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States continue efforts to find their own way forward on Medicaid expansion

Today's news regarding this health law provision comes from developments in Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Texas.

4 Apr 2013

Some groups urge HHS to reverse delay on small-business insurance program

The Obama administration announced Monday that it will delay -- until 2015 -- offering a choice of plans within health insurance marketplaces specifically for small businesses.

4 Apr 2013

Confirmation hearing for CMS nominee set for next week

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a session on whether to approve Marilyn Tavenner to head the agency that controls Medicare and Medicaid.

4 Apr 2013

Rate boost to Medicare Advantage plans powers insurers' stock surge

Health insurers led gains on Wall Street Tuesday after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reversed plans to make payment cuts to Medicare Advantage plans and instead offered a 3.3 percent increase.

4 Apr 2013

Obama rolls out $100M initiative to study the brain

President Obama revealed a $100 million plan Tuesday to study and better understand the human brain in part to attempt to find better treatments for Alzheimer's and other diseases.

4 Apr 2013

Health law's insurance subsidies hold possible tax risk

The Associated Press reports on how people who take advantage of federal subsidies to buy insurance could owe taxes if they don't accurately forecast their income.

4 Apr 2013

Fight brews over abortion coverage in Va.'s health insurance exchange

Abortion coverage could be banned in Virginia's health insurance exchange if an amendment pushed by Gov. Bob McDonnell wins legislative approval. The bill faces an uncertain outcome in the state Senate.

4 Apr 2013

Death rates on the rise at some rural hospitals

A new study finds that these critical access hospitals, which are exempt from reporting certain quality and outcomes data to the federal government, are not matching the gains made by other facilities regarding mortality rates after treatment for heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia.

4 Apr 2013

AngioDynamics supports SIRF's Discovery Campaign to expand minimally invasive medicine

The Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation's Discovery campaign will benefit from a $500,000 pledge by new "Futurist" level supporter, medical device manufacturer AngioDynamics.

3 Apr 2013

Research: Adults exposed to traumatic events experience symptoms of PTSD

Millions of adults are exposed to traumatic events each year. Shortly after exposure many experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) such as flashbacks, emotional numbing and difficulty sleeping.

3 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 3, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how the latest round of payment rates for private Medicare plans led to stock market gains for insurers.

3 Apr 2013

UAB School of Nursing offers health care services in rural communities

"If individuals, families, and communities don't have access, then they don't have the opportunity for a better life," asserts University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Dean Doreen C. Harper, PhD, RN, FAAN.

3 Apr 2013

Washington Post examines how mobile technologies are transforming remote parts of Africa

The Washington Post examines how new mobile applications are transforming remote parts of Africa.

3 Apr 2013

Study suggests gay men in Mexico City willing to participate in HIV prevention activities for $288 per year

"A new study suggests that most young gay men in Mexico City would pledge to stay HIV-free, attend a monthly safe-sex talk and take regular HIV tests to prove they were uninfected -- all in return for just $288 a year," the New York Times reports.

3 Apr 2013

'Remarkable alignment' of PEPFAR, Global Fund efforts is reason for continued support

Recent global health events -- including the release of PEPFAR's Blueprint for an AIDS-Free Generation (.pdf), the launch of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's new funding model, and the Institute of Medicine's evaluation of PEPFAR -- "mak[e] it clear; it is a time of transformation for global health," Deborah Derrick, president of the Friends of the Global Fight Against HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, writes in the Huffington Post's "The Big Push" blog.

3 Apr 2013

UAB School of Nursing raising bar on service for veterans

Partnering with Birmingham's VA Medical Center and with colleagues across a wide range of health care professions, the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing is raising the bar on service for veterans and their families.

3 Apr 2013

President Obama meets with 4 African leaders to discuss range of development issues

"President Obama met on Thursday with the leaders of four small countries in sub-Saharan Africa that the White House sees as models for the region," including "Ernest Bai Koroma, president of Sierra Leone; Macky Sall, president of Senegal; Joyce Banda, president of Malawi; and Jose Maria Pereira Neves, prime minister of Cape Verde," the Washington Post reports (Goldfarb, 3/28).

3 Apr 2013

U.S. agencies supporting fight against HIV/AIDS in Malawi

"U.S. agencies that work to fight HIV this week began a five-year effort with Malawi's government to improve health care for Malawians infected with the virus," VOA News reports.

3 Apr 2013

Policymakers should help improve food security in urban areas, report says

"Tackling hunger is not only a question of producing more food in rural areas, but requires looking at why poor urban populations struggle to eat enough -- a problem aggravated by climate change, a report from the International Institute for Environment and Development said on Thursday," AlertNet reports.

3 Apr 2013

NTDs have 'devastating consequences' for 1 out of 6 people worldwide

"There are so many things we take for granted in America. One of them is that our children are not regularly infected by one of the tropical diseases so common among the world's poorest people," Richard Besser, ABC News' chief health and medical editor, writes in an ABC News opinion piece.

3 Apr 2013