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FAO officials, country representatives meet in Vietnam to discuss food security, nutrition in Asia-Pacific region

Representatives of 40 member countries of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as well as senior officials from the agency, on Monday opened the 31st FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific in Hanoi, Vietnam, to "discuss in depth the issues of food security and rural poverty reduction," Xinhua/China Daily reports.

13 Mar 2012

State roundup: Business health care tax credits; Wash. state insurers' surplus cash; Calif. million dollar bills

A relatively new tax credit is available to certain small businesses and charities to help offset the cost of providing health insurance to their workers. But tens of thousands of businesses in Minnesota and across the nation are leaving money on the table, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

13 Mar 2012

Researchers identify variation in head CT use among ED doctors

A new study by Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) researchers found significant variation in the use of head computed tomography (CT) exams among doctors within the emergency department.

13 Mar 2012

Views on Supreme Court case: Both sides stage assault on the Constitution; Obama overreached; Law provides basic needs

As the date of the high court arguments grows nearer, news outlets have a number of editorials and opinions about the health law case.

13 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: America's mixed views on health; Contraception and political 'excesses'; Colorado Medicaid debate

Most people tell pollsters they like the parts of the law that have gone into effect: health insurance for people with preexisting conditions, a clause that allows children to stay on their parents' health plans until the age of 26 and discounts for prescription drugs on Medicare. And, as time goes by, Americans seem less worried that the law will have a negative effect on their own medical care ... But the law itself isn't any more popular than the day it passed.

12 Mar 2012

Officials examine Medicaid coverage, quality in context of burgeoning costs

Growing demand for Medicaid services puts a burden on states as they wrestle with tight budgets and patient quality issues.

12 Mar 2012

Partner reduction strategies essential to reversing spread of HIV

"The rising enthusiasm for providing more medicines threatens to come at the expense of promising initiatives for preventing HIV infections in the first place -- initiatives that could save many lives, with less money," Craig Timberg, the newspaper's deputy national security editor, and Daniel Halperin, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, write in this Washington Post opinion piece.

12 Mar 2012

UnitedHealth report: Spending on genetic tests to rise sharply in a decade

Genetic tests could become a $25 billion market by 2021. Currently, spending on these tests is estimated at $5 billion annually.

12 Mar 2012

Overcoming challenges to health law implementation at federal, state levels

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is central to implementing the health law, which leads to questions about its capabilities and resources. Meanwhile, states await a final rule on health exchanges.

12 Mar 2012

Human diseases with Drosophila counterparts discussed at annual conference

More than two-thirds of human genes have counterparts in the well-studied fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, so although it may seem that humans don't have much in common with flies, the correspondence of our genetic instructions is astonishing. In fact, there are hundreds of inherited diseases in humans that have Drosophila counterparts.

12 Mar 2012

USAID annual letter discusses global health initiatives

PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog presents global health-related excerpts of USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah's annual letter that was published on March 9.

12 Mar 2012

India plans to increase annual health care spending with aim of providing free care to citizens

"With its health-care system increasingly eclipsed by rivals, India has a plan to nearly double public spending on health over the next five years," a goal that would "lift annual spending on health to 2.5 percent of the country's economic output, from 1.4 percent," the Washington Post reports.

12 Mar 2012

State abortion bills keep coming

Some call such legislation an "overreach," but at least some of the proposals are getting political traction, including a push in Washington State this week to require insurance plans to cover abortion.

12 Mar 2012

Political cartoon: 'Aerodynamic Drag'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Aerodynamic Drag" by Lisa Benson.

12 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 12, 2012

Today's health policy headlines focus significant attention on key issues, dynamics and even personalities that will be in play when the Supreme Court takes up the health law later this month.

12 Mar 2012

AMGA presents Medical Group Preeminence Award to VMMC

The American Medical Group Association today presented the Medical Group Preeminence Award to Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC), a health system based in Seattle, WA. The presentation took place at the AMGA 2012 Annual Conference, being held March 8-10 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt.

12 Mar 2012

Asahi Kasei to acquire ZOLL

Asahi Kasei Corporation, and ZOLL Medical Corporation today jointly announced that Asahi Kasei, Japan's leading diversified chemical manufacturer with businesses in the health care, chemicals & fibers, homes & construction materials, and electronics sectors, has entered into a definitive merger agreement with ZOLL, a manufacturer of resuscitation and critical care devices and related software solutions, pursuant to which Asahi Kasei will acquire ZOLL for approximately $2.21 billion.

12 Mar 2012