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Romney wins Michigan, Arizona; Rivals press health policy barbs

In exit polls, some GOP voters said they were concerned about Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's health care policies. Rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich offered parallels between the federal health law and the measure Romney signed while governor of Massachusetts.

1 Mar 2012

Sebelius testifies before House Ways and Means Committee

The Health and Human Services secretary said the administration was vetting candidates for the the Independent Payment Advisory Board and defended President Barack Obama's 2013 budget.

1 Mar 2012

Va. lawmakers approve scaled-back abortion ultrasound bill

Lawmakers in Virginia have passed a scaled-back version of a contentious ultrasound proposal that would force women to get a "non-invasive" ultrasound before having an abortion.

1 Mar 2012

Clinton discusses GHI in testimony on FY13 USAID, state department budget request

"People look to the U.S. to protect our allies; stand by our principles; serve as an honest broker in making peace; to fight hunger, poverty, and disease; to stand up to bullies and tyrants everywhere," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Tuesday in testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, and she added that to do so "takes more than just resolve.

1 Mar 2012

New portable device can quickly diagnose infectious disease

Infectious diseases can spread very rapidly, so quickly identifying them can be crucial to stopping an epidemic. However, current testing for such diseases can take hours and days. But not for much longer.

1 Mar 2012

Drawing lessons from emerging economies on increasing access to medicines for NTDs

"At present, the prevailing strategy for improving access to medicines for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is drug donation programs, which, despite providing some of the highest economic returns of public health programs ... have uncertain sustainability," Francesca Holt of St. John's College at the University of Cambridge and colleagues write in this PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases opinion piece.

1 Mar 2012

Senate vote on contraception policy set for Thursday

With the political stakes high, lawmakers are expected to vote Thursday on a Republican measure to let employers opt out of covering any health treatment they find morally objectionable.

1 Mar 2012

South African researchers call for new framework to help prioritize global mental health

"For mental health to gain significant attention, and funding from policymakers globally, it is not enough to convince people that it has a high disease burden but also that there are deliverable and cost-effective interventions -- according to South African researchers writing in this week's PLoS Medicine," a PLoS press release reports.

1 Mar 2012

China's AIDS Action Plan calls for education, condom distribution to stem spread of HIV

China's State Council, or cabinet, on Wednesday "published the country's AIDS Action Plan for the 12th Five-Year Program period (2011-2015) on the website of the Chinese government," Xinhua/China.org.cn reports.

1 Mar 2012

Blog examines use of medicine as weapon of war

In this post in IntraHealth International's "Global Health" blog, Editorial Manager Susanna Smith responds to an editorial published in the Lancet earlier this month that "issued a dire warning to the international medical community" about the use of medicine as a weapon of war in Syria, writing, "It is just the latest in a series of reports from across the Middle East on how medical care and medical professionals and facilities are being used to inflict politically motivated violence."

1 Mar 2012

Ugandan official expresses concern over rise in TB, emergence of drug-resistant strains

In an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Francis Adatu, head of the national leprosy and tuberculosis (TB) program in Uganda, warned that TB "remains a major public health problem" and that multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) has emerged in the country, the news service writes.

1 Mar 2012

States should consider highest-cost patients when developing essential benefits package

That recommendation comes from a report issued Tuesday by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, which concluded that those under age 65 have very different health spending habits than Medicare beneficiaries. Meanwhile, experts offer advice to states regarding development of essential benefits packages.

1 Mar 2012

Typhoid outbreak spreading in Zimbabwe; Officials working to improve sanitation, drug supply

"A typhoid outbreak that began in Harare last year is steadily spreading across Zimbabwe with more than 3,000 cases reported although only one death due to the disease has been reported so far, health officials have said," ZimOnline reports.

1 Mar 2012

UnitedHealth acquisitions draw scrutiny, Maine's high court sides with regulators on insurance rate hikes

UnitedHealth Group's acquisition of a Calif. physician group and two Florida health plans are making news, and Maine's top court sides with regulators' authority to reject one Anthem's rate increases there.

1 Mar 2012

Republican presidential candidate Santorum could be beneficial to global health programs if elected president

In the Republican campaign for the presidential nomination, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), "the most religiously conservative candidate, surprisingly, is the most fervent advocate for U.S. global health diplomacy," Jack Chow, former U.S. ambassador on global HIV/AIDS and former assistant director-general of WHO on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, writes in a Foreign Policy opinion piece.

1 Mar 2012

State roundup: Mass. Gov. says state health reform easing cost increases; N.J. localities overpay on health coverage; Pa. cuts raise ire

At a speech to the American Cancer Society, Gov. Deval Patrick says that Massachusetts health reform has led to significant improvements in cancer screening. ... Patrick also calculates that current health care cost control efforts are enabling the state to "avoid nearly a billion dollars in cost increases in this fiscal year and another several hundred million more next year."

1 Mar 2012

More than 80% of anesthesiologists have been involved in surgical catastrophes

More than 80 percent of anesthesiologists have been involved in a catastrophic event involving death or injury to a patient during surgery, suggests a survey study in the March issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society.

1 Mar 2012

FDA revises safety information on statin labels

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is revising safety information on the labels of some statins (cholesterol lowering drugs).

1 Mar 2012

Group requests more research, better communication from WHO on use of hormonal contraceptives, HIV risk

"The International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) expressed concern Monday over the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Technical Statement on Hormonal Contraceptives and HIV and its accompanying press release," the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

1 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: 'Romney's rebound,' Va. lawmakers' ultrasound vote, Kennedy's not sole interpreters of Senator's legacy

But Mr. Romney also improved his case for his own candidacy, stressing a reform agenda as much as his business biography. In the final days in particular, he pressed his new plan for a 20 percent across-the-board income tax cut, as well as Medicare reform. He stressed his ability to revive the economy, which remains the dominant issue even among conservatives, despite the prominence of social issues in the last week.

29 Feb 2012

Health Care News and Research

Romney wins Michigan, Arizona; Rivals press health policy barbs

Sebelius testifies before House Ways and Means Committee

Va. lawmakers approve scaled-back abortion ultrasound bill

Clinton discusses GHI in testimony on FY13 USAID, state department budget request

New portable device can quickly diagnose infectious disease

Drawing lessons from emerging economies on increasing access to medicines for NTDs

Senate vote on contraception policy set for Thursday

South African researchers call for new framework to help prioritize global mental health

China's AIDS Action Plan calls for education, condom distribution to stem spread of HIV

Blog examines use of medicine as weapon of war

Ugandan official expresses concern over rise in TB, emergence of drug-resistant strains

States should consider highest-cost patients when developing essential benefits package

Typhoid outbreak spreading in Zimbabwe; Officials working to improve sanitation, drug supply

UnitedHealth acquisitions draw scrutiny, Maine's high court sides with regulators on insurance rate hikes

Republican presidential candidate Santorum could be beneficial to global health programs if elected president

State roundup: Mass. Gov. says state health reform easing cost increases; N.J. localities overpay on health coverage; Pa. cuts raise ire

More than 80% of anesthesiologists have been involved in surgical catastrophes

FDA revises safety information on statin labels

Group requests more research, better communication from WHO on use of hormonal contraceptives, HIV risk

Viewpoints: 'Romney's rebound,' Va. lawmakers' ultrasound vote, Kennedy's not sole interpreters of Senator's legacy

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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