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IPAB repeal progresses in the House

On Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation that would eliminate the health law's Independent Payment Advisory Board. The bill could be considered by the full House as early as the week of March 19, and it could attract some Democratic support.

10 Mar 2012

Concerns about aging in good health

Do men harbour concerns about aging in good health? Do they confide these concerns to their physicians? Are men's concerns the same as women's? The answers to these questions can be found in a large cross-sectional survey of 2325 Canadian men, aged 55 to 97 years old, led by Dr. Cara Tannenbaum, Geriatrician and the Michel Saucier Endowed Chair in Geriatric Pharmacology, Health and Aging at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM) which is affiliated with the Université de Montréal.

10 Mar 2012

Longer looks: Santorum's pro-government record; Electronic health records and lawsuits

If elected president, Santorum vows, he will end the "tyranny" of President Obama's Affordable Care Act. Yet as an up-and-coming congressman in the early 1990s, Santorum took a much different line. Then - like now - health care was one of the nation's most divisive issues. In 1993, Republicans were up in arms about a health care reform bill spearheaded by Hillary Clinton and pushed by President Bill Clinton.

9 Mar 2012

State legislatures take on ultrasound mandate costs, employee health plans, Medicaid reform, malpractice

Democrats in the state Senate have sent Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell a list of conditions they want addressed before allowing a new state budget necessary to fund state services and operations to pass. … They want the state to pay for the ultrasound exams now mandated for women seeking abortions under a bill McDonnell signed Wednesday. ... And they want Medicaid eligibility restored for about 4,500 nursing home residents.

9 Mar 2012

Biologists identify how and where the brain processes FM sweeps

In both animals and humans, vocal signals used for communication contain a wide array of different sounds that are determined by the vibrational frequencies of vocal cords. For example, the pitch of someone's voice, and how it changes as they are speaking, depends on a complex series of varying frequencies. Knowing how the brain sorts out these different frequencies-which are called frequency-modulated (FM) sweeps-is believed to be essential to understanding many hearing-related behaviors, like speech.

9 Mar 2012

Doctor associated with MMR vaccine and autism link wins High Court appeal

Professor John Walker-Smith had been found guilty of professional misconduct following claims he took part in unapproved research that suggested links between the vaccine, bowel disease and autism. Professor Walker-Smith lost his license to practice in May 2010 along with Dr Andrew Wakefield, who led the research. A General Medical Council’s ‘fitness to practice’ panel found both men guilty of misconduct over the way the work was conducted after 217 days of deliberation – the longest disciplinary case in the body’s 150- year history.

8 Mar 2012

Deafness penetrates more rapidly and deeply into the brain than previously thought

Portions of a songbird's brain that control how it sings have been shown to decay within 24 hours of the animal losing its hearing.

8 Mar 2012

Roundup: Calif. county mum on probe of Medicaid managed care firm; Suit alleges substandard care for Ariz. prisoners

A Ventura County commission is trying to keep secret the details of a state-ordered investigation into the management and claims procedures of a healthcare plan designed to serve the county's neediest residents. Complaints about alleged late payments and poor management prompted the Department of Health Care Services to request that auditors step in and examine the plan's financial condition and claims practices. Gold Coast Health Plan was launched last year to switch an estimated 110,000 Ventura County Medi-Cal beneficiaries into an HMO-style healthcare plan.

8 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 7, 2012

Reporting for Kaiser Health News in collaboration with The Washington Post, Susan Jaffe writes: "In the latest effort to enlist seniors in the fight against Medicare fraud, federal officials have overhauled Medicare billing statements to make it easier to find bogus charges without a magnifying glass."

7 Mar 2012

Despite controversy, report says young Catholic women support birth control use

According to the report by the Guttmacher Institute, these women perceive the recent debate surrounding contraception coverage as a political one. Meanwhile, analysis continues about Rush Limbaugh's comments on the subject.

7 Mar 2012

Obama birth control rule draws calls for action in House of Representatives

CQ HealthBeat reports that at least one House lawmaker is pushing to move a bill that is considered the companion to the Blunt amendment, which would have expanded exemptions to the Obama administration rule and was defeated late last week by the full Senate.

6 Mar 2012

Contraceptive debate roils on in editorial pages

If the pill had never been invented, perhaps American politics would be very different today. ... Conflicts over gay marriage, transvaginal ultrasounds, Planned Parenthood funding and insurance coverage for birth control are not isolated events (Nancy L. Cohen, 3/4).

5 Mar 2012

RS donates new medical kit bags to save lives in Northamptonshire

RS Components (RS), the world's leading high service distributor of electronics and maintenance products and the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc, is helping to save lives in Northamptonshire after funding a life saving medical kit bag.

5 Mar 2012

Sebelius hints at contraception 'accomodation' during House testimony

Lawmakers questioned Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about a range of issues, including the president's proposed 2013 budget.

3 Mar 2012

Roundup: Iowa lawmaker urges waiting on exchange bill until court rules; Calif. group finds way to recycle medicine

Democrats and Republicans disagree about whether the Legislature needs to approve a health insurance exchange this spring. At a Statehouse forum on the issue Thursday, state Sen. Brad Zaun noted that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer on whether major portions of the health reform law are constitutional. Zaun, an Urbandale Republican who opposes the overall law, said it makes sense to wait until after that decision before deciding whether to move ahead with the exchange.

3 Mar 2012

House Subcommittee OKs IPAB repeal

The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee voted 17 to 5 to do away with a Medicare cost-cutting panel derided by Republicans as a "rationing board."

2 Mar 2012

HNSF, AAO publish new guideline on sudden hearing loss

On March 1, 2012, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation published a new Clinical Practice Guideline on Sudden Hearing Loss (SHL). This guideline is published as a supplement to Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

2 Mar 2012

Medicare actuary issues cautions about current efforts to 'cure' spiralling costs

Medicare's actuary warned Tuesday that controlling cost growth is the primary challenge to the entitlement program's financial stability, but that neither the premium support system sought by Republicans nor cost-cutting measures pushed by the administration provide all the answers.

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

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