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Party lines on entitlement programs play role in 'fiscal cliff' negotiations

Congressional leaders signal they are making progress in "fiscal cliff" talks. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., urged his party to back an immediate extension of Bush-era tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000 and focus on tax breaks for higher-income people later. Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, said that Medicare and other federal health care programs should be part of long-term solutions, but not a short-term deal.

29 Nov 2012

Global Fund's new funding model 'designed to be flexible, focused, fast'

In the Center for Strategic & International Studies' (CSIS) "Smart Global Health" blog, Todd Summers, senior adviser at the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, reviews the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's old rounds-based grant system that the Global Fund Board recently agreed to replace with a new funding model "that's designed to be flexible, focused, and fast," he says.

28 Nov 2012

Decker School of Nursing to provide financial support for graduate students

The Decker School of Nursing has received a two-year, $757,000 traineeship grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to provide financial support for graduate students.

28 Nov 2012

New recommendations on screening mammography may lead to missed cancers

Researchers assessing the impact of revised guidelines for screening mammography issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found evidence that the new recommendations may lead to missed cancers and a decline in screening, according to two studies presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

27 Nov 2012

Grove professor to investigate personalized therapies against breast cancer

For some time, researchers have known about disparities in diagnoses and outcomes among breast cancer patients based on race and age. However, they have been challenged to develop a set of criteria that can be used to reliably target drug delivery mechanisms based on an individual patient's tumor.

27 Nov 2012

Fiscal cliff talks moving slowly; Boehner wants health law on the table

The Congressional leaders had said that aides would provide concrete ideas by Wednesday on deficit reduction targets through revenue increases and changes to social programs, especially Medicare. White House and Congressional staff members did meet early this week, but no such ideas were produced. Democrats want Republicans to first define what they mean by "structural changes" to Medicare and Medicaid.

26 Nov 2012

Tips to help make holidays a little brighter

Ornaments glistening on a pine tree, carols filling the air, shoppers scurrying through stores and the smell of goodies baking in the oven—it's the holidays. For many this truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Still, for those who have lost a loved one, the empty chair at the table or one less present under the tree can be a painful reminder of the one who is missing.

22 Nov 2012

Online access to Colorado docs linked to more office visits

The assumption had always been that offering patients email access to their doctors and records would reduce office visits, but a new study from Kaiser Permanente of Colorado showed the opposite.

22 Nov 2012

Dropping of cold chain requirement for meningitis vaccine will improve access, IRIN reports

IRIN examines how the WHO's recent declaration that the MenAfriVac meningitis A vaccine can be transported or stored for up to four days without refrigeration will affect immunization campaigns in Africa's meningitis belt, which runs from Senegal to Ethiopia.

22 Nov 2012

Tips to achieve dieting success

There are a wide range of estimates pinpointing the amount of weight Americans gain over the holidays, but one thing is for sure – you know it when you feel it. On the heels of the average American consuming more than 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day, it's no wonder that for many "Black Friday" can feel like "Fat Friday."

22 Nov 2012

More than half of all retired people report sleeping at least 7.5 hours per night

More than half of all retired people aged 65 and over report sleeping at least 7.5 hours per night, and between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7:30 a.m., contrary to commonly held assumptions that most elderly go to bed early and have trouble sleeping through the night, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Sleep and Chronobiology Center (SCC) and University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR).

21 Nov 2012

Even as leaders appear 'upbeat' after 'fiscal cliff' meeting, taxes, benefit programs remain flashpoints

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, appeared optimistic about a deal to avert automatic spending cuts and tax increases, but major issues must be tackled.

20 Nov 2012

Senators pledge regulation of compounding pharmacies

At a Capitol Hill hearing, senators from both parties promised to take action following a meningitis outbreak that killed 32 people.

17 Nov 2012

Approaching the cliff: What's at stake for Medicare and Medicaid?

Medicare and other entitlement programs are in the mix as deficit deal-making takes center stage.

17 Nov 2012

States declare their health exchange intentions

A number of states notified the Department of Health and Human Services how they plan to proceed on the question of setting up an insurance exchange.

17 Nov 2012

HHS delays health exchange decision deadline to Dec. 14

The Obama administration announced late Thursday that it was extending the deadline for states to decide whether they would establish and operate these online insurance markets.

16 Nov 2012

Employer health costs rise 4.1% -- slowest growth in 15 years

Employer health costs rose just 4.1 percent nationally in 2012 -- the slowest rate of growth in 15 years -- as employers offer more high-deductible plans and increase employee cost-sharing, a new report from consulting firm Mercer has found.

16 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: Obama must tell allies that entitlements can't be excluded from fiscal deal; Medical device tax will thwart innovation

As bipartisan negotiations over avoiding the "fiscal cliff" draw nearer, many of President Obama's core Democratic supporters are urging him to fix the debt through defense cuts and tax increases rather than by tackling Social Security, Medicare and other federal entitlement programs. It's a reprise of progressive resistance to the entitlement trims Mr. Obama contemplated during the abortive debt-reduction negotiations with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) last year.

15 Nov 2012

States wrestle with health exchange decisions

Even as state officials decide whether they will set up online insurance markets or allow the Obama administration to do it for them, some wonder if the federal government is up to the task. Decisions about the health law's Medicaid expansion are also on governors' minds.

15 Nov 2012

Obama, congressional leaders stake out positions in 'fiscal cliff' face-off

President Barack Obama and GOP congressional leaders signal what they're looking for in a budget deal to avert the looming "fiscal cliff," offering their respective takes on tax increases, spending cuts and changes to entitlement programs.

15 Nov 2012