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Viewpoints: Disappointing 'surprises' in health law; Cuts in graduate medical training threatens physician supply; Va. can afford Medicaid expansion

The proposed 2.3 percent reduction in (Medicare Advantage plan) payments, which comes on top of cuts already scheduled under the Affordable Care Act, pays no mind to the potential impact on quality of care throughout the program. These cuts will apply to all plans no matter the value they bring in providing quality care to beneficiaries or offering innovative solutions that could ultimately be scaled and applied to the broader program.

5 Mar 2013

Commission urges big changes in Medicare doctor pay, including the elimination of fee-for-service approach

The panel, the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform, released a dozen recommendations to ultimately change how physicians are paid.

5 Mar 2013

HIV might promote aging and disease progression in people with HCV, study results suggest

Infectious disease experts at Johns Hopkins have found that among people infected with the hepatitis C virus, co-infection with HIV, speeds damage and scarring of liver tissue by almost a decade.

5 Mar 2013

Tobacco use poses major health and human development threat

If the word's nations are going to prevent tobacco smoking from causing one projected billion deaths by the end of this century, they must: Make tobacco control part of the agendas of United Nation's and other development agencies worldwide; Assure every sector of a nation including health, trade and finance officials work collectively to protect not only health but the harm tobacco places on their economy by passing laws to reduce use; Place health as the centerpiece of any decision on a trade treaty that includes tobacco; Diligently work toward a goal of reducing the prevalence rate of smoking to less than five percent world-wide by 2048, basically ending its use.

5 Mar 2013

Roundup: Mass. health costs may start accelerating again; Review questions Minn. HMO payment rates; Calif. lawmakers approve health care bills

After several years of moderating costs, there are signs the rate of increase in Massachusetts health care prices -- and insurance premiums -- may soon start accelerating again, exceeding a heralded cost cap set by the state last year.

5 Mar 2013

New tool can accurately forecast malaria epidemics in northwestern India

Sea surface temperatures in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean can be used to accurately forecast, by up to four months, malaria epidemics thousands of miles away in northwestern India, a University of Michigan theoretical ecologist and her colleagues have found.

5 Mar 2013

Heart disease signs in newborns of overweight and obese mothers

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4 Mar 2013

Médecins Sans Frontières’ concerns over TPP negotiations

As closed-door talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement resume in Singapore this week, international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières is calling on Australia and negotiating countries to reject rules that threaten to dismantle internationally agreed public health safeguards and restrict access to medicines in developing countries.

4 Mar 2013

GP consultations: an interview with Associate Professor Helena Britt, University of Sydney

Well it hasn’t varied at all over the last 15 years, which I find pretty amazing because we’ve been through a lot of changes in general practice. Yet, the average length of consultation, as measured from a start to finish time, in a sample of 40,000 consultations in Australia in a year, shows that the average is 15 minutes and the median is 13 minutes.

4 Mar 2013

March issue of WHO Bulletin available online

The March issue of the WHO Bulletin features an editorial examining the concept of global health diplomacy, a public health news roundup, an article on emergency obstetric care in Mali, and a policy paper on "private sector contributions and their effect on physician emigration in the developing world," among others.

3 Mar 2013

Colonoscopy is also safe, confirms German Cancer Research Center study

Colon cancer develops slowly. Precancerous lesions usually need many years to turn into a dangerous carcinoma. They are well detectable in an endoscopic examination of the colon called colonoscopy and can be removed during the same examination. Therefore, regular screening can prevent colon cancer much better than other types of cancer.

3 Mar 2013

Facebook ‘Likes’ indeed an indicator of hospital quality and patient satisfaction

While those active on social media aren't shy about expressing opinions on their Facebook pages, how much do their "Likes" really reflect the quality of an organization? American Journal of Medical Quality (a SAGE journal) recently published a study that found that Facebook "Likes" were indeed an indicator of hospital quality and patient satisfaction.

3 Mar 2013

International experts to examine global issues around water management and sustainability

International experts are speaking at a series of seminars in Greenwich to examine the global issues around water management and sustainability.

2 Mar 2013

Report: Drug companies spent $84M marketing pharmaceuticals in the District of Columbia in 2011

Drug companies spent nearly $84 million marketing pharmaceuticals in the District of Columbia in 2011, including an outlay of nearly $19 million for gifts given to physicians, hospitals and other health care providers, according to a report by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.

2 Mar 2013

Significant link between defective viruses and increased rate of transmission of major disease

Defective viruses, thought for decades to be essentially garbage unrelated to the transmission of normal viruses, now appear able to play an important role in the spread of disease, new research by UCLA life scientists indicates.

2 Mar 2013

Sustained funding necessary for success of global polio eradication plan

"We are teaming up to tackle one of the most ambitious public health goals ever set: eradicating polio, a disease that has haunted humanity at least since ancient Egypt," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P., and Bill Gates, chair of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, write in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

2 Mar 2013

Tooth loss due to periodontal disease is more prevalent among postmenopausal women

Postmenopausal women who have smoked are at much higher risk of losing their teeth than women who never smoked, according to a new study published and featured on the cover of the Journal of the American Dental Association by researchers at the University at Buffalo.

2 Mar 2013

Public Health News and Research

Viewpoints: Disappointing 'surprises' in health law; Cuts in graduate medical training threatens physician supply; Va. can afford Medicaid expansion

Commission urges big changes in Medicare doctor pay, including the elimination of fee-for-service approach

HIV might promote aging and disease progression in people with HCV, study results suggest

Tobacco use poses major health and human development threat

Roundup: Mass. health costs may start accelerating again; Review questions Minn. HMO payment rates; Calif. lawmakers approve health care bills

New tool can accurately forecast malaria epidemics in northwestern India

Heart disease signs in newborns of overweight and obese mothers

Médecins Sans Frontières’ concerns over TPP negotiations

GP consultations: an interview with Associate Professor Helena Britt, University of Sydney

March issue of WHO Bulletin available online

Colonoscopy is also safe, confirms German Cancer Research Center study

Facebook ‘Likes’ indeed an indicator of hospital quality and patient satisfaction

International experts to examine global issues around water management and sustainability

Report: Drug companies spent $84M marketing pharmaceuticals in the District of Columbia in 2011

Significant link between defective viruses and increased rate of transmission of major disease

Sustained funding necessary for success of global polio eradication plan

Tooth loss due to periodontal disease is more prevalent among postmenopausal women

Under-reported drinking major public health concern

Does sequestration offer a budgetary bright side?

Weekend reading: Navigating treatment; Can a robot replace your doctor?

News Medical 2025: Healthcare Shifts That Mattered Most eBook

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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