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Obesity epidemic strikes all groups of Americans

The nation's obesity epidemic is striking all groups of Americans, affecting those with more education and those with less education, as well as all ethnic groups, according to a new analysis that challenges prevailing assumptions about the reasons why the nation is getting heavier.

23 May 2014

Common explanations for rising obesity rates are simply wrong, say researchers

Everything you think you know about the causes of rising obesity in the U.S. might be wrong, researchers say in a new report.

23 May 2014

Viewpoints: Michelle Nunn's confusing stance on health law; seeking to assess Wis. wxperiment

In Georgia, where the Republican Senate primary takes place today, the early campaign season has been spent with the candidates vying to out-conservative each other.

22 May 2014

New project aims at saving lives of mothers, newborns in developing countries

Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, today announces investments of $12 million in projects worldwide, aimed squarely at improving the health and saving the lives of mothers, newborns and children in developing countries.

22 May 2014

Indiana Gov. Pence unveils his Medicaid expansion alternative

In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, the governor outlined a plan that he says will expand health coverage for low-income state residents while also giving people more control over their health care choices.

21 May 2014

$15 million pledged for creation of Johns Hopkins Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute

Baltimore-area commercial real estate developer Erwin L. Greenberg and his wife Stephanie Cooper Greenberg have pledged a $15 million gift to create the Johns Hopkins Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute.

20 May 2014

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield hails Gov. Pence's proposal to enhance Healthy Indiana Plan

The leaders of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's Medicaid business are hailing Governor Mike Pence's proposal to enhance the state's Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP).

17 May 2014

Kymab raises US$40 million in Series B financing

Kymab, a monoclonal antibody biopharmaceutical company, announced today it has successfully raised US$40 million in a Series B financing.

16 May 2014

Longer looks: AIDS epidemic in the U.S.; how public health and the recession connect

I pull out my phone and check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, which tells me that, in the United States, 636,000 people have died since the epidemic began. That's 23 times higher than Germany, for a country with four times the population. This makes no sense. Germany has big cities, it has gay men and sex workers and drug users, it has all the same temptations for them to be uncareful that the United States does. How could so many fewer people have died? (Michael Hobbes, 5/12).

16 May 2014

Free access to fitness center is not well utilized by low income community

Eliminating financial barriers to a fitness center as well as providing physician support, a pleasant environment and trained fitness staff did not result in widespread membership activation or consistent attendance among low income, multi-ethnic women with chronic disease risk factors or diagnoses according to a new study from Boston University School of Medicine.

15 May 2014

Analysis: Medicaid enrollment grows even in states that refused to expand eligibility

Consultant Avalere Health found enrollment growth even in states that opted not to expand the health insurance program for the poor because of the so-called "woodwork effect."

15 May 2014

First Edition: May 14, 2014

Today's headlines include stories about consumer frustrations about cost and coverage issues that are emerging with the health law's implementation.

14 May 2014

Research roundup: Unearthing factors in hospital readmissions; dissecting the enrollment surge

Using inpatient data from an urban teaching hospital, we examined how elements of individual characteristics and neighborhood socioeconomic status influenced the likelihood of readmission ... Patients living in high-poverty neighborhoods were 24 percent more likely than others to be readmitted, after demographic characteristics and clinical conditions were adjusted for. Married patients were at significantly reduced risk of readmission, which suggests that they had more social support than unmarried patients. These and previous findings that document socioeconomic disparities in readmission raise the question of whether CMS's readmission measures and associated financial penalties should be adjusted for the effects of factors beyond hospital influence at the individual or neighborhood level, such as poverty and lack of social support (Hu, Gonsahn and Nerenz, May 2014).

12 May 2014

Study finds link between long-term exposure to childhood poverty and obesity rates among young adults

A new study from the University of Houston Department of Health and Human Performance finds childhood poverty reaches into the lives of white, Hispanic and African-American young adult women, contributing to their propensity to be overweight and obese.

12 May 2014

Department of Pediatrics at BMC/BUSM honored with APA 2014 Health Care Delivery Award

The Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has been honored with the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) 2014 Health Care Delivery Award.

8 May 2014

Socioeconomic standing within community can help predict risk of cardiovascular disease

How a person defines their own socioeconomic standing (SES) within their community can help predict their risk of cardiovascular disease, but only among Whites, not Blacks, finds a recent study in Ethnicity and Disease.

7 May 2014

Viewpoints: Battle for Medicaid; GOP's report on enrollment off base; need for kidney donations

The final battle of the war over the Affordable Care Act is being waged today over expanding Medicaid. ... The refusal of more than half the states to cover so many of their neediest citizens - the number who have fallen into the "coverage gap" is estimated at 5 million - amazes and frustrates health experts.

6 May 2014