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Orrin Hatch to face primary battle: Health care record on GOP voters' minds

Beating back a challenge from tea party activists, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah easily qualified for the Republican primary ballot in his quest for a seventh Senate term Saturday, but he fell just short of winning the GOP nomination outright. ... Mr. Hatch's vote total Saturday marked a stark contrast with the fate of his erstwhile Utah Republican colleague, former Sen. Robert Bennett. ... The senator Hatch also trained his fire on FreedomWorks, the small-government, conservative organization that organized opposition to the senator.

23 Apr 2012

Gum disease and heart problems not linked: Review

It has been claimed for the past few decades that gum disease is linked to heart problems or strokes but according to latest findings the link does not hold up on deeper research says the American Heart Association.

22 Apr 2012

Budget battle frames election campaigns

The budget debate focuses on competing priorities -- spending on defense versus the health law or making chocies between tax cuts for business or safety net programs. Also in the news, spending bills continue to percolate in Congress.

21 Apr 2012

Single biennial HIV prevention conference planned

This year's International Microbicides Conference, held this week in Sydney, "will be the last of its kind" because "from 2014 onwards, it is planned, a single biennial conference on all aspects of HIV prevention will be held," according to an aidsmap news story.

21 Apr 2012

ACOEM releases 10 point Agenda for Change

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) has released its 10 point Agenda for Change - an advocacy plan intended to improve the health of America's workers and at the same time integrate workplace health more closely with the nation's overall health improvement strategies.

21 Apr 2012

UnitedHealth sees bright skies ahead -- earnings up

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), the biggest U.S. health insurer, increased its 2012 earnings forecast after reporting that first-quarter profit beat analysts' estimates for higher enrollment and low medical costs. ... UnitedHealth's shares climbed, along with other health insurers, after Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hemsley said he expects only a "gradual" rise in health spending this year.

21 Apr 2012

Examining links between agricultural development, nutrition

In this post in the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, the director of global health policy and a research fellow at the center, examines the connection between smallholder farming, agricultural productivity and nutrition. She writes, "For some time now, the food security movement has been stating that improving the agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers improves nutritional status."

21 Apr 2012

What does technology, mean for doctor-patient relationships

Confronted with a range of new options, doctors are considering technology's place in their examination rooms.

21 Apr 2012

Consumer-directed health plans surge, get boost from health law

The concept is also central to Republican-backed market-based reforms. Also in the news, media outlets analyze what's a stake as the Supreme Court considers challenges to the health law, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reiterates the administration's confidence that the law will be upheld.

21 Apr 2012

Viewpoints: Health law's legal peril; Barney Frank's misdiagnosis

Health-care reform, the impossible dream that seemed to become a reality in 2010, is now in mortal danger. Republicans want to repeal it even though the federal law is patterned after a Massachusetts law that their apparent presidential nominee signed in 2006. They can't do that, of course, unless they sweep the next election. So the clear and present danger comes from the Supreme Court, where a majority of justices seemed to snarl at the law in open session last month. Health-care reform is clearly in legal peril.

21 Apr 2012

Evaluating priority setting for health

"When facing a limited budget as most low- and middle-income countries are how can countries best sort multiple priorities into effective, sustainable policies?" Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), and Kate McQueston, a program coordinator at CGD, ask in the CGD's "Global Health Policy" blog.

21 Apr 2012

Arizona OKs contraception bill, moves close to defunding Planned Parenthood

Arizona legislators gave final approval to a bill allowing employers to opt out of covering contraception in their health plans while moving one step closer to barring Planned Parenthood from public funding in a separate bill. Debates over contraception and abortion also dominate state capitols in Texas, Nebraska and Minnesota.

21 Apr 2012

Health costs up nearly 6%; Medicare trustees solvency report due Monday

The cost of health care rose nearly 6 percent in the last year, according to a key indicator. In the meantime, Medicare's trustees will release its forecast on the solvency of the program on Monday.

21 Apr 2012

ACP offers recommendations to ensure Medicare beneficiaries

A dozen recommendations to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries have access to high-quality, coordinated care were provided today by the American College of Physicians (ACP). The new policy paper, Reforming Medicare in the Age of Deficit Reduction, was released at Internal Medicine 2012, ACP's annual scientific meeting.

21 Apr 2012

Dems express regrets, grievances over health law push

Some prominent Democrats wish for a political do-over as they criticize the White House for focusing on the health law instead of the economy during President Barack Obama's first term.

21 Apr 2012

State highlights: Ill. Gov. proposes $1.35B cuts to Medicaid

News outlets report on health care policy issues in California, D.C., Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota and South Carolina.

21 Apr 2012

VA plans big boost in mental health staff

The Department of Veterans Affairs will increase its corps of mental health professionals to try to cope with the increased demand from vets of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

21 Apr 2012

Kala-azar disease 'still raging' in remote areas of South Sudan, VOA reports

"In newly independent South Sudan, deadly kala-azar disease is still raging in some of the most remote areas lacking basic health services," VOA News reports.

21 Apr 2012

Physician group touts 'high-value' care

News reports indicate that the American College of Physicians, which is focusing this message on treatment choices for diabetes and back pain, sees this idea as a way for patients to get the most out of their their health care dollars.

21 Apr 2012

Malawi's Mutharika left 'positive legacy' by showing how Africa 'can feed itself'

Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika, who died April 5, may be remembered for corruption and mismanagement, but his "positive legacy" is his creation of "an agriculture-led boom in Malawi, one that pointed a way for Africa to overcome its chronic hunger, food insecurity, and periodic extreme famines," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

21 Apr 2012