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Study shows culture of health model reduces employee health costs at PPG Industries

A comprehensive program focusing on "growing a culture of health" has led to a reduction in employee health costs at PPG Industries, according to a study in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

3 May 2013

Hospitals warn of lost jobs, patient services after proposed payment changes

Changes in how hospitals are paid make news in Minnesota -- where the state's largest health plan will delay a new payment system -- and Maryland -- where hospitals say a cut in pay to them will mean fewer jobs and patient services.

3 May 2013

GOP lawmakers offer Medicaid 'per capita cap' plan

The proposal was offered by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the top Republican on the Finance Committee.

3 May 2013

Concerns surround medical records privacy issues

The sharing of Americans' health information is set to explode in coming years, with millions of patients' medical records converted to electronic form and analyzed by health-care providers, insurers, regulators and researchers.

3 May 2013

Early rate requests from insurers provide few clues for small businesses attempting to determine costs

The Associated Press reports that, because many steps remain in the rate setting process, the initial rates announced by insurers do not offer "clarity."

3 May 2013

Neuraxial anesthesia improves outcomes in patients undergoing hip or knee replacement

A highly underutilized anesthesia technique called neuraxial anesthesia, also known as spinal or epidural anesthesia, improves outcomes in patients undergoing hip or knee replacement, according to a new study by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery.

2 May 2013

The Guardian examines new reports on nutrition spending

The Guardian examines two new reports on nutrition spending. "Ambitions to eradicate world hunger will not be realized if aid for basic nutrition remains at only 0.4 percent of total official development assistance (ODA), according to the research group Development Initiatives (DI)," the newspaper writes.

2 May 2013

Adrenomedullin plays a crucial role in preventing preeclampsia

In a study using mice, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that a hormone, adrenomedullin, plays a crucial role in preventing the pregnancy complication preeclampsia.

2 May 2013

First Edition: May 2, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about a new study detailing how expanded Medicaid access impacts beneficiaries' utilization of health care services and their overall physical health.

2 May 2013

May issue of WHO Bulletin available online

The May issue of the WHO Bulletin features an editorial examining policy coherence for improved medical innovation and access, a public health news roundup, several research papers on maternal and child health, and a review of 12-month antiretroviral therapy outcomes in low- and middle-income countries, among other articles (May 2013).

2 May 2013

To reach 'FP2020' goal, targets must be re-examined

Participants at the 2012 London Family Planning Summit "pledged $2.6 billion dollars in additional funding to achieve a worthy goal: provide 120 million new women who have 'unmet need' with family planning products and services by 2020 in 69 of the world's poorest countries," a movement dubbed "FP2020," Christopher Purdy, executive vice president of DKT International, writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

2 May 2013

UNICEF, partners step up measles immunization campaign in Middle East; U.K. provides funding for WFP work in region

UNICEF and its partners "have stepped up vaccination campaigns in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey amid measles outbreaks in a region already struggling to provide humanitarian assistance to millions of people affected by ongoing conflict in Syria," the U.N. News Centre reports (4/30).

2 May 2013

U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Goosby to visit India this week

Ambassador Eric Goosby, head of the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Health Diplomacy and the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, "is travelling to India this week to recognize the successful health partnership between the two countries, an official statement said," the Press Trust of India/Business Standard reports.

2 May 2013

PLOS 'Q&A' blog post highlights PLOS Medicine series

In the latest installment of the PLOS "Speaking of Medicine" blog's Q&A series, Pamela Collins, director of the Office for Research on Disparities and Global Mental Health at the National Institute of Mental Health and "the corresponding author of a series of Policy Forum articles in PLOS Medicine that provides a global perspective on integrating mental health," answers questions "about some of the topics discussed in the new series, which will be published in PLOS Medicine weekly for the next five weeks, starting with the publication [on Tuesday] of a Policy Forum article discussing integration in research, policy, and practice."

2 May 2013

Survey: Half of U.S. plastic surgeons use social media platforms in their professional practice

Half of U.S. plastic surgeons are using Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms in their professional practice, according to a survey in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

2 May 2013

PEPFAR reauthorization 'rests with Congress,' OGAC official says

Speaking at a briefing on Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., Deputy Global AIDS Coordinator Julia Martin said "[t]he decision about whether to reauthorize [PEPFAR] 'rests with Congress. ... Whether we move in that direction is yet to be fully determined but PEPFAR will continue at the will of Congress,'" CQ HealthBeat reports.

2 May 2013

Opinion pieces address Global Vaccine Summit

Project Syndicate last week published two opinion pieces addressing the Global Vaccine Summit, held in Abu Dhabi from April 24-25, which was hosted by His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, in partnership with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

2 May 2013

MSF, GAVI Alliance vaccine discussion shows complications in global health programs

Writing in the American Public Health Association International Health Section's "IH-Blog," Jessica Keralis, IH Communications Committee chair, highlights three recently released advocacy videos by Médecins Sans Frontières discussing child vaccines and a subsequent conversation between MSF and the GAVI Alliance over vaccine pricing.

2 May 2013

U.S. proposes talks aimed at improving food security at upcoming WTO meeting

"The United States said on Tuesday it was prepared to examine how agricultural policy reform could boost global food security as part of a package of commitments at the World Trade Organization's [WTO] upcoming meeting in December," Reuters reports.

2 May 2013

Grand Challenges Canada funds innovative ideas to solve global health problems

"Grand Challenges Canada just announced grants of $100,000 for 102 imaginative new ideas to tackle health problems in resource-poor countries," Inter Press Service reports, noting, "Of these, 59 grants went to researchers in 13 low- and middle-income nations worldwide."

2 May 2013