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Texas doctor caught in a $375 million fraud

A Texas doctor has been accused of running a massive health fraud care scheme with thousands of fraudulent patients and intermediaries allegedly offering cash, food stamps or free groceries, to cheat the Medicare and Medicaid of nearly $375 million.

29 Feb 2012

Americans visiting the ER for dental problems ignoring preventive services: Report

Latest figures show that more Americans are turning to the emergency room for routine dental problems. This choice often costs 10 times more than preventive care and offers far fewer treatment options than a dentist's office. This comes from an analysis of government data and dental research.

29 Feb 2012

Health care costs after self-castration significantly greater than elective outpatient surgical castration

Michael S. Irwig, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine, Anton Trinidad, M.D., PhD., associate professor of Psychiatry, and Matthew St. Peter, a fourth year medical student at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, co-authored an article in the Journal of Sexual Medicine entitled, "Self-Castration by a Transsexual Woman: Financial and Psychological Costs: A Case Report."

29 Feb 2012

U.N. helps kick off polio immunization campaigns in Angola, Central African Republic

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday "launched a national polio vaccination campaign in Angola, where the crippling disease has returned despite being eradicated in 2001, and praised the government for its leadership on the issue," the U.N. News Centre reports.

29 Feb 2012

Positive reaction from hospitals, consumer groups on 'stage 2' health IT rules

Both hospital and consumer groups are reacting positively to new federal rules meant to improve the effective use of the technology, and new electronic health records certification rules are released.

29 Feb 2012

Novartis defends challenge to Indian medicines patent law

Pharmaceutical company Novartis "has spoken out following criticism about its challenge to India's patent laws, insisting that access to life-saving drugs is not under peril by the move," Pharma Times World News reports. The case, which the Indian Supreme Court is scheduled to hear next month, challenges "Indian patent law, notably Section 3(d), which states that a modification of a known chemical composition is non-patentable," the news service writes.

29 Feb 2012

First Edition: February 29, 2012

Today's headlines include reports on yesterday's GOP presidential primary elections and how health policy played a role in some of the rhetoric.

29 Feb 2012

Physical activity and diet program in doctor's office may be effective for obese people

A physical activity and diet program implemented by health educators working in a doctor's office may be a more effective way to get obese people to lose abdominal fat than advice from a doctor alone, according to a study from Queen's University.

29 Feb 2012

On health exchange, Neb. makes progress, Wis. and Texas mull next steps

A roundup of reports on what's happening on the ground in several states, where Republican governors have been opposed to implementing the health law's insurance exchanges.

29 Feb 2012

Obama contraception rule continues to fuel arguments

Conservative women opposed to the birth control mandate are pushing to reframe the debate around religious liberty. Meanwhile, a range of organizations, including pediatricians, labor unions and charities that fight birth defects, oppose an amendment by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that would allow employers to exclude any insurance benefit they deemed immoral.

29 Feb 2012

Activists protest Novartis challenge to Indian patent law

In this guest post in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog, Brook Baker of the Northeastern University School of Law Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, "describes and comments on pharmaceutical company Novartis's court challenge to India's strict standards of patenting medicine" and worldwide protests against the company that took place last week prior to its shareholder meeting.

29 Feb 2012

Mass. Senate race: Brown-Kennedy dust-up continues

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., has refused a request from former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to pull a campaign advertisement rejecting the federal birth control mandate that features Kennedy's father, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

29 Feb 2012

HPV vaccine recommended for boys

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended boys - not just girls - be vaccinated against HPV, though questions about its cost-effectiveness remain.

29 Feb 2012

Clinton to testify about FY13 budget request

In this post on the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog," Jenny Ottenhoff, policy outreach associate at CGD, previews issues that may be raised when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies before four congressional committees this week about President Obama's FY 2013 budget request for the State Department and USAID.

29 Feb 2012

Feds pursue anti-trust action against Georgia hospital chain, other state hospital news

Hospital news from around the country includes: concern in Mass. about the bottom line, mergers in Georgia and more about Dallas' troubled Parkland facility.

29 Feb 2012

IRIN examines potential strategies to fight sleeping sickness in Tanzania's rural communities

"Tackling land-use conflicts around game parks must form part of the national strategy to stop the spread of Trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, warn doctors fighting the disease in Tanzania," IRIN reports.

29 Feb 2012

Urbanization leaves millions of children without access to vital services, UNICEF report states

"Urbanization leaves hundreds of millions of children in cities and towns excluded from vital services, UNICEF warns in 'The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World,'" released on Tuesday, the agency reports in a press release.

29 Feb 2012

Obamacare draws more opposition than Romneycare

Politico reports on new polling that shows the federal health law draws more negative public opinions than does the Massachusetts law signed by Mitt Romney when he was the state's governor. Also, the LA Times reports that a majority of registered voters believe the health law's individual mandate is unconstitutional.

29 Feb 2012

Financial crime convictions - including health care fraud - reap billions in restitution payments

The FBI said Monday that its probes of financial crime last year led to more than 3,000 convictions and over $12 billion in court-ordered restitution as agents attacked insider trading, Ponzi schemes and Medicare fraud in high-dollar scams that victimized thousands of investors and the government.

29 Feb 2012

As votes are cast in Ariz. and Mich., health law, entitlement programs part of GOP campaign talk

News outlets report on the positions taken and jabs traded by the GOP presidential candidates as they position themselves for these two primary elections.

29 Feb 2012

Health Care News and Research

Texas doctor caught in a $375 million fraud

Americans visiting the ER for dental problems ignoring preventive services: Report

Health care costs after self-castration significantly greater than elective outpatient surgical castration

U.N. helps kick off polio immunization campaigns in Angola, Central African Republic

Positive reaction from hospitals, consumer groups on 'stage 2' health IT rules

Novartis defends challenge to Indian medicines patent law

First Edition: February 29, 2012

Physical activity and diet program in doctor's office may be effective for obese people

On health exchange, Neb. makes progress, Wis. and Texas mull next steps

Obama contraception rule continues to fuel arguments

Activists protest Novartis challenge to Indian patent law

Mass. Senate race: Brown-Kennedy dust-up continues

HPV vaccine recommended for boys

Clinton to testify about FY13 budget request

Feds pursue anti-trust action against Georgia hospital chain, other state hospital news

IRIN examines potential strategies to fight sleeping sickness in Tanzania's rural communities

Urbanization leaves millions of children without access to vital services, UNICEF report states

Obamacare draws more opposition than Romneycare

Financial crime convictions - including health care fraud - reap billions in restitution payments

As votes are cast in Ariz. and Mich., health law, entitlement programs part of GOP campaign talk

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