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Roundup: HIV staff to be cut in Ga.; Abortion news in N.J., Mo.; Wis. Medicaid coverage in limbo

A loss of $3.7 million in federal funds is forcing Georgia to reduce its workforce for HIV prevention. After an inquiry by Georgia Health News, the Department of Public Health this week acknowledged that 20 people in state health districts have been notified they will probably lose their jobs in January, and that an unspecified number of staffers at the department level have received the same notification.

23 Dec 2011

Toddlers don't respond to their own voice

When grown-ups and kids speak, they listen to the sound of their voice and make corrections based on that auditory feedback. But new evidence shows that toddlers don't respond to their own voice in quite the same way, according to a report published online on December 22 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

23 Dec 2011

Roundup: Texas members oppose state's MLR waiver; Calif.'s disability case takes unusual turn

If you want to know what a Tea Party America might look like, there is no place like Kansas. In the past year, three state agencies have been abolished and 2,050 jobs have been cut. Funding for schools, social services and the arts have been slashed. The new Republican governor rejected a $31.5 million federal grant for a new health-insurance exchange because he opposes President Obama's health-care law. And that's just the small stuff.

23 Dec 2011

Roundup: Health coverage drops again in Fla.; Calif. wrestles with issue of violence in mental hospitals

Enrollment in commercial health insurance is continuing to decline in Florida. An annual market report adopted Tuesday by the Florida Health Care Insurance Advisory Board shows enrollment dropped by 4.3 percent during 2010. That's the fifth straight year it's gone down.

22 Dec 2011

High court sets March dates for health law arguments

March 27 will be the day for two hours of arguments over the provision, which starting in 2014 will require most Americans to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. The high court is expected to announce its decision by the end of June.

21 Dec 2011

State roundup: Ariz. high court to hear Medicaid funding challenge

The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider a challenge to state Medicaid cuts. The court put the matter on its Feb. 15 agenda and will decide then whether to take the case and hear oral arguments. Three public-interest law groups challenged an enrollment freeze for childless adults in the state's Medicaid program, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. A lower-court judge and an Arizona appeals-court panel upheld the cuts.

21 Dec 2011

Gene therapy may promote growth of hair cells in inner ear

Normal hearing depends on the presence of healthy hair cells in the inner ear. Gene therapy has the potential to slow the loss of hair cells and promote the growth of hair cells that have already been damaged.

20 Dec 2011

If misused, popular noisy toys may permanently damage children's hearing

While Road Rippers Lightning Rods, Let's Rock Elmo and the I Am T-Pain musical microphone might be sought-after gifts this holiday season, parents should ensure that their children don't risk permanent hearing damage by misusing them.

17 Dec 2011

State roundup: Florida awaits Medicaid waiver news

Now, nurses regularly do everything from give insulin shots to empty urinary catheter bags. At the same time, state budget cuts mean the number of school nurses in California is shrinking. As a result, nurses say, they are responsible for more students every year and are largely consumed with keeping "medically fragile" children in class.

16 Dec 2011

Increased temperatures can shorten gestation time and lead to stillbirth

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) world-first research has found a link between increases in temperature and the incidence of stillbirth and shorter pregnancies.

16 Dec 2011

IQWiG publishes report on Esbriet benefit assessment for treatment of IPF

InterMune, Inc. today reported that the private Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has today published its report on the benefit assessment of Esbriet (pirfenidone) for the treatment of mild to moderate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

16 Dec 2011

Senate Democrats seek justification for Plan B decision

Thirteen Democrats and one independent expressed disappointment in Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' decision to block younger teenagers from buying the "Plan B" emergency contraceptive without a prescription. Meanwhile, a federal judge says he will review the decision.

15 Dec 2011

NHS whistle blowers need more protection

A consultant pediatrician who had come forth with concerns about a clinic where Baby Peter was treated days before his death has accused NHS managers of using employment laws to gag potential whistleblowers.

14 Dec 2011

Many parents do not think their teens are at risk for noise-induced hearing loss

National data demonstrate that 1 in 6 U.S. adolescents has high-frequency hearing loss. A new report from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health shows that many parents don't think their teens are at risk.

13 Dec 2011

Roundup: Iowans question Wellmark premium hikes; Fla. Medicare audit; Mich. nursing home scandals

The Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield vice president faced dozens of angry customers and tried to explain why the health insurer wants to increase their premiums by 9.4 percent. ... Barbed questions flew throughout the hearing before the state insurance commissioner, who will decide whether to grant Wellmark's proposed increase for 86,000 Iowans who buy their own insurance policies.

13 Dec 2011

State roundup: Consumers dispute Iowa rate hike; Wis. senior program extension?; Fla. criticized on nursing homes

California Pacific Medical Center, including its St. Luke's campus, is San Francisco's most profitable hospital, yet it spends proportionately far less on care for poor residents than other private nonprofit hospitals in the city, according to a new report.

9 Dec 2011

Increased sensitivity to low frequency vibration found in people with inherited hearing loss

People with a certain form of inherited hearing loss have increased sensitivity to low frequency vibration, according to a study by Professor Thomas Jentsch of the Leibniz-Institut f-r Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)/Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Professor Gary Lewin (MDC), conducted in cooperation with clinicians from Madrid, Spain and Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

9 Dec 2011

Holder rebuffs GOP efforts to probe Kagan's role

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. clashed with congressional Republicans on Thursday, defending the Justice Department in the face of criticism of its "Fast and Furious" gun-trafficking sting and its refusal to turn over documents on the health-care law adopted last year.

9 Dec 2011

FDA panel: Some birth control pills should carry stronger warning labels

An FDA panel decided Thursday that two popular birth control pills should come with stronger warning labels about the possibility of blood clots.

9 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 9, 2011

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations include artilces about a new GOP tax plan that includes a Medicare pay fix for doctors and President Obama's support of a decision to keep the "Morning After Pill" from minors.

9 Dec 2011