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NPR: What boomers think about health and retirement

Most baby boomers say they're planning on an active and healthy retirement, according to a new poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. And, in a switch from earlier years, more than two-thirds recognize the threat of long-term care expenses to their financial futures.

29 Sep 2011

Debt panel operates in secret, eyes 'dual eligibles' as possible source of savings

The 'super committee' is taking a look at proposals to reduce spending on this population, which qualifies for both Medicare and Medicaid and is made up of the sickest and poorest American citizens. In the background, the New York Times examines what congressional "short-term fixes" say about the legislative body.

29 Sep 2011

Administration seeks quick Supreme Court health law ruling

This Justice Department step is being viewed as a signal that the Obama administration wants the high court to decide the question of the health law's constitutionality before the 2012 presidential election.

29 Sep 2011

Plans to cut municipal workers' health benefits reconsidered in L.A.; DeKalb County, Ga.

Los Angeles officials are being challenged on their authority to make changes and, in Georgia, officials have delayed their vote after concerns were raised about costs of the popular program.

29 Sep 2011

Roundup: Calif. legislator's health bill comes under scrutiny; D.C. facing doctor shortage

A few hours earlier, using an obscure parliamentary procedure, the senator had carved the contents out of a bill about local gas taxes and "amended" it into a proposal to warn women about breast cancer risks. It was now speeding through the statehouse so fast, and with so little scrutiny, that Sen. Joe Simitian would later be on the defensive about one significant effect: a possible multimillion-dollar windfall for a medical business in his district.

29 Sep 2011

New report finds little evidence to support off-label use of atypical antipsychotics

There is little evidence to support the use of atypical antipsychotic drugs for some treatments other than their officially approved purposes, even though many clinicians continue to commonly prescribe these drugs for so-called "off label" uses, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

29 Sep 2011

WSJ: Federal judge advances medical records case

The lawsuit, brought by the newspaper's publisher, seeks to overturn an injunction that keeps the public from being able to see Medicare billing records. In related news, The Fiscal Times examines Medicare waste and improper payments.

29 Sep 2011

Senate gives nod to autism bill

A bill to reauthorize autism-related research and screening programs passed the Senate on Monday night by unanimous consent, ending concerns that programs might expire at the end of the month.

29 Sep 2011

Scaling up communication and coordination biggest challenge in GAVI's $1B vaccine initiative

In this post in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University, responds to the GAVI Alliance's announcement on Tuesday that it will supply more than $1 billion in childhood vaccines to 37 of the world's poorest countries, writing, "As the Alliance takes perhaps the most significant step ever toward increasing access to lifesaving immunization with this new and exciting round of country approvals, the challenge will be to ensure that every piece of the puzzle is in place to deliver on GAVI's tremendous promise."

29 Sep 2011

Calif. bill could affect out-patient surgery centers; some Florida public hospitals prosper

Also in news about local hospitals, the Mayo Clinic announces plans to develop a new medical school branch in Arizona and a Minn. hospital is accused of dumping a patient.

29 Sep 2011

U.S. aid groups criticize U.S. government's response to sending food donations to North Korea

"Several American aid groups are criticizing the U.S. government delay on deciding whether to resume large-scale food donations to North Korea" after recent flooding deteriorated health and food security in the country, VOA News reports.

29 Sep 2011

Post-Soviet economic breakdown may have contributed to re-emergence of NTDs in Central Asia

According to an article by Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and Ken Alibek of Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, published Tuesday in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Central Asia "continues to suffer from a post-Soviet economic breakdown that may have contributed to a re-emergence of several NTDs in the area, especially among its most economically disadvantaged groups," a PLoS press release states.

29 Sep 2011

Study links pain severity with depression

A new study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, www.ampainsoc.org, shows that changes in pain severity can predict subsequent depression severity and, likewise, a worsening change in depression is an equally strong predictor of subsequent pain severity.

29 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Blocking, replacing health law; a doc's HPV advice; County wellness plan working

Too often, the Republican Party health-care agenda seems to consist of incanting "repeal and replace" and then to stop thinking - if the thinking ever begins at all. Certainly the current Presidential field is saying little beyond promising to repeal ObamaCare, but in the nick of time Paul Ryan has provided some intellectual guidance in an important speech yesterday at Stanford's Hoover Institution. he said "we cannot simply revert to the status quo."

29 Sep 2011

Capsules: N.C. insurer invests $15M in docs' health IT; HHS offers new push for coordinated care

Now on Capsules, Christian Torres writes about a new federal coordinated care initiative: If the Department of Health and Human Services has its way, hundreds of physician practices will follow the money and take up a coordinated model of health care.

29 Sep 2011

BCBSF unveils new online tool for comparing health care quality and cost

Knowing and understanding the cost of a medical procedure before it takes place helps people to be more than health care users - it helps them become informed health care consumers, says Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF).

28 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 28, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about the costs of employer insurance plans and the final installment of KHN's "Building Ambitions" series about children's hospitals.

28 Sep 2011

Congress must not make cuts to crucial government-funded aging research

America's experts on aging are headed for meetings with their senators and representatives to underscore the needs of the country's senior population, spurred by the first-ever Take Action Week organized by The Gerontological Society of America - the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging.

28 Sep 2011

Study examines psychosocial impact of cleft lip, palate on individuals in non-Anglo societies

One person's flaw may be another person's strength, according to a study of cultural perceptions of cleft lip and cleft palate. In the Western world, many people with these facial anomalies experience social and emotional difficulties because of the importance placed on appearance. In other parts of the world, a range of views are influenced by religion, superstition, and cultural prejudices.

28 Sep 2011

WHO releases global survey of worst, best cities for air pollution

"Cities in Iran, India, Pakistan and the capital of Mongolia rank among the worst on the planet for air pollution, while those in the United States and Canada are among the best, according to the first global survey released Monday by the World Health Organization," the Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

28 Sep 2011

Health Care News and Research

NPR: What boomers think about health and retirement

Debt panel operates in secret, eyes 'dual eligibles' as possible source of savings

Administration seeks quick Supreme Court health law ruling

Plans to cut municipal workers' health benefits reconsidered in L.A.; DeKalb County, Ga.

Roundup: Calif. legislator's health bill comes under scrutiny; D.C. facing doctor shortage

New report finds little evidence to support off-label use of atypical antipsychotics

WSJ: Federal judge advances medical records case

Senate gives nod to autism bill

Scaling up communication and coordination biggest challenge in GAVI's $1B vaccine initiative

Calif. bill could affect out-patient surgery centers; some Florida public hospitals prosper

U.S. aid groups criticize U.S. government's response to sending food donations to North Korea

Post-Soviet economic breakdown may have contributed to re-emergence of NTDs in Central Asia

Study links pain severity with depression

Viewpoints: Blocking, replacing health law; a doc's HPV advice; County wellness plan working

Capsules: N.C. insurer invests $15M in docs' health IT; HHS offers new push for coordinated care

BCBSF unveils new online tool for comparing health care quality and cost

First Edition: September 28, 2011

Congress must not make cuts to crucial government-funded aging research

Study examines psychosocial impact of cleft lip, palate on individuals in non-Anglo societies

WHO releases global survey of worst, best cities for air pollution

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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