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FDA, pharmaceutical companies announce solution to cancer drug shortage

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and several pharmaceutical companies said Tuesday they have reached agreements to alleviate shortages for the drugs methotrexate and Doxil. Methotrexate is used to treat children with a form of leukemia and others with tumors of the breast and lungs. Doxil is used to treat ovarian cancer and multiple myeloma.

23 Feb 2012

USAID releases external evaluation of President's Malaria Initiative

USAID on Tuesday released the final report by an external evaluation team of the first five years (FY 2006-FY 2010) of the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), which is a major component of the Global Health Initiative (GHI), according to a USAID press release.

23 Feb 2012

For kids whole fruit is the best and fruit juice should be limited

To help keep at bay health risks such as childhood obesity and early tooth decay, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting fruit juice in children age 1-5 to one serving per day.

23 Feb 2012

QHN to provide health care providers with new registry services

Long a pioneer in regional health information exchange (HIE) development, Quality Health Network (QHN) is developing a "registry of registries," powered by The Advisory Board Company's Crimson Care Registry, for QHN's participants in 20 western Colorado counties.

23 Feb 2012

States propose more Medicaid cuts, changes to save money

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is proposing cutting $2.7 billion from that state's Medicaid program. Also, New Mexico's governor is proposing Medicaid patients pay more out of pocket if they go to the ER for care that's not an emergency. Georgia may drug-test Medicaid patients, and California Medicaid changes are questioned by patient advocates.

23 Feb 2012

Environmental health risks low in the United Arab Emirates

By global standards, health risks caused by environmental factors are low in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), new studies by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers show.

23 Feb 2012

Consumer advocates worry that health law's lifetime-limits ban can be circumvented

Politico Pro reports on questions raised about essential benefit rules, while other news outlets report on high-risk pools and preventive services coverage.

23 Feb 2012

South Korea stepping up fight against TB, CBS News reports

CBS News examines the fight against tuberculosis (TB) in South Korea, which "has the highest incidence rate of tuberculosis among the world's wealthiest countries, nations [that] belong to the 34-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

23 Feb 2012

State lawmakers take up contraception coverage, abortion fights

States are taking up the fight over the Obama administration's contraception coverage mandate with several state legislatures proposing bills of their own to block the mandate. In the meantime, Virginia mulls a bill that would require women to get a sonogram before an abortion, and a federal judge is set to rule on requiring pharmacists there to carry emergency contraception.

23 Feb 2012

Kaiser Permanente to display new mobile offerings at HIMSS12

Kaiser Permanente, the nation's leading health care provider and not-for-profit health plan, will showcase its new collection of industry-leading mobile health applications at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society 12th Annual Conference and Exhibition at the Venetian Sands Expo Center.

23 Feb 2012

AHCA, NCAL announce multi-year Quality Initiative

Long term and post-acute care leadership from the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) announced a multi-year initiative this week to meet new quality goals, including reducing hospital readmission rates and improving staff retention.

23 Feb 2012

A job doesn't always solve health insurance difficulties

Bronner is one of six people from the St. Louis area whom NPR has been following for a little more than a year. Like the others, she started 2011 unemployed and searching for work. Like so many Americans who have struggled in this tough labor market, the people we followed have had difficulty getting health coverage. And for some, including Bronner, it didn't stop when they got jobs.

23 Feb 2012

State officials debate whether, how to set up health exchanges

Lawmakers in Maryland, Nebraska and Kansas consider bills to advance or block the marketplaces; California officials wrestle with the nitty gritty of implementation.

23 Feb 2012

Adoption of Health IT still an uphill climb

The effort to drag the health-care industry into the technology age trudges onward, and it's still not clear whether the nation's 500,000 to 600,000 physicians will successfully make the journey. That's the finding from a number of health-care industry officials charged with pulling the medical profession into the 21st Century when it comes to managing patient records as well as automating the back-office operations of hospitals and clinics.

23 Feb 2012

GOP presidential hopefuls face off in two battleground states

Issues ranging from plans to cap or cut Medicaid spending to voting positions on the Medicare prescription drug program are among the policies being tossed about as candidates jockey for Tea Party votes and conservative credentials.

23 Feb 2012

HIMSS awards Kaiser Permanente for leadership in use of health information technology

Kaiser Permanente, the nation's leading health care provider, with the largest private-sector electronic health record system in the world, received two awards today from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society for its leadership in the use of health information technology.

23 Feb 2012

Ariz. advocates ask for better pay for disabled caregivers, Va. disabled find new home

Arizona patient advocates are asking lawmakers to pay providers more who tend to the severely disabled. In the meantime, in Virginia, the older disabled find a new home.

23 Feb 2012

Experts discuss Universal Health Coverage at CFR roundtable

This post in the UHC Forward blog describes the second meeting of the Universal Health Coverage Roundtable Series, "Toward Sustainable Universal Health Coverage," which was hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City on February 9.

23 Feb 2012

Teleflex announces two new agreements with HealthTrust

Teleflex Incorporated, a leading global provider of medical devices for critical care and surgery, has announced two new agreements with HealthTrust Purchasing Group, L.P.

23 Feb 2012

South Asia makes little progress in meeting maternal, child mortality MDGs, U.N. report says

"South Asian nations are making the least progress in the Asia-Pacific region on meeting key development goals, which they pledged to achieve by 2015," Bindu Lohani, vice president for sustainable development at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said on Friday at the launch of a U.N. progress report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Reuters reports.

23 Feb 2012