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Specialty groups: We shouldn't have to pay to fix Medicare's physician payment formula

Doctors shouldn't have to foot the bill if Congress comes up with a new way to set their Medicare payments, a group of medical specialties said Monday. There are few policies - if any - that are more important to doctors' organizations than a permanent repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.

28 Sep 2011

Experts explore close link between sanitation, clean water supply and environment

The drought and famine once again blighting the Horn of Africa brings with it an unwelcome reminder that for all of mankind's achievements we are yet to eradicate the scourge of poverty or provide clean water, sanitation or basic health care for the world's most desperate people.

28 Sep 2011

GAVI to purchase $1 billion in childhood vaccines for distribution in 37 of the poorest nations

The Geneva-based GAVI Alliance, a fund backed by governments, the World Bank, the WHO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday that it will purchase more than $1 billion in vaccines against rotavirus, pneumococcal and other diseases through deals made with GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. to immunize children in 37 of the poorest nations, Bloomberg reports.

28 Sep 2011

Medical education must put greater emphasis on public health and prevention

If future physicians are to best serve the changing health needs of patients and their communities, medical education must put greater emphasis on public health and prevention, experts say in a supplement to October's American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

28 Sep 2011

Wis. unveils Medicaid savings website; some low-income Minn. residents must change health plans

Also in Medicaid news, Washington state begins new program that limits emergency department visits for Medicaid enrolless. Oregon also reports gains in efforts to get children coverage.

28 Sep 2011

High prevalence of NTDs in Central Asia after 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union

The open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases will publish an article emphasizing the rising burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Central Asia on Tuesday, Sept. 27th.

28 Sep 2011

Burundi makes significant progress against NTDs

In this "End the Neglect" blog post, Alan Fenwick, director of the Schistosomaisis Control Initiative and professor of Tropical Parasitology at Imperial College in London, examines Burundi's progress in combating neglected tropical diseases.

28 Sep 2011

Study finds no link between end-of-life care and patients' survival rates

Discussing and documenting patients' preferences for care at the end of life does not cause them any harm, contrary to recent claims. A new study published today in the Journal of Hospital Medicine found that patients who talk with their physicians about end-of-life care and have an advance directive in their medical record have similar survival rates as patients who do not have these discussions and documents.

28 Sep 2011

Global health blunders can lend useful lessons

New York Times reporter Lawrence Altman recounts his experience in the mid-1960s with a measles immunization campaign in Upper Volta during his time with the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC in a "Doctor's World" perspective piece in the newspaper. Altman says that although the effort to expand the immunization campaign from a small field trial to a regional program "failed miserably," the "lessons learned from these blunders led to a new program that wiped out smallpox, still the only human disease to have been eradicated from the planet."

28 Sep 2011

New method for quickly identifying individual viruses

A new method for quickly identifying individual viruses and recognising how they bind to host cells may become a vital tool in the early control of winter vomiting disease and other virus-based diseases. In the west, this means saving money and reducing stress on health-care systems. In developing countries, this means saving lives.

28 Sep 2011

New York Times 'Small Fixes' section examines multiple low-cost interventions for global health problems

The New York Times on Monday published a special section, titled "Small Fixes," containing several articles examining how low-cost innovations could help save thousands of lives.

28 Sep 2011

Justice Department does not seek full appeals court review clearing path for high court to decide health law's constitutionality next summer

The Obama administration announced Monday that it won't press for an en banc appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Such an action would have delayed the legal process and likely pushed back the timing of a final Supreme Court decision until at least 2013.

28 Sep 2011

Microbiologist offers advice to guard against coming down with the flu

October marks the beginning of flu season, and once again, health care professionals are exhorting people to get a flu shot. Microbiologist John Tudor, Ph.D., professor of biology at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, agrees that it's time to roll up our sleeves and offer up our arms for the vaccination.

28 Sep 2011

DMARDs appear to be more effective for children with arthritis

Medications known as disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, or DMARDs, appear to be more effective than other treatments for children with arthritis, but there is not enough evidence to support one kind of DMARD over another, according to a new report from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

28 Sep 2011

Lockheed Martin acquires QTC

Lockheed Martin Corporation has completed its acquisition of QTC Holdings Inc. The company, based in Diamond Bar, Calif., is the largest provider of outsourced medical evaluation services to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), processing more than 450,000 evaluations last year.

28 Sep 2011

Study sheds light on when to start antiretroviral therapy

Findings from a study published in the current issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, when "taken together with other studies published over the last few years," show that beginning people living with HIV on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) when their CD4 cell count is between 350 and 500 "appears to be beneficial over the long term.

28 Sep 2011

Roundup: Conn.'s new insurance commissioner getting noticed; Miami-Dade County fires consulting firm over health care issue

Checking his watch, Thomas B. Leonardi worked quickