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State highlights: States updating Medicaid primary care pay to Medicare rates; University of Va. Hospital CEO says health law could cost millions; D.C. hospital cutting jobs

States are making progress carrying out a provision of the health care reform law that calls for increasing Medicaid primary-care payments for 2013 and 2014 to match what Medicare pays. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that few physicians were getting the promised pay bump (Robeznieks, 11/11).

13 Nov 2013

Domestic violence: The most common cause of non-fatal injuries among women in North America

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 30 percent of women in North and South America experience intimate partner violence during their lifetimes. In North America, domestic violence also is the most common cause of non-fatal injuries among women, often resulting in broken bones.

13 Nov 2013

Senate compounding pharmacy oversight bill faces 'Obamacare' test

A year after a meningitis outbreak from contaminated pain injections killed at least 64 people and sickened hundreds, Congress is ready to increase federal oversight over compounding pharmacies that custom-mix medications.

13 Nov 2013

Clinical guidelines suggest BP levels in diabetes people should be kept lower than standard

Many people with diabetes also have high blood pressure. Clinical guidelines have suggested blood pressure levels in people with diabetes should be kept lower than the standard for people without diabetes. However, a new review from The Cochrane Library does not find support for this practice.

13 Nov 2013

Researchers recommend strategies to improve overall wellbeing of adults with developmental disabilities

Adults with developmental disabilities such as autism and Down syndrome are having a harder time accessing health care even though they have more health issues than people without developmental disabilities, according to research done at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

13 Nov 2013

Medicaid enrollment is 'early success story,' but website's problems are still causing sign-up difficulties

The Associated Press reports on the larger enrollment in states that are expanding their Medicaid programs. However, The New York Times points out that the snags on the marketplace websites may be holding up thousands of others who will be eligible for the state-federal program for low-income people.

13 Nov 2013

Research findings may offer clues to help prevent stress-related health problems

Researchers hope to discover why some people struggle with their spirituality or religious beliefs and practices in the face of life's challenges while others don't.

13 Nov 2013

Unlike their health law counterparts, young adults can't stay on TRICARE until age 26

Young adult dependents are not allowed to stay on TRICARE until age 26 unlike under the health law, Fox News reports. Some health law fine print means states have significant leeway in deciding how much or how little dental coverage to offer to children.

13 Nov 2013

The political challenge for health law supporters: proving the health law is a success, rather than an SNL skit

For vulnerable House Democrats, the task of blunting criticism of the overhaul is especially important. Meanwhile, House Republicans have a plan to keep playing offense on the issue, with a number of votes planned this week.

13 Nov 2013

Tech companies ready new tools to cash in on health law enrollment

Tech companies are preparing new software and apps to cash in on the million of Americans who will soon be making insurance decisions for the first time. In the meantime, how three 20-somethings were able to get healthcare.gov up and running when more than 50 contractors could not.

13 Nov 2013

Teen athletes more likely to misuse opioids medications

Teen athletes derive many positive benefits from participating in sports, but their increased risk of sports-related injuries may also heighten their risk for medication misuse and abuse, especially for boys, finds a recent study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

13 Nov 2013

HIV/AIDS experts awarded over $5M to foster health and medical research skills in India, Africa

Experts in HIV/AIDS at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine and the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health have been awarded more than $5 million by the Fogarty International Center's HIV Research Training Program to foster health and medical research skills in India, Uganda, Ethiopia and Malawi.

13 Nov 2013

Oversight investigation turns up CMS memo warning of 'high' website security risks

But news outlets are reporting that the project manager working on the healthcare.gov website was not made aware of these issues.

13 Nov 2013

Searching for a fix to the canceled policy problem

Politico reports that finding a fix that won't disrupt the insurance market is no easy task. Meanwhile, in California, Anthem Blue Cross has announced that it will grant a two-month extension to a portion of its canceled policyholders.

13 Nov 2013

Study outlines “sobering reality” of the U.S. health care system

Over the last decade, the biggest driver of the high health care costs in the United States has been neither the aging of the population nor the large numbers of tests and treatments being prescribed.

13 Nov 2013

People suffering from chronic pain, emotional distress likely to receive long-term opioid therapy

People suffering from chronic non-cancer pain and severe emotional distress, such as depression, anxiety and substance use, are likely to receive long-term opioid therapy despite a lack of evidence that this treatment helps, reports a new review in General Hospital Psychiatry.

13 Nov 2013

Lawmakers face their own health law reality: Navigating the online exchanges

Lawmakers and some of their aides are preparing to navigate the health law's online insurance exchanges to buy coverage. An Alaskan senator is declining the employer contribution to buy coverage, and some senators will ask for a full investigation of the troubled startup of Healthcare.gov.

13 Nov 2013

System-wide improvements could yield dramatic gains in physician capacity, reduce burnout

Producing more healthcare providers is often touted as the principle solution to the looming shortage in the primary care workforce. A quicker and less costly approach to offset primary care physician shortages can occur with the workforce already in place, through efforts to reduce the widespread waste and inefficiency in the typical physician workday.

13 Nov 2013

Challenge of signing up young adults; subsidies key to insurance decisions

NewsHour looks at the efforts in Wisconsin to interest the "young invincibles" in health care coverage. Meanwhile, news organizations in Connecticut and Minnesota look at the complicated calculations for premium subsidies.

13 Nov 2013

Insurers push for workaround that would allow them to directly enroll people

The New York Times reports on this push, which is one of several ways some are discussing to get around the current technology problems plaguing the Obama administration's enrollment effort. Also in the news, The Wall Street Journal reports that some of these difficulties are trickling down from the federal online insurance marketplace to certain state exchanges.

12 Nov 2013

Health Care News and Research

State highlights: States updating Medicaid primary care pay to Medicare rates; University of Va. Hospital CEO says health law could cost millions; D.C. hospital cutting jobs

Domestic violence: The most common cause of non-fatal injuries among women in North America

Senate compounding pharmacy oversight bill faces 'Obamacare' test

Clinical guidelines suggest BP levels in diabetes people should be kept lower than standard

Researchers recommend strategies to improve overall wellbeing of adults with developmental disabilities

Medicaid enrollment is 'early success story,' but website's problems are still causing sign-up difficulties

Research findings may offer clues to help prevent stress-related health problems

Unlike their health law counterparts, young adults can't stay on TRICARE until age 26

The political challenge for health law supporters: proving the health law is a success, rather than an SNL skit

Tech companies ready new tools to cash in on health law enrollment

Teen athletes more likely to misuse opioids medications

HIV/AIDS experts awarded over $5M to foster health and medical research skills in India, Africa

Oversight investigation turns up CMS memo warning of 'high' website security risks

Searching for a fix to the canceled policy problem

Study outlines “sobering reality” of the U.S. health care system

People suffering from chronic pain, emotional distress likely to receive long-term opioid therapy

Lawmakers face their own health law reality: Navigating the online exchanges

System-wide improvements could yield dramatic gains in physician capacity, reduce burnout

Challenge of signing up young adults; subsidies key to insurance decisions

Insurers push for workaround that would allow them to directly enroll people

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