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Frist urges state leaders - both Democrats and Republicans - to move quickly on state-based exchanges

In an op-ed published Wednesday in "The Week," former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who is also a surgeon, suggested that GOP governors rethink their rejection of the online insurance markets called for in the health law.

20 Jul 2012

NY Times finds satisfaction with Supreme Court falls after health ruling; Scalia denies 'falling out' with Roberts

Scalia says press reports of a clash between him and the chief justice on the health law ruling are wrong.

20 Jul 2012

PBS Newshour shares stories of those affected by HIV/AIDS epidemic

"As Washington prepares to host the International AIDS Conference from July 22-27, PBS NewsHour will profile some of the parallel stories unfolding around the epidemic on opposite ends of the globe," the news service writes. In the first of these stories, the news service profiles two individuals -- John Johnson in Washington, D.C., and Alice Sibanda in Hwange, Zimbabwe -- who as children lost their parents to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

20 Jul 2012

Documentary film provides glimpse into the world of public hospitals

The daily life of a large, under-resourced, urban public hospital, a new documentary offers no experts and no statistics, just a rare fly-on-the-wall look inside an overwhelmed and at times overwhelming system and its impact on patients and staff.

20 Jul 2012

Viewpoints: Researchers see potential to control HIV pandemic; The 'ceaseless attacks' on women's reproductive health

We are at a moment of extraordinary optimism in the response to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A series of scientific breakthroughs ... have the potential to markedly expand the available preventive tools. There is evidence of the first cure of an HIV-infected person. And most important, the finding that early initiation of antiretroviral therapy can both improve individual patient outcomes and reduce the risk of HIV transmission to sexual partners by 96% has led many to assert what had so long seemed impossible: that control of the HIV pandemic may be achievable.

20 Jul 2012

Longer looks: Physicians and assisted suicide; Avoid getting sick in July

Peggy Sutherland was ready to die. The morphine oozing from a pump in her spine was no match for the pain of lung cancer, which had evaded treatment and invaded her ribs. … Sutherland, 68, decided to use Oregon's "Death With Dignity Act," which allows terminally-ill residents to end their lives after a 15-day requisite waiting period by self-administering a lethal prescription drug. ... But not all doctors are on board with the law.

20 Jul 2012

Roundup: Minn. health care spending slows; Fla. counties may reconsider Medicaid lawsuit against state; Accessing dental care in Georgia

The state Health Department reports the rate of health care spending in Minnesota has slowed to its lowest point since 1997. Health care costs are still rising, but at a much slower pace -- 2.2 percent between 2009 and 2010. State Health Economist Stefan Gildemeister said the recession was a major factor in why Minnesotans spent less on health care. He said many lost their insurance when they lost their jobs and others who kept their jobs were more cautious.

20 Jul 2012

ACP testimony focuses on innovative solutions to align value with care

"We know that the current Medicare payment system is not serving the needs of patients, physicians or taxpayers," David L. Bronson, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), today told the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health.

19 Jul 2012

First Edition: July 19, 2012

Today's headlines include a variety of stories exploring public opinions about the health law, the upcoming election and the Supreme Court.

19 Jul 2012

USA Today examines recent HIV breakthroughs

USA Today examines several scientific breakthroughs that researchers say "could be key to reducing new HIV infections." "Doctors are hopeful not because of a single discovery, but because of a string of breakthroughs over the past two or three years, says Diane Havlir, a professor at the University of California-San Francisco," the news service writes.

19 Jul 2012

PATH Blog highlights efforts to reduce HIV in DRC

The PATH Blog reports on the organization's efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) "to reduce transmission of HIV, deliver integrated care and services for people affected by HIV/AIDS, and build up the country's health system to expand and improve services."

19 Jul 2012

U.S. faces problems tracking cadaver tissue donation

In the United States, almost 1.5 million medical products are used each year for surgeries made with tissue taken from cadavers. For tissue to be safe, the donor must be carefully screened.

19 Jul 2012

State officials stake out positions on implementing health law

Virginia's Republican attorney general, the first to file suit against the health law, takes a hardline position against expanding Medicaid, while Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, a Republican, signals his state will pass on setting up a state-based health exchange. In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, issues an executive order to authorize such an exchange.

19 Jul 2012

Opponents see possible avenues to send health law back to court

But in related news, a federal judge in Nebraska rejected a suit filed by seven states to block the measure's contraception coverage mandate, saying the states did not have standing to file it because they failed to prove they would suffer "immediate harm."

19 Jul 2012

Adolescents and young adult cancer patients more likely to report unmet need

A cancer diagnosis for adolescents and young adults can be especially challenging, and new research shows the social, psychological and informational support these patients need might be going unmet.

19 Jul 2012

Better methods needed to diagnose and treat HIV, TB in children

Jennifer Furin, an infectious diseases physician and medical anthropologist who specializes in the management of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV in resource-poor settings, writes in a post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog that "when it comes to the great advancements made in global HIV and TB care, children are being left behind."

19 Jul 2012

Geographic adjustments not optimal tools to tackle larger national policy goals

Changing the way that Medicare payments are adjusted to account for regional variations in the cost of providing care as recommended by a previous report from the Institute of Medicine would result in payment increases for some hospitals and practitioners and decreases for others, concludes the Phase II report from the IOM study.

19 Jul 2012

Escalating Miss. abortion fight could be blueprint for similar challenges

State health inspectors inspect Mississippi's only abortion clinic -- the first step towards shutting it down-- while a judge considers whether to let the law stand. Meanwhile, anti-abortion activists hone in on other states with single abortion providers to see if they can use similar approaches to shut them down, Politico Pro reports.

19 Jul 2012

NPR reports on Brazilian clinical trial of Truvada as prevention strategy

NPR's "Shots" blog reports on one of the drug trials considered by the FDA in its approval of the antiretroviral drug Truvada for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV among people at risk of contracting the virus, which "was done at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Research Institute, also known as Fiocruz, in Rio de Janeiro."

19 Jul 2012

Targets reached in Haiti's pilot cholera vaccination program, NPR reports

NPR's "Shots" blog reports on the results of a "high-visibility pilot project to vaccinate 100,000 Haitians against cholera." The blog writes, "Almost 90 percent of the target population -- half in Port-au-Prince and the other half in a remote rural area -- got fully protected against cholera, meaning they got two doses of the oral vaccine."

19 Jul 2012