Health Care News and Research

RSS

Farm Bill does more to fight global hunger

"Fighting global hunger has traditionally been a bipartisan effort that has united administrations and congresses without regard to party. The Farm Bill developed by the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee continues that trend," Dan Glickman, former U.S. agriculture secretary, and Richard Leach, president and CEO of World Food Program USA, write in a Politico opinion piece.

16 Jun 2012

Mass. legislators seek to resolve House, Senate difference on bill to curb health costs

Six lawmakers were selected Thursday to negotiate the differences between House and Senate proposals for controlling health care spending in the state. The conference committee will include Senator Richard Moore and Representative Steven Walsh, both Democrats, who led efforts to craft the two bills.

16 Jun 2012

Opinion pieces address Child Survival Call to Action

The governments of the United States, India, and Ethiopia, in collaboration with UNICEF, on Thursday launched the Child Survival Call to Action in Washington, D.C., during a two-day event that brings together world leaders, public health experts, child health advocates and others in an effort to reduce child mortality to 20 per 1,000 by 2035 worldwide, with the ultimate goal of ending preventable child deaths.

16 Jun 2012

Preventable childhood deaths can be nearly eliminated in 10 years, researchers write

"Preventable childhood deaths caused by illnesses such as pneumonia and diarrhea can be nearly eliminated in 10 years," researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Institutes of Health write in a new commentary featured in the June issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association," a Johns Hopkins press release reports.

16 Jun 2012

Methodist receives $26.2M H&HS grant to reduce blood infections and delirium

Grants from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services totaling $26.2 million will support work by The Methodist Hospital in Houston to reduce blood infections and delirium-caused injuries in Texas hospitals.

16 Jun 2012

The economy and the health law: A key theme on GOP campaign trail

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and other GOP leaders are linking pledges to repeal the health care law to a small-government, economic recovery theme.

16 Jun 2012

Larsen leaving CCIIO, agency responsible for implementing major parts of health reform law

Steve Larsen, the government administrator directing enactment of U.S. insurance regulations created by the 2010 health-care overhaul, is leaving to return to the private sector, according to e-mails to staff.

16 Jun 2012

Insurers, providers announce partnerships in Wash., Pa. and Minn.

Group Health Cooperative and Tacoma-based Franciscan Health System have signed a five-year contract aimed at reducing costs and providing a more seamless experience for patients. Since 1996, Group Health has sent South Sound patients needing hospital care to Franciscan facilities, primarily St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma.

16 Jun 2012

GAO: Medicaid anti-fraud audit program falls short on cost-benefit analysis

Private contractors received $102 million to review Medicaid fraud data, yet had only found about $20 million in overpayments since 2008, according to a new report by the federal government.

16 Jun 2012

Efforts to eradicate polio need international financial support

Noting that polio is endemic in only Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria, and the WHO recently declared the disease a "programmatic emergency" to "galvanize work" in those three countries, a Washington Post editorial states, "A renewed campaign [against the disease] will be costly."

16 Jun 2012

Research roundup: Best health care for homeless, new business model for pharma

The cost and coordination of health care for homeless individuals can be a challenge for states. But as this brief describes, establishing supportive housing - which provides social services, usually on site - "can help improve health, increase survival rates, foster mental health recovery, and reduce alcohol and drug use."

16 Jun 2012

CMS awards nearly $18 million to spread collaborative care model for managing depression

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded almost $18 million to a local and national collaboration of partner organizations with the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) as lead organization.

16 Jun 2012

The Guardian examines results of Countdown to 2015 report, provides interactive map

"More than 50 countries look set to miss both Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for cutting mortality rates for young children and mothers by the 2015 deadline, according to" the Countdown to 2015 report, "Building a Future for Women and Children," released by the WHO on Wednesday, the Guardian reports.

16 Jun 2012

White House, lawmakers brace for high court health care decision and plot responses

As almost all of Washington waits breathlessly for the Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the health law, Reuters profiles the actual "secret keepers" -- the court clerks.

16 Jun 2012

Illinois to cut $1.6B in health costs; Medicaid advocates protest

The cuts include eliminating some popular programs, raising some co-pays and creates a system for hospital exemptions from taxes.

16 Jun 2012

Not many EHR systems meet new federal standards

Electronic health records (EHRs) are used widely by California physicians, but many of their systems are not designed to meet new federal standards aimed at improving the quality of health care, according to a report from UCSF researchers.

16 Jun 2012

GOP states weigh health exchanges even if health law is struck down

Politico reports that some conservatives think that despite their disdain for the health law, a number of Republican-controlled states might want to go forward with health exchanges to help lower the number of uninsured.

16 Jun 2012

CDC: About half of adults in U.S. get preventive care

This finding, which is part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, is designed to serve as a baseline as prevention-related health law provisions are implemented.

16 Jun 2012

Governments, private sector partners come together at Child Survival Call to Action in Washington

The two-day Child Survival Call to Action, "a conference hosted by the government in collaboration with Ethiopia, India and UNICEF to recognize and promote efforts to curtail child mortality," began in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports, noting that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and actor Ben Affleck, founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, "were two of more than 80 governmental, civil society and business leaders slated to speak at the conference Thursday and Friday."

16 Jun 2012

What's at stake in health law ruling?

News outlets offer perspectives regarding how the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision could impact people without insurance, small businesses and nearly every corner of the health care industry.

16 Jun 2012