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Abbott announces CE Marking for ARCHITECT HbA1c assay

More than 346 million people worldwide are living with diabetes, and the World Diabetes Foundation estimates that number will increase by nearly 27 percent by 2030. In order to help physicians appropriately monitor treatment efficacy for these patients, Abbott announced today CE Marking (Conformite Europeenne) for the Abbott ARCHITECT HbA1c (IA) Assay.

10 Jul 2012

Family planning allows women to determine their future

With the London Summit on Family Planning scheduled to take place this week, Melinda Gates writes in a post on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog that family planning "can mean everything to so many of the women and families I meet."

10 Jul 2012

U.N. report calls for innovative ways to fund development initiatives

The U.N.'s annual World Economic and Social Survey, released last week, "says it is critical to find new ways to help the world's poor as pledged cash fails to flow" and "calls for a tax on billionaires to help raise more than $400 billion a year for poor countries," Agence France-Presse reports.

10 Jul 2012

Financial Times examines integration of family planning, HIV services in Ethiopia

The Financial Times examines efforts by "Ethiopian policymakers, faced with a rapidly expanding population and rising numbers of HIV/AIDS infections," to integrate family planning into HIV counseling and testing programs in the country. "When counseling women on reproductive health or child immunization, family planning clinics can also discuss HIV testing and prevention, particularly condom use, as well as introducing pregnant women to mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention services," the newspaper notes.

10 Jul 2012

Office of Global Health Diplomacy represents move toward expanding GHI's impact

With the closure of the Global Health Initiative office and the establishment of the Office of Global Health Diplomacy within the State Department last week, "the Obama administration made some quiet changes ... that strengthen one of its most significant policy shifts: that global health and foreign assistance are critical components of diplomacy," Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), writes in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

10 Jul 2012

Medicaid news: La. preps managed care cuts; Fewer Texas docs accept new patients

The Medicaid program in Louisiana is preparing to cut payments to providers who run its managed care program. In Texas, only 31 percent of doctors take new Medicaid patients, a survey says.

10 Jul 2012

Proposed Medicare fee schedule includes pay increase for primary care, family docs

The proposed rule also would provide payment for care that helps patients make the transition back into the community following a discharge from a hospital or nursing facility.

10 Jul 2012

Federal judge to decide Wednesday on Miss. abortion law that could close last clinic

The Republican-appointed judge is expected to rule this week whether to block a law that could effectively shutter the state's only abortion clinic. Abortion politics could also affect the availability of services in Indiana and D.C.

10 Jul 2012

Romney's stance on the health law tax is blasted by Democrats, scrutinized by GOP

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's reversal on whether the mandate is a tax has made him the target of intense Republican and Democratic scrutiny as the Supreme Court ruling on the health law proves a boon for the campaign bankrolls of both Romney and President Obama.

10 Jul 2012

Could insurance rules survive if GOP goes after health law through budget reconciliation?

Politico explores what might become of this element of the health law if Republicans win control of Congress and the White House, and attempt to unwind the law through the same budget reconciliation process that Democrats used to pass it. Other parts of the law under GOP attack include the online insurance markets where individuals and small businesses could buy coverage and the provision of federal subsidies to help some people buy coverage.

10 Jul 2012

Associated Press examines 'sense of optimism' in HIV fight as AIDS 2012 conference approaches

Noting more than 20,000 international HIV researchers and activists will gather in Washington, D.C., for the AIDS 2012 conference later this month, the Associated Press writes that there is "a sense of optimism not seen in many years -- hope that it finally may be possible to dramatically stem the spread of the AIDS virus."

10 Jul 2012

Researchers develop new silk-based stabilizer for vaccines and antibiotics

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a new silk-based stabilizer that, in the laboratory, kept some vaccines and antibiotics stable up to temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

10 Jul 2012

FDA approves risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for ER and LA opioids

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) for extended-release (ER) and long-acting (LA) opioids, highly potent drugs approved for moderate to severe, persistent pain that requires treatment for an extended period.

