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As Gingrich gains support in polls, his policies draw attention, too

News outlets analyze GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich's policy positions, including those regarding Medicare and other health issues.

3 Dec 2011

Multipronged approach needed to conquer malaria

"A malaria vaccine could be a powerful new tool," but "[c]ontrolling mosquitoes and diagnosing malaria remain essential. Among the highest priorities now is to develop new methods to do both," a Bloomberg editorial states.

3 Dec 2011

NIAAA awards Rutgers $10M grant to explore genetic links to alcoholism

Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) has received a $10 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to provide DNA extraction, basic genetic testing, and repository services for more than 46,000 saliva samples, in support of national research efforts to determine the genetic and environmental factors that lead to alcoholism.

3 Dec 2011

State Department, USAID, MCC announce first major update of Foreign Assistance Dashboard

The Department of State, USAID, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on Thursday "announce[d] the first major update of the Foreign Assistance Dashboard," according to a State Department media note.

3 Dec 2011

South African President introduces National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs, TB

South African President Jacob Zuma in a speech on Thursday to mark World AIDS Day introduced a new five-year National Strategic Plan on HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis (TB), which "calls for stepped-up prevention efforts to halve new infections of HIV and tuberculosis by 2016 and to put 80 percent of eligible patients on antiretroviral drugs to fight AIDS," Agence France-Presse reports.

3 Dec 2011

HHS unveils MLR rule

The Department of Health and Human Services today released its final medical loss ratio rule. According to an HHS press release, the rule will ensure that health insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of consumers' health insurance premiums on medical care rather than on income, overhead and marketing expenses.

3 Dec 2011

Berwick's CMS exit

Today is Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick's last day. News outlets offer views on the agency's work during his tenure at its helm.

3 Dec 2011

Letter from Secretary of State Clinton to attendees of International Conference on Family Planning

The U.S. Department of State has posted on its website a letter from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "delivered by the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal to the International Conference on Family Planning in Dakar."

2 Dec 2011

House Energy and Commerce Committee gives nod to CLASS Act repeal bill

House Republicans inched closer to their goal of eliminating the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Program, or CLASS Act, on Wednesday when the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill to repeal the long-term care program established in last year's healthcare reform law.

2 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 2, 2011

In today's headlines, reports on congressional efforts to extend a payroll tax break and other work Congress must do before the end of the year -- including the Medicare doc fix.

2 Dec 2011

Multimedia resources published in recognition of World AIDS Day

The following is a summary of some of the multimedia resources published in recognition of World AIDS Day, observed on Thursday, December 1.

2 Dec 2011

Opinion pieces address Global Fund's future after cancellation of Round 11 grants

The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to cancel Round 11 grant approval during a two-day meeting in Accra, Ghana, that concluded on November 22, according to a Global Fund press release (11/23).

2 Dec 2011

Financial Times, IPS report on male circumcision as HIV prevention strategy

Male circumcision is "a practice that -- despite the evidence -- has yet to be adopted as much or as fast as experts had hoped," the Financial Times reports.

2 Dec 2011

California's mental health care services continue to shrink; Iowa seeks reform

While Iowa has hopes of reforming its mental health services, a new study notes real problems in California.

2 Dec 2011

GAO: Most insurers met health law spending rules -- even before they kicked in

Most U.S. health insurers last year would have satisfied the much-disputed spending rules under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, according to a new report by a congressional watchdog agency... In a report posted online on Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office looked at the insurance plans in 2010, before the new rules took effect, and found that at least 64 percent of eligible insurers would comply with the spending rates.

2 Dec 2011

Longer looks: Life of a Medicare demo project; Broken hearts; AIDS funding

Today's Medicare demonstration project might determine how physicians interact with the program tomorrow, so naturally such projects generate a lot of buzz in the health care community. Lately, some of that buzz has been about how demos might provide part of the solution for Medicare's payment problems.

2 Dec 2011

Obama renews U.S. commitment to ending AIDS in World AIDS Day speech

President Barack Obama on Thursday renewed the U.S. commitment to ending HIV/AIDS in a speech marking World AIDS Day, and was joined by former presidents Bill Clinton, who participated by video, and George W. Bush, who spoke from Tanzania with that country's President, Jakaya Kikwete, the Independent reports.

2 Dec 2011

CSIS report examines reaching women, girls through GHI in Malawi

A new report by Janet Fleischman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, titled "The Global Health Initiative in Malawi: New Approaches and Challenges to Reaching Women and Girls," examines the U.S. Global Health Initiative (GHI) in Malawi, stating, "The GHI team in Malawi has identified the health of women and girls, including HIV and family planning (FP)/reproductive health (RH) services, as critical, promising areas for GHI success."

2 Dec 2011

Al Jazeera examines HIV, drug use among women in Northeast India

Al Jazeera examines HIV among women in India's Manipur state, particularly in the district of Churachandpur, where local non-governmental organizations "say more than one-quarter of the women use some kind of drugs and suffer from HIV; many, due to a lack of financial opportunities, will end up turning to" sex work to obtain money to buy drugs, the news agency writes.

2 Dec 2011

Hospital mergers with health systems, insurers and other hospitals trigger disputes

The legal back and forth over public records continues in Kentucky as the Jefferson County attorney's office, which represents Louisville, filed a lawsuit against the University of Louisville demanding the release of documents related to the pending three-hospital merger involving the university's hospital.

2 Dec 2011