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Innovations, new solutions needed to end 'global sanitation crisis'

In this CNN opinion piece, Jenna Davis -- a faculty member in Stanford University's Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, where her research and teaching focuses on water, sanitation and health, and a former member of the U.N. Millennium Task Force for Water and Sanitation -- reports on what she calls a "global sanitation crisis," writing, "More than 40 percent of the world's population does not have access to a toilet.

21 Nov 2011

Viewpoints: Finding savings in Medicare; The Avastin saga; Changes in health care business

There is no way to wrestle down the deficit without reining in Medicare costs. Ensuring that the program provides quality health care coverage to millions of older and disabled Americans is essential. These goals are not incompatible, but they require a judicious approach to policy making that is depressingly absent in Washington.

21 Nov 2011

State roundup: Provider groups merging - or not

A selection of health policy stories from California, Illinois, Georgia, Connecticut, Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts.

21 Nov 2011

Medicare physician pay cut again in play

Because the deficit panel's prospects are increasingly dim, efforts to intervene to prevent a 27 percent reduction in Medicare physician payment are becoming increasingly dire.

21 Nov 2011

Kiewit-Turner intensifies construction activities at medical center project for Colorado's veterans

Kiewit-Turner, a joint venture, has begun mobilizing additional workers and equipment as construction activities intensify on the Department of Veterans Affairs' medical center project.

21 Nov 2011

Health experts identify gap in medical trainee programs

Globalization has led to significant changes in the health care of children worldwide, yet medical education in the developed world has remained domestically focused. Canadian pediatricians are caring for growing numbers of new immigrants, refugees and international adoptees, so their formal training should reflect these changes.

21 Nov 2011

Aetna, Banner Health Network enter accountable care collaboration

Aetna today announced an accountable care collaboration with Banner Health Network and the introduction of Aetna Whole Health, a new commercial health care product that provides members access to highly coordinated care from physicians and facilities in the Banner Health Network.

21 Nov 2011

Health Management enters into new credit facilities and closes $875M Notes offering

Health Management Associates, Inc. announced today that it entered into new credit facilities, including a $500 million senior secured revolving credit facility, a $725 million senior secured term loan A with a five year term and a $1.4 billion senior secured term loan B with a seven year term.

21 Nov 2011

GOP, Democrats seeking SCOTUS recusals on health law

News outlets are following up developments in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to take on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

21 Nov 2011

Super committee stuck: Dems spurn latest GOP deficit deal

News outlets covered the latest tension in super committee negotiations. The Republicans offered a much-smaller deal which they say would not cut Medicare or Medicaid.

21 Nov 2011

Super committee members trade barbs as deadline approaches

A full-scale blame game erupted into public view Sunday after nearly three months of secretive negotiations on the supercommittee that failed to resolve an impasse to cut at least $1.2 trillion in deficits over the next decade. Fanning out across the Sunday talk shows just hours before the supercommittee's deadline, Republicans insisted that Democrats wanted to institute a $1 trillion tax hike, while Democrats argued that the GOP wanted to gut popular entitlements and protect the rich.

20 Nov 2011

PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board report offers six recommended research priorities

This post in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog examines a report by the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) that offers six recommended treatment and prevention research priorities to U.S. Global AIDS Ambassador Eric Goosby and the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) to guide future PEPFAR programs.

19 Nov 2011

Three 'critical issues' for Global Fund to consider to ensure 'further success'

While the recent report from a High-Level Independent Review Panel of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, "and the corresponding decisions of the Board, mark an important step towards the necessary improvements the Global Fund must make to fulfill its vital mandate in the coming decade and beyond," "the report does not provide direction or solutions on certain critical issues that will define the further success and impact of the Global Fund," Richard Feachem, founding executive director of the Global Fund, writes in a Lancet commentary.

19 Nov 2011

Cuts to U.S. global health spending would mean 'stark future' for millions

Disregarding advances "that have the potential to significantly reduce the death toll from HIV/AIDS, malaria, malnutrition, and other insidious killers, ... both the House and the Senate are pushing significant cuts to the 2012 Obama request for global health funding," Matthew Spitzer, president of the U.S. section of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres, writes in an opinion piece on the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

19 Nov 2011

Roger C. Lipitz Center to offer free Guided Care training and tools for ACOs

The Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will offer free training and technical assistance for organizations that seek to use the Guided Care model to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

19 Nov 2011

Insurers charging companies more if workers have unhealthy lifestyles

A Towers Watson survey found that the percentage of employer-sponsored policies that impose lifestyle-related financial penalities have doubled in the last two years.

19 Nov 2011

Super committee still at loggerheads on deficit, agreement still elusive

With just days remaining to overcome the impasse, deficit panel members appear to be making no progress toward an agreement to reach the 10-year savings target. Still, meetings and discussions continued regarding possible tax increases and cuts in the growth of programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

19 Nov 2011

Colo. Gov. dismisses GOP call for Medicaid waivers; Fla. sanctions Medicaid docs

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Thursday rejected a Republican suggestion that he seek a federal waiver to rules governing Medicaid to balance the state budget. The Democratic governor's reaction comes amid a standoff with Republicans over suspending a property-tax break for seniors that costs the state $100 million a year.

19 Nov 2011

Millions of Afghans face hunger, disease after drought destroys crops

"Up to three million people in Afghanistan are facing hunger, malnutrition and disease after a severe drought wiped out their crops and extreme winter weather risks cutting off their access to vital food aid, a group of aid agencies warned Friday," Reuters reports.

19 Nov 2011

Recent scientific progress in developing new HIV/AIDS interventions

Kaitlin Christenson, coalition director for the Global Health Technologies Coalition, "reflects on recent progress made by the scientific community in developing new interventions to combat HIV/AIDS as a result of leadership from the U.S. government" in this ONE blog post.

19 Nov 2011