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Blogs examine progress on NCDs one year after U.N. summit

On the one-year anniversary of the U.N. High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), two blogs examine what has happened since. In the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Victoria Fan, a research fellow at the center, and Laura Khan of Princeton University ask, "[W]here has the attention and commitment to NCDs gone?" They say "subsequent attention and action after the NCD Summit last year has been paltry," and they explore some reasons why this might be the case.

21 Sep 2012

Indiana braces for the costs of health law's expanded coverage

In addition to questions about costs from the health law's Medicaid expansion, states are also wrestling with issues related to the creation of health exchanges and questions regarding essential benefits.

21 Sep 2012

New census data show insurance coverage expands in 20 states

Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont saw the biggest expansions, while Missouri and Montana saw declines in coverage. The biggest increases occurred among young adults between the ages of 19 and 25.

21 Sep 2012

Administration touts thriving Medicare Advantage under health law

Enrollment in the private plans is projected to increase 11 percent next year, while premiums hold steady, officials say, disproving predictions made by critics of the health care law.

21 Sep 2012

Cholera vaccine stockpiles could help save lives in future outbreaks

In a post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Helen Matzger, a program officer in new vaccine delivery at the foundation, writes about outbreaks of cholera in Haiti, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and other areas, and says creating stockpiles of a recently WHO-approved cholera vaccine could help save lives in the future.

21 Sep 2012

September issue of 'Global Fund News Flash' email newsletter available

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has published Issue 8 of its newsletter, the "Global Fund News Flash."

21 Sep 2012

Layoffs hit group health in Washington and Boston Children's Hospital

Group Health Cooperative, recognized as a leader in health-care innovations and patient satisfaction, says it must cut $250 million over the next 16 months through layoffs, better cost control and some reorganization at the top. As part of those changes, Richard Magnuson, executive vice president and chief financial and administrative officer, will soon leave the organization.

21 Sep 2012

Longer looks: A 'renegade' Bill Frist?; The pharmacist's expanding role

Meet former Sen. Bill Frist, a renegade "Obamacare"-loving Republican who is in the mood for some real bipartisanship. Yes, the same Frist who as Senate majority leader led an army into the culture wars over Terri Schiavo and whose efforts in 2004 to unseat his then-rival, Minority Leader Tom Daschle, led to a nasty - and personal - Washington battle royal. Now, Frist is pushing for a national conversation on end-of-life care and dismissing "caricatured" talk of death panels.

21 Sep 2012

New Okla. challenge to health law zeros in on tax penalties and subsidies

In a new legal challenge, the state's attorney general is asking a federal court to rule that the law's requirement that most people purchase insurance or face a tax penalty is inoperative in his state.

21 Sep 2012

Drug co. execs say cost-containment pressures undermine medical innovation

Pressure from governments to lower drug prices risks undermining medical innovation, Bayer AG's chief executive said on Wednesday, echoing complaints of other drug company executives. Speaking at the Boston College Chief Executives' Club, Marijn Dekkers said there was "tremendous pressure" on drugmakers to lower prices.

21 Sep 2012

N.Y. Times examines why many kidneys available for transplant are discarded

In each of the past five years, more than 2,600 kidneys were recovered and discarded, according to government data.

21 Sep 2012

State roundup: HCA fined for kickbacks; Minn. rural health care investigation

The Hospital Corporation of America will pay $16.5 million to settle claims that its subsidiaries had paid a diagnostics firm for referrals, violating federal anti-kickback rules, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. HCA subsidiary Parkridge Medical Center and HCA Physician Services, both provided "financial benefits" to a physician group, Diagnostic Associates of Chattanooga, for referrals to the HCA facilities.

21 Sep 2012

Alabama voters approve moving money from state trust fund to balance budget

Alabama voters decided by a 2-to-1 margin Tuesday to avoid dramatic cuts in state government by withdrawing $437 million from a state trust fund to help balance the General Fund budget for the next three years. State Health Officer Don Williamson, who oversees the state Medicaid program, said it will still have to make $20 million to $40 million in cuts to live within the new year's budget, but that will be much less painful than the massive cuts that were forecast.

21 Sep 2012

Mosquitoes show signs of behavior change in response to bed net use, study says

About three years after two villages in Benin began using insecticide-treated bed nets to help prevent malaria, mosquitoes in the area changed their biting habits, so their "hours of 'peak aggression' [went] from 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. to around 5 a.m." and "in one village, the proportion of mosquito bites inflicted outdoors rose," according to a study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Reuters reports.

21 Sep 2012

FDA approves Acton’s AEROSPAN sNDA to treat asthma

Acton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the sNDA (Supplemental New Drug Application) for AEROSPAN (flunisolide HFA, 80 mcg) Inhalation Aerosol, a hydrofluoroalkane (HFA) orally inhaled corticosteroid indicated for the maintenance treatment of asthma as a prophylactic therapy in adult and pediatric patients 6 years of age and older.

21 Sep 2012

First phase of Global Fund-managed AMFm shows success in bringing malaria drugs to clinics

The Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm) -- an innovative financing mechanism that subsidizes the cost of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in order to expand access to the most effective treatment for malaria -- "brought more than 100 million doses of malaria drugs to clinics and pharmacies in 2011" and "also increased access to the top malaria medicines by 26 to 52 percent in six countries."

21 Sep 2012

Availity earns healthcare network accreditation from EHNAC

Health information network Availity today announced it has achieved renewed accreditation with the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission, a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body that recognizes excellence in health data processing and transactions.

21 Sep 2012

Research to gauge effectiveness of street-crossing training program in impaired people

An Indiana University assistant professor and low-vision optometrist working to advance pedestrian safety has been awarded more than $1.9 million by the National Institutes of Health to evaluate street-crossing decision-making performance in pedestrians who are elderly, visually impaired or blind.

21 Sep 2012

First Edition: September 20, 2012

Today's headlines include reports that the health law's penalty for not obtaining health insurance could hit as many as 6 million people.

21 Sep 2012

Sagard Capital acquires IntegraMed

Sagard Capital Partners, L.P. and IntegraMed America, Inc., a leader in developing, marketing and managing specialty healthcare facilities in the fertility and vein care markets, today announced the completion of Sagard Capital's acquisition of IntegraMed for $14.05 per share in cash, representing a total equity purchase price of approximately $169.5 million.

21 Sep 2012