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Do workplace wellness programs really save money?

Your bosses want you to eat your broccoli, hit the treadmill and pledge you'll never puff on a cigarette. But a new study raises doubts that workplace wellness programs save the company money.

20 Mar 2013

Report: Nurses, midwives can play major role in improving health outcomes

Nurses and midwives can play a critical role in lessening people's risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes, according to a groundbreaking new report issued by the World Health Organization and co-authored by a UCLA nursing professor.

20 Mar 2013

Passage likely for government-wide spending bill

Even as the bipartisan measure, which would fund the federal government through the current fiscal year, progresses through Congress, the larger deficit debate continues as the parties move forward with starkly different fiscal blueprints.

20 Mar 2013

Undocumented immigrants should be included in health care system, concludes new report

With comprehensive immigration reform a priority for President Obama and gaining bipartisan and public support, there is a need and an opportunity to consider how the millions of undocumented immigrants should be integrated into our health care system, concludes a new report from The Hastings Center.

20 Mar 2013

Spending on prescription drugs dropped slightly in 2012

The decrease was miniscule, but it was the first time since 1957 that the research firm IMS Health had recorded a dip in United States drug expenditures, reports The New York Times. In related news, more effective use of medications could lead to Medicare savings, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

20 Mar 2013

Federal government may need to enforce health law in some states

Politico reports that insurance officials in at least four states won't implement insurance market changes that are part of the law, leaving that task to federal officials. Meanwhile, the Obama administration offers new rules and statistics related to implementation.

20 Mar 2013

Weill Cornell Medical College researchers call for clearer definition of population health

Accountable Care Organizations, a key feature of the Affordable Care Act, aim to control health care costs, enhance quality in health care and improve population health. But what does "improving population health" really mean? This is the question asked in a new viewpoint article by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers published in the March 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

20 Mar 2013

Roundup: Calif. gets poor grade on health price transparency; Inmates sue Calif. counties over prison care; Ore. lawmakers want torts to apply to insurers

A selection of health policy stories from California, Oregon, Michigan, Kansas, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

20 Mar 2013

New report shows Alzheimer's deaths continue to rise in US

According to the Alzheimer's Association 2013 Alzheimer's Disease Facts & Figures report released today, one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia in the United States.

19 Mar 2013

First Edition: March 19, 2013

Today's headlines include coverage of a new report about the troubling reach of Alzheimer's disease.

19 Mar 2013

Supplement papers draw attention to INQRI's role in building evidence base for nurses' contributions to quality of care

Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals and have the most interaction with patients. Yet previously, there has been limited research regarding nursing's contributions to improving the quality of care.

19 Mar 2013

Michelle Bachelet steps down as head of U.N. Women

"Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who became head of the U.N. agency promoting women's equality in July 2010, said Friday night that she is giving up the post and returning home, an announcement that comes amid widespread speculation she plans to run for president again this year," the Associated Press/Washington Post writes.

19 Mar 2013

U.N. official says North Korea needs external assistance to ensure food, health security

"The well-being of millions of people in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) still depends on external assistance, a United Nations humanitarian official said [Friday], warning that without aid, their health and food security would be seriously compromised," the U.N. News Centre reports.

19 Mar 2013

Study: Propofol addiction is a debilitating form of substance dependence

Abuse of the anesthesia drug propofol is a "rapidly progressive form of substance dependence" that is being more commonly seen among health care professionals, reports a study in the April Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

19 Mar 2013

U.N. CSW adopts declaration urging end to violence against women, girls

"A United Nations policy-making body has agreed upon a declaration urging an end to violence against women and girls despite concerns from conservative Muslim countries and the Vatican about references to women's sexual and reproductive rights," Al Jazeera reports (3/16).

19 Mar 2013

U.K. showing 'moral leadership' through development aid

"I have been following the debate over the [British] government's decision to protect foreign aid from budget cuts," Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation writes in a Daily Mail opinion piece, adding, "To me, your country's steadfast decision to stick with an investment that saves more children's lives than any other possibly could is the very definition of morality."

19 Mar 2013

Wall Street Journal examines new initiative to combat drug-resistant TB in India

The Wall Street Journal examines a new effort to combat drug-resistant tuberculosis In India, noting "[a]n international health initiative has brokered a landmark accord that aims to halve the price patients pay for advanced tests for a strain of tuberculosis that is resistant to standard drugs."

19 Mar 2013

Report says much work remains on hunger, nutrition; FAO head calls for 'integrated nutrition strategies'

"The world's food security remains 'vulnerable,' new data suggests, with some 870 million people experiencing sustained hunger and two billion suffering from micronutrient deficiencies," Inter Press Service reports.

19 Mar 2013

New app to evaluate sports concussion

The American Academy of Neurology, the world's largest association of neurologists who treat brain injuries such as concussion, has launched a new app called "Concussion QuickCheck", to help coaches, athletic trainers, parents and athletes quickly evaluate if someone may have a concussion and needs to see a licensed health care provider, such as a neurologist, who is specialized in concussion.

19 Mar 2013

Nigerian polio vaccinators face challenges but aim for eradication by 2018

The Independent reports on the challenges polio vaccinators in Nigeria face, including "the daily gauntlet of militant gangs, kidnappers, and unforgiving waters, on a mission to immunize children."

19 Mar 2013