Health Care News and Research

RSS

Older women with low levels of Vitamin D gain more weight

Older women with insufficient levels of Vitamin D gained more weight than those with sufficient levels of the vitamin, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published online today in the Journal of Women's Health.

26 Jun 2012

Male hormonal contraceptives applied daily to the skin reduce sperm production

Male hormonal contraceptives applied daily to the skin reduce sperm production, finds a new study to be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

26 Jun 2012

Study: 40 million Americans ages 12 and older have addiction disease

Forty million Americans ages 12 and older have addiction involving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs, a disease affecting more Americans than heart conditions, diabetes or cancer according to a five-year national study released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA Columbia).

26 Jun 2012

Feinstein Institute to train clinicians on how to better care for patients with schizophrenia

The Zucker Hillside Hospital campus of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has been approved for a $9.3+ million federal grant to train clinicians on how to better care for patients with schizophrenia.

26 Jun 2012

Awaiting a court decision: Would consumers love the law if they suddenly lose it?; The market can fix health care

I still harbor the perhaps naïve hope that some conservative justices -- Anthony Kennedy? John Roberts? - will pull back from judicial activism and allow the voters to decide the fate of the health-care law in this fall's elections. And here is where the court's reintroduction of the health-care issue into the political debate could be turned into a blessing by allies of reform, provided they take advantage of the opportunity to do what they have never done adequately up to now. They need, finally, to describe and defend the law and what it does.

26 Jun 2012

Flavocoxid liver damage reported

A prescription medical food used to treat osteoarthritis may induce reversible liver damage in some users, suggests research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

25 Jun 2012

Exercise and diet together reduce chances of developing metabolic syndrome in obese older adults

Obese older adults can reduce their chance of developing the metabolic syndrome by losing weight through dieting alone, but adding exercise to a weight loss program has even more benefit, a new study finds. The results, to be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston, show that a combination of diet-induced weight loss and frequent exercise almost doubled the improvement in insulin sensitivity compared with dieting alone.

25 Jun 2012

Blog posts examine importance of good governance in health care

Management Sciences For Health's (MSH) "Global Health Impact" blog on Friday published two posts examining the importance of good governance in health care.

25 Jun 2012

Family planning summit should address range of influences on maternal health

In this post on RH Reality Check, Marianne Mollmann, senior policy adviser with Amnesty International, addresses an upcoming summit in London on family planning funding, which is being co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.K. Department for International Development and supported by USAID and UNFPA.

25 Jun 2012

The stakes of the decision

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that though most Americans continue to oppose the health law, they support many of its provisions. Meanwhile, news outlets continue to report on what the impact would be -- both in terms of people and the markets -- if the law is overturned and these provisions are rolled back.

25 Jun 2012

California budget triggers concerns about health care safety net

The shift of patients from the state's Healthy Families program into Medi-Cal has caused questions from some health advocates.

25 Jun 2012

Waiting for the word

Anticipation regarding the Supreme Court's health law decision -- expected this week and possibly even today -- has created a guessing-game situation in Washington. News outlets report on both the preparations being made and the reasons why this decision, and the challenge behind it, are historic and important.

25 Jun 2012

Suicide leading cause of death among young people in India

Suicide has become the second-leading cause of death of young people in India, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, according to an Article published as part of the Lancet Series on suicide.

25 Jun 2012

Political cartoon: 'Exercise Guidelines?'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Exercise Guidelines?" by Chris Wildt.

25 Jun 2012

First Edition: June 25, 2012

Today's headlines are focused on analysis and speculation surrounding the Supreme Court's health law ruling, which could come as early as today.

25 Jun 2012

New analysis finds increase in per-patient operating costs in PCMHs

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a concept at the heart of many health care reform models that aim to both improve the quality of care and reduce wasteful spending. But a new analysis of federally qualified health centers finds that clinics with higher scores as medical homes also had higher per-patient operating costs.

25 Jun 2012

GOP weekly address blasts health law

President Barack Obama advocated for his jobs package while Rep. Bill Cassidy argued against the health reform law as they stood by their parties' positions Saturday during their weekly addresses. Obama called on Congress to pass a transportation bill, expand access to college and fund infrastructure projects. Cassidy, a (Louisiana) Republican, argued that the health reform law signed by Obama in 2010 had an effect of "driving up health care costs, making it harder for small businesses to hire workers."

25 Jun 2012

Jarrett says White House will be prepared if court strikes health law

Valerie Jarrett wouldn't give details Saturday on the Obama administration's plans if its health care law is struck down. ... "We will be prepared," the White House senior adviser said of the pending Supreme Court ruling on the health care law, at the National Association of Black Journalists convention here. "We want to give the Supreme Court the room to make their decision."

25 Jun 2012

GlobalPost blog series examines PMTCT program in South Africa

In the third of a series of entries in GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog, titled "A Daughter's Journey," Tracy Jarrett, a GlobalPost/Kaiser Family Foundation global health reporting fellow, visits a USAID-funded HIV clinic at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital outside of Johannesburg, South Africa.

23 Jun 2012

New consumer protections depend on high court's ruling

Kaiser Health News staff writer Julie Appleby reports: "Riding on the outcome are a host of popular consumer protections, many aimed at the estimated 18 million Americans who buy their own coverage and who face greater obstacles and costs than those who get coverage through their jobs."

23 Jun 2012