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First Edition: March 14, 2012

Today's headlines feature coverage of the Congressional Budget Office's latest estimates regarding the health law's costs and the nation's deficit.

14 Mar 2012

Haitian cholera vaccination pilot project temporarily postponed, NPR reports

"A long-planned project to find out whether vaccination is feasible in the midst of an ongoing cholera outbreak in Haiti has been stymied -- temporarily, its proponents insist --" after "a Port-au-Prince radio station reported that the impending vaccination effort was actually a 'medical experiment on the Haitian people' -- a potentially incendiary charge," NPR's "Morning Edition" reports.

14 Mar 2012

CME conference on deep brain stimulation for movement disorders

CME Conference for physicians and health care professionals on deep brain stimulation for movement disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression

14 Mar 2012

State budget burdens, cost-cutting efforts focus on health programs

Burdened by budget deficits, states are cutting health programs to the chagrin of some. But others say the economic downturn has allowed states to take up long-term economic problems they wouldn't have addressed otherwise.

14 Mar 2012

NCKU demonstrates home robot for senior companionship

Jhing-Fa Wang, a pioneer of orange technology, professor of Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan, has demonstrated 2 innovative designs featured at Gross National Happiness (GNH) and humanity-centered social caring arousing great attention at a recent press conference.

14 Mar 2012

Employing 'strategy' in global health

In this "Health Affairs Blog" post, Sachin Jain, a physician and former HHS adviser, explores the use of the term "strategy" in global health, writing "the term remains variably used and ill-defined."

14 Mar 2012

Peace Corps, PEPFAR, Global Health Service Corps launch public-private partnership to place medical professionals overseas

The Peace Corps, PEPFAR and the Global Health Service Corps on Tuesday will announce a public-private partnership program to place U.S. health workers overseas to help address medical professional shortages, CQ HealthBeat reports (Bristol, 3/12).

14 Mar 2012

Wiki as an innovative new tool for developing individual asthma action plans

Imagine that you have asthma, and rather than give you a set of instructions about what to do if you have an attack, your doctor invites you to help write them?

14 Mar 2012

Texas - Feds standoff on women's health continues

HHS Secretary Sebelius warned the state that funds would be cut off if officials carry out the threat of excluding Planned Parenthood.

14 Mar 2012

BMJ examines mother-to-mother peer educational initiative

"As Southern African policymakers gather in London this month to discuss strategies for reducing new HIV infections in children, [freelance writer] Karen McColl reports on an initiative that uses affected mothers to provide support" in this BMJ feature article.

14 Mar 2012

Forming and maintaining primary care teams will be a significant challenge

As the era of accountable care evolves and the medical home model becomes more prevalent in organizations, the delivery of successful patient outcomes is expected to be increasingly dependent on the performance of an effective patient care team.

14 Mar 2012

Targeted provider education of HPV vaccination benefits for males critical for achieving vaccination goals

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that a health care provider's attitude toward male human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination may influence the implementation of new guidelines. They believe targeted provider education on the benefits of HPV vaccination for male patients, specifically the association of HPV with certain cancers in men, may be important for achieving vaccination goals.

14 Mar 2012

Calif. insurers, doctor groups band together to fight insurance referendum

California health insurers and several doctors groups are banding together to oppose a ballot measure that would let officials regulate health insurance rate increases.

14 Mar 2012

Ultrasound system to track patients in hospitals

Patients admitted to hospitals in the future may find themselves equipped with a small ultrasound transmitter. With the help of their mobile phones, health care personnel will be able to keep track of where their patients are as well as any delays in their scheduled treatment.

14 Mar 2012

Narcotic drug use should be treated as illness, U.N. drug office director says

"Prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, reintegration and health have to be recognized as key elements in our strategy" to fight drug demand, supply and trafficking, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Yuri Fedotov said Monday at the opening session of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, United Press International reports.

14 Mar 2012

Assisted-suicide advocate uses Ore. law to end own life

The assisted-suicide advocate, who was also a physician, used lethal chemicals and an Oregon law he helped pass to end his own life. He was 83.

14 Mar 2012

African Americans in Georgia found to have poor survival rates from cancer

African Americans in Georgia, especially in rural areas, have drastically poorer survival rates from cancer. These disparities are much larger when compared to national data, according to the findings from a study recently published in the journal Cancer by a team of researchers in the University of Georgia College of Public Health.

14 Mar 2012

Authors defend study that concluded electronic health records may not reduce health care costs

Dr. Danny McCormick of Cambridge Health Alliance and colleagues faced heavy criticism last week when they published a study saying that electronic health records may not be the panacea for skyrocketing costs that many have hoped for.

14 Mar 2012

Foreign HCWs make decisions to emigrate based on information

Michael Clemens, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), addresses a recent New York Times article on "medical brain drain" in this CGD "Global Development: Views From The Center" blog post, saying the article's approval of "a horrific proposal to put recruiters of health workers on trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity ... is breathtakingly misguided."

14 Mar 2012

Misconception that syphilis has 'disappeared' presents major impediment to preventing infant deaths

In this Globe and Mail opinion piece, columnist Andre Picard examines the efforts of a new group, the Global Congenital Syphilis Partnership -- which includes the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Save The Children, the CDC, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the WHO -- to "make screening for syphilis a routine part of pregnancy care with the goal of eliminating congenital syphilis."

14 Mar 2012