is most likely to be a boy born in India or China, this week. However the trend of fertility or growth of population in the longer term is in a different direction toward slower population growth, says Dudley Poston, a professor of sociology and demographics at Texas A&M University.

31 Oct 2011

Construction workers may face lifetime risk of occupational injuries and illnesses

Nearly all construction workers will experience one or more work-related injuries or illnesses over a lifetime plus a greater risk of premature death, according to new data released today at the American Public Health Association's 139th Annual Meeting.

31 Oct 2011

UCLA's TIES for Families program receives $5,000 Disneyland grant

For the ninth year, the Disneyland Resort Cast Community Fund has awarded a $5,000 grant to UCLA's TIES (Training, Intervention, Education and Services) for Families program for its services and achievement. The UCLA-based program is dedicated to preparing and supporting adoptive families of children from foster care.

28 Oct 2011

Loyola surgical oncologist removes high-grade liver tumor

The cancerous tumor in Marcus Muhich's liver weighed 8 pounds and was nearly a foot across. Doctors at three major academic medical centers in the Midwest told Muhich his high-grade tumor was inoperable.

22 Oct 2011

Medicare Part B premium costs likely to cut into social security's increase

Social Security benefits will increase by 3.6 percent, but many consumers won't feel more weight in their wallets because of an expected boost in Medicare costs.

21 Oct 2011

New series on child abuse on UBM Medica's Pediatrics Consultant Live

UBM Medica's Pediatrics Consultant Live has a new series called "Child Abuse–or Mimic?" which helps clinicians distinguish cases of child abuse from pediatric disease or mere accidents.

15 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: 'Killing' Medicaid; medicine for mentally ill; 'outrageous' veto of mammogram bill in Calif.

Even as it vigorously defends the constitutionality of the individual mandate, the Obama administration may be complicit in eviscerating Medicaid - and setting back the broader goal of ensuring that all Americans have access to quality health care.

15 Oct 2011

UMass Amherst SPHHS wins HHS award to create Public Health Training Center

Training to improve the nation's public health system by strengthening the technical, scientific, managerial and leadership competence of current and future public health workers will soon be underway in Springfield, Holyoke, Pittsfield and the Berkshires, supported by a four-year, $2.5 million grant to the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

10 Oct 2011

Roundup: Health alliances formed in Calif., Wash.; Mass. group seeks repeal of mandate there

One of Southern California's largest hospital systems is teaming up with hundreds of doctors in a new alliance designed to better manage patient care, improve medical outcomes and reduce costs. Under the partnership with Providence Health & Services of Southern California, doctors will share and analyze data about diabetes, congestive heart failure and other conditions to identify effective practices and eliminate inefficiencies that drive up expenses.

7 Oct 2011

Longer looks: A new life for Bart Stupak; The Komen Foundation and BPA; moving primary care out of the ER

Former Democratic congressman Bart Stupak is relishing the good life. After nine terms in the House of Representatives, the once obscure, pro-life, conservative legislator who became the flash point in last year's historic health care debate gave up his seat to become a gilded Washington operative - a partner in the Government and Legislative Affairs Group of Venable LLP. … Even before he negotiated a last-minute deal with President Obama to ban federal funding for abortion and provided the defining vote, he called his life "a living hell." "I was the face of health care. Whatever you thought about it, I was it," he says calmly. "I'm surprised I never got shot."

7 Oct 2011

Certain care situations result in poorer hand hygiene practice in ED

Researchers studying hand hygiene of healthcare workers in the emergency department found certain care situations, including bed location and type of healthcare worker performing care, resulted in poorer hand hygiene practice.

4 Oct 2011

State highlights: Many states moving workers' children to CHIP plans

After a nine-year court battle, a landmark class-action settlement was preliminarily approved this week that would require the state to provide more effective mental health services for the children in or about to enter foster care. Its reach is expected to be significant. California has 61,000 children in the foster care system, and it runs the nation's largest child welfare system at a cost of about $4.7 billion per year.

1 Oct 2011

GSA, NAM select 16 reporters for MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellows Program

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and New America Media (NAM) have selected 16 reporters for the MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, now in its second year.

30 Sep 2011

Roundup: Patient dies after medical error during Calif. nurses strike; grocery workers ratify contract that had partially hinged on health care

Veteran nurses locked out of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland said Sunday that the death of a patient due to a medical error by a replacement worker wouldn't have happened if they had been allowed to do their jobs. The hospital's management countered that it was a freak accident that could have happened at any time -- with or without the replacement nurses. At the center of the dispute is a cancer patient, a woman who has not been identified but whose tragic death on Saturday has inflamed an already tense labor dispute.

27 Sep 2011

Roundup: Texas House Dems ask CMS to reject Medicaid waiver request; Jobs lost as Ariz. mental health Medicaid cuts kick in

The nine House Democrats from Texas want the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reject their state's request that Medicaid beneficiaries get their prescription drugs through managed care plans.

23 Sep 2011

Three reports evaluate global progress to meet MDGs 4 and 5

Three recent reports -- a one-year assessment released by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health of the WHO on Tuesday, an analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington published on Tuesday in the Lancet, and a Save the Children report released on Monday entitled "No Child out of Reach" -- examine the progress of the global campaign to save mothers and children under five in developing nations and evaluate whether Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, reducing child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015 and maternal deaths by three-quarters over the same period, can be met.

21 Sep 2011