Health Care News and Research

RSS

African-Americans and Hispanics with MDD less likely to get antidepressants

African-Americans and Hispanics with major depressive disorder are less likely to get antidepressants than Caucasian patients, and Medicare and Medicaid patients are less likely to get the newest generation of antidepressants.

6 Apr 2012

Political cartoon: 'Vegetable Tale'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Vegetable Tale" by Jen Sorensen.

6 Apr 2012

Hearing date set for injunction request on Express Scripts-Medco merger

The judge overseeing a private antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Express Scripts Inc. (ESRX)'s acquisition of Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS) set a hearing for April 10 on a request for an injunction to undo the deal.

5 Apr 2012

GOP plans for health law replacement; Obama softens court rhetoric

Republican lawmakers say they are beginning to pull together a health care package that could replace the 2010 law if the Supreme Court overturns it.

5 Apr 2012

Hospital news: Officials plan new building in Colo.; Mich. facility is shutting down

In hospital news: Denver hospital officials plan an expansion, a Michigan hospital says it's shutting down, and in Massachusetts, Steward Health Care plans to buy a hospital.

5 Apr 2012

First Edition: April 5, 2012

In today's headlines, reports about how the budget debate is mixing into presidential poiltics.

5 Apr 2012

U.N. reports increase in cholera cases in Haiti as rains begin

In a monthly bulletin on the humanitarian response in Haiti, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that an increase of new cholera cases has been recorded in the western and northern parts of the country and "that Haitian health officials recorded 77 new cases a day for the whole country in early March, when the rains began," the Associated Press/USA Today reports.

5 Apr 2012

Jakarta Globe examines maternal mortality in Indonesia

The Jakarta Globe examines maternal mortality in Indonesia, writing, "Indonesia may be progressing slowly and steadily toward fulfilling its targets under the Millennium Development Goals, but the issue of maternal health continues to present many challenges."

5 Apr 2012

Health plan settles lawsuits in Fla.; Minnesota HMOs to return $73M to state, feds

In Florida, a health plan in Tampa will pay $137.5 million to settle lawsuits over Medicare and Medicaid claims, while Magic Johnson plans to invest in a new HIV plan there. In Minnesota, the federal government and the state will split $73 million nonprofit HMOs are returning while other Minnesota health plans profits jump 21 percent.

5 Apr 2012

ACR finds list of five medical imaging exams

As part of its ongoing efforts to ensure safe, effective and appropriate use of medical imaging, the American College of Radiology (ACR) identified a list of five imaging exams whose necessity should be discussed before being ordered.

5 Apr 2012

TB survivors speak at USAID World TB Day event

The Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog summarizes an event hosted by USAID in late March to commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. The blog includes "brief profiles and pictures of some of the survivors featured in the event 'Voices of TB.'"

5 Apr 2012

Quantifying the health law's Medicaid expansion

Taking the recession's impact and reform together, the Obama years' Medicaid expansion (assuming the president and reform survive) will come to about 26 percent, higher than the Clinton years, no doubt, but significantly smaller than the increases experienced under either of the Bushes.

5 Apr 2012

National program in Mauritania working to end FGM, IPS reports

"A multi-pronged strategy to end female genital mutilation [FGM] in Mauritania is making gradual progress, though campaigners acknowledge much remains to be done in a country where more than two-thirds of girls suffer excision," Inter Press Service reports.

5 Apr 2012

Physician groups identify unnecessary procedures

The list of 45 tests and procedures was pulled together by nine medical speciality groups to help reduce spending and improve patients' health.

5 Apr 2012

President lashes out at GOP budget and Medicare plan, Romney

In a Tuesday speech billed by many as a preview of the Obama reelection campaign's favorite themes, President Barack Obama blasted the treatment of Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs by the Republicans and warned that their spending blueprint is a form of "Social Darwinism."

5 Apr 2012

Video: Santorum still swinging at Romney about health care record

This Kaiser Health News video offers excerpts of how, after his primary victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia, Mitt Romney attacked President Obama on a variety of social and economic issues, briefly mentioning health care.

5 Apr 2012

Simbionix sponsors first fellowship at USF Health CAMLS

Simbionix, a leading global provider of medical education and simulation training, has sponsored the first fellowship at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS).

5 Apr 2012

More must be done to increase access to family planning services for women in rural areas

"If family planning services, including information about reproductive health, access to birth control, and health care, were available to all women, the deaths of 100,000 women during childbirth could be prevented every year," Maeve Shearlaw, policy and advocacy coordinator for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, writes in this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

5 Apr 2012

Study tracking progress in maternal, child health highlights inequities in intervention coverage

According to a study published in the Lancet on Saturday, researchers from the University of Pelotas in Brazil tracking progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 -- which promote maternal and child health -- "discovered that the most equitable intervention was early initiation of breastfeeding, and that the attendance of a skilled person at birth proved to be the least equitable intervention," Medical News Today reports.

5 Apr 2012

Federal court judge takes umbrage at Obama's remarks on judicial activism and the health law

The judge ordered the Justice Department to explain whether Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. believes federal judges have the authority to strike down federal law.

5 Apr 2012