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Roundup: Fla. turns down another $1m grant; Colo. provider fees; Conn. bulk Rx purchases

Using as ammunition a Florida judge's ruling this week that the federal healthcare law is unconstitutional, state officials are wasting no time stepping away from the controversial overhaul. Their latest move: rejecting a $1 million federal grant awarded to the Agency for Health Care Administration to plan a system required by the law where consumers can comparison shop for health plans.

5 Feb 2011

Report examines how health worker shortages could keep developing countries from achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment

A shortage of healthcare workers in developing countries may hold developing countries back from achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goal to achieve universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2015, according to a report by the WHO/Global Health Workforce Alliance, IRIN/PlusNews writes.

4 Feb 2011

WorkSafeBC fines VIHA for failure to protect healthcare staff

WorkSafeBC has issued nine separate orders at two Victoria-area mental health facilities criticizing the failure of Vancouver Island Health Authority to protect the safety of staff.

4 Feb 2011

Many employers receive waivers from health law's requirements

The Wall Street Journal reports on the many exemptions granted by the federal government. Meanwhile, Politico reports on the Obama administration's pick to head the HHS Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, an office that will be key to the "reform effort."

3 Feb 2011

Tips for parents to prevent infant abduction

What can parents do to prevent an infant abduction from occurring? Here are some tips that Sharon M. Rossi, R.N.C., M.S., director of Women's and Children's Services at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, says every parent needs to know and follow.

24 Jan 2011

Guardian online series explores global health worker issues

The Guardian reports, as part of an online feature about health care workforces worldwide done in association with the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), that "Africa is desperately short of doctors and nurses. So is much of Asia. In 57 countries, the situation is deemed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be at crisis point ... But in contrast to some other developing world problems, this is an issue that really does affect all of us. The world needs an estimated 4.2 million more health workers."

19 Jan 2011

Vocollect to be acquired by Intermec for $190 million in cash

Riverside Partners,, a Boston-based private equity firm, announced today that its portfolio company Vocollect, Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Intermec, Inc. for US $190 M in cash. Vocollect is the world leader in voice solutions for workforce management of mobile workers.

18 Jan 2011

Drug resistant malaria on the prowl

Experts have warned that drug-resistant malaria could spread from Southeast Asia to Africa within months, putting millions of children’s lives at risk. Nicholas White, professor of tropical medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok warned that a malaria strain resistant to the drug artemisinin that first emerged along the Thai-Cambodian border in 2007.

12 Jan 2011

Dartmouth-Hitchcock joins GOR Initiative to help reduce environmental impact of country's operating rooms

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has joined the Greening the Operating Room Initiative, Practice Greenhealth's broad coalition that plans to develop a sweeping and prescriptive path to green the country's operating rooms.

12 Jan 2011

Medical experts issue warning about common practice of tablet splitting

Medical experts have issued a warning about the common practice of tablet splitting, after a study found that nearly a third of the split fragments deviated from recommended dosages by 15 per cent or more.

6 Jan 2011

UFCW applauds President Obama for signing new food safety regulations

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union today applauded President Obama for signing into law a new overhaul of our nation's food safety system, which was passed by Congress last year. U.S. food safety regulations have been sorely in need of updating and this new law makes significant progress by strengthening oversight and consumer protection.

6 Jan 2011

Tablet splitting leads to inaccurate dosages

5 Jan 2011

MBGH releases survey results of employers' reactions to health reform

Today the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) released the results of a recent national employer survey gauging the reactions and concerns related to health reform after the mid-term November elections. Conducted by MBGH and co-sponsored by the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), Business Insurance and Workforce Management, the findings indicate that employers believe the law will increase their benefit costs and changes are needed in the law to improve quality, reduce expenses and reward health system performance.

4 Jan 2011

Funding bill passed; Food safety measure sent to President; 9/11 worker legislation still held up

Although Congress gave approval to a short-term funding measure for the federal government, the bill doesn't contain money to pay for enforcement of new health law regulations. Meanwhile, work continued on other pending proposals.

23 Dec 2010

Take charge of your medical tests

Whether you're healthy or ill, there are a variety of medical tests your health care team might recommend for you. A yearly checkup often includes routine tests such as blood sugar and cholesterol levels, vision and hearing assessments, tests for heart functioning and others used to monitor a chronic condition—such as a lung function test for those with asthma.

20 Dec 2010

Workplace interactions may educate people about organ donation process

Face-to-face workplace interactions may be the best way to educate and encourage people to consider becoming organ donors, according to new research from Purdue University.

14 Dec 2010

Capitol Hill: Upton to lead energy and commerce; Dems unveil budget bill, Senate considers 9/11 worker health bill

The Hill: Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) "is in position to become the next chairman of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce," which puts him in "an enviable position for any House Republican, as he will lead efforts to investigate, repeal and replace the new health care reform law." Upton received the endorsement of the Republican steering committee Tuesday night (Millman, 12/7).

9 Dec 2010

Home health care technology could help patients improve their health, overall well-being: Study

Home health care technology may provide one important solution to global concerns about how to sustain health care systems threatened by rising costs and manpower shortages, but such a change faces multiple obstacles to adoption, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

9 Dec 2010

State roundup: Wash. state to pay most of state worker premiums; Budget cuts and mental health in N.Y.; Idaho fraud

Gov. Chris Gregoire told state workers for months that they'd have to pay a bigger share of health-care costs — equal to 26 percent of their health-insurance premiums — because of a looming multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. That all changed when Gregoire's office agreed this week to have workers pay 15 percent of health-care premium costs, with the state picking up the other 85 percent in the next two-year budget (Garber, 12/3).

7 Dec 2010

Patients with H1N1 flu die due to over-reactive immune response: Research

On November 19, Jason Martin returned to the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the first time since he nearly died there during last year's H1N1 flu pandemic. The tall and burly Warren County, TN, ambulance worker - a 30-year-old, father of three young children - broke down and hugged some of the nurses he recognized.

6 Dec 2010