10 Jul 2012

Federal government commits $11B to expand operating capacity of FQHC and look-alike clinics

The federal government has committed $11 billion to expand the operating capacity of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), which receive federal funding and enhanced Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement, and "look-alike" clinics that receive enhanced reimbursement but no federal grants.

10 Jul 2012

MammaPrint more cost-effective and clinically-useful test than Oncotype DX

New research from University of the Sciences' Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy suggests that MammaPrint - a gene expression profiling (GEP) test used to identify whether women with early-stage breast cancer would benefit from chemotherapy - is the more cost-effective and clinically-useful test than the most frequently used GEP in practice in the United States today.

10 Jul 2012

HIV drug coverage in sub-Saharan Africa continues to improve but not sustainable, UNAIDS' Sidibe says

At the end of 2011, 6.2 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were taking antiretroviral drugs, about 56 percent of the people in need in the region, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe noted in an interview last week, saying, "Ten years ago, nobody would have imagined that such a result would be possible," Agence France-Presse reports. "Sidibe -- visiting Paris ahead of the July 22-27 International AIDS Conference in Washington -- said he was worried that African countries remained so dependent on foreign help," the news service states.

10 Jul 2012

U-M to receive CTSA grant renewal in support of clinical and translational research

University of Michigan scientists and doctors do some of the most advanced medical research in the world. But much of it wouldn't be possible without the thousands of people a year who volunteer their time, health information, blood, saliva, DNA or other samples to help those researchers better understand diseases and improve health outcomes.

10 Jul 2012

Roundup: Calif. insurers to lower rate hikes for small businesses, Mass. Gov backs easing doc gift ban

Tens of thousands of small businesses in California collectively will save $48 million on their health insurance bills starting this month now that three insurers have agreed to reduce pending rate hikes.

10 Jul 2012

Enterovirus blamed for some deaths of Cambodian children; Officials continue to investigate mysterious respiratory illness

"Lab tests have confirmed that a virulent strain of hand, foot and mouth disease known as [enterovirus-71 (EV-71)] is to blame for some of the 59 cases of mysterious illness among children in Cambodia reviewed since April, including 52 deaths, according to a joint statement from the World Health Organization and Cambodian Health Ministry," the Associated Press reports, noting that "the numbers were lowered from the initial report of 62 cases."

10 Jul 2012

Iron supplementation decreases fatigue by almost 50% in nonanemic women

Iron supplementation reduced fatigue by almost 50% in women who are low in iron but not anemic, according to the results of a clinical trial published July 9 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

10 Jul 2012

Health Care News and Research

Abbott announces CE Marking for ARCHITECT HbA1c assay

Family planning allows women to determine their future

U.N. report calls for innovative ways to fund development initiatives

Financial Times examines integration of family planning, HIV services in Ethiopia

Office of Global Health Diplomacy represents move toward expanding GHI's impact

Medicaid news: La. preps managed care cuts; Fewer Texas docs accept new patients

Proposed Medicare fee schedule includes pay increase for primary care, family docs

Federal judge to decide Wednesday on Miss. abortion law that could close last clinic

Romney's stance on the health law tax is blasted by Democrats, scrutinized by GOP

Could insurance rules survive if GOP goes after health law through budget reconciliation?

Associated Press examines 'sense of optimism' in HIV fight as AIDS 2012 conference approaches

Researchers develop new silk-based stabilizer for vaccines and antibiotics

FDA approves risk evaluation and mitigation strategy for ER and LA opioids

Federal government commits $11B to expand operating capacity of FQHC and look-alike clinics

MammaPrint more cost-effective and clinically-useful test than Oncotype DX

HIV drug coverage in sub-Saharan Africa continues to improve but not sustainable, UNAIDS' Sidibe says

U-M to receive CTSA grant renewal in support of clinical and translational research

Roundup: Calif. insurers to lower rate hikes for small businesses, Mass. Gov backs easing doc gift ban

Enterovirus blamed for some deaths of Cambodian children; Officials continue to investigate mysterious respiratory illness

Iron supplementation decreases fatigue by almost 50% in nonanemic women

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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