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Inova, Aetna partner to establish Innovation Health Plans in Northern Virginia

Inova Health System and Aetna today announced an exclusive partnership to establish Innovation Health Plans, a jointly owned health plan serving Northern Virginia, including more than 1.1 million residents currently served by Inova.

23 Jun 2012

State news: Conn. taps former Mass. official for health exchange

Merger talks between two of New York City's biggest hospital systems - NYU Langone Medical Center and Continuum Health Partners - broke down abruptly on Thursday after Continuum got a competing offer, officials said. The offer came from Mount Sinai Medical Center.

23 Jun 2012

Planned spending cuts would hit some discretionary health programs

While programs like Medicare and Medicaid are virtually untouched by the cuts designed to reduce the deficit, other scheduled trims to the budget will have significant reach. Meanwhile, Democrats find an unlikely ally in their opposition to the GOP Medicare plan.

23 Jun 2012

Medicaid highlights: Calif. readies expansion to foster youths

State Medicaid news includes discussions around the expansion of Medicaid in California both for the general public who need assistance and for youth in foster care. Additionally, Oregon is close to finalizing its waiver request with the federal government to move forward with its own reforms in the program.

23 Jun 2012

Health care system or patient-directed programs help prevent or manage diabetes

A new study has found that programs aimed at helping people prevent or manage diabetes are most successful if they are directed at the patient or the health care system. Programs aimed at physicians were only successful for patients with poorer diabetes control.

23 Jun 2012

HHS says health insurers will pay beneficiaries $1.1 billion in rebates

Under the health law, insurance companies must use at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care. Any excess is owed back to customers.

23 Jun 2012

Ill. Gov. signs bill requiring retired state workers to pay health premiums

Retired public employees will now have to chip in for the cost of their health insurance -- on a scale based on their income -- after Gov. Pat Quinn approved legislation Thursday.

23 Jun 2012

'Rest of the country should take a good look at the situation in Texas'

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Roni Caryn Rabin writes: They say everything is bigger in Texas, and the problem of the uninsured is no exception. The Houston metropolitan area has one of the highest rates of uninsured people in America, and a health safety net imploding under the demands of too many people and too few resources.

23 Jun 2012

Research roundup: Helping the homeless transition out of the hospital

Transitioning from a hospital visit can be challenge for many patients, but the homeless face particular difficulties as they move to a shelter, or even back to the streets. Researchers in this study surveyed 98 homeless individuals in New Haven, Conn., as well as interviewed them about their experiences leaving the hospital. More than half said that their providers did not address housing or transportation, and 11 percent reported living on the streets on the night of their discharge. The authors recommend "improved assessment of housing status, communication between hospital and shelter providers, and arrangement of safe transportation" for homeless individuals.

23 Jun 2012

High court's health law ruling likely to renew debate on range of issues

News outlets report on what's at stake in terms of politics and policies when the Supreme Court issues its health law decision.

23 Jun 2012

Zimbabwean lawmakers take public HIV tests in campaign to fight stigma

"Zimbabwean lawmakers started taking public HIV tests on Wednesday in a campaign seeking to raise awareness and fight the stigma associated with AIDS," VOA News reports.

23 Jun 2012

U.N. SG Ban announces 'Zero Hunger Challenge' in message to Rio+20 summit

In a video message addressing the Rio+20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "announced a 'Zero Hunger Challenge' to rid the world of malnutrition," Bloomberg News reports.

23 Jun 2012

Hospital collection company criticized for failing to turn over records to Congress

Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman and Diana DeGette press Accretive for documents related to its debt collection practices, which resulted in a lawsuit against the company by the Minnesota attorney general.

23 Jun 2012

Censoring 'dual-use' scientific research not an effective strategy to mitigate security risks

"It's easy to get the impression that recent controversy over research into mutated versions of the H5N1 flu virus has created a clear split between a scientific community that wants the research to proceed and the results to be published and a biosecurity community that doesn't," biological-weapons expert Tim Trevan writes in this Nature opinion piece.

23 Jun 2012

AIDS.gov blog republishes post in which U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator discusses AIDS 2012 conference

In an effort to "raise awareness around the U.S. global response to HIV/AIDS," the AIDS.gov blog has republished a post by U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby in which he discusses the XIX International AIDS Conference, taking place in the U.S. for the first time in more than 20 years from July 22-27.

23 Jun 2012

Simple reforms to U.S. farm bill would enable international food aid programs to reach millions more

"In this year's farm bill, there is a crucial opportunity to reform how the United States handles international food aid programs," GROW campaign manager Vicky Rateau writes in this post in Oxfam's "The Politics of Poverty" blog.

23 Jun 2012

Senate passes farm bill with amendment allowing food aid to North Korea with presidential waiver

The Senate on Thursday passed 64-35 the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, otherwise known as the farm bill, which "funds agriculture, farm and nutrition programs over the next five years," The Hill's "Floor Action Blog" reports.

23 Jun 2012

No definitive link between hormonal contraceptives and increased risk of HIV infection among women, CDC says

"There is no clear link between the use of contraceptives such as the birth control pill or Depo-Provera shots and an increased risk that a woman will contract HIV, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday," Reuters reports, noting that the WHO came to the same conclusion in February.

23 Jun 2012

Growing number of countries adopting flexible IP regulations after India issues country's first compulsory license

"A growing number of countries are adopting India's intellectual property regulations, which give enough flexibility to local companies to produce generic versions of popular drugs to safeguard public health," India's Economic Times reports, noting, "In March, India issued the country's first compulsory license, allowing Natco Pharma to legally manufacture and sell a low-cost version of German drugmaker Bayer AG's patented cancer drug, Nexavar, at 3 percent of the original medicine's price on the grounds that Bayer's drug was not meeting public health requirement."

23 Jun 2012

CMMI to honor MultiCultural IPA with healthcare innovation award

MultiCultural IPA announced today that it is one of four project sites selected to receive a healthcare innovation award by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and will partner with Rutgers State University of New Jersey to create a "sustainable high-utilization team model" for the nation's "super users" of hospital care in an effort to decrease hospital inpatient and emergency department use.

23 Jun 2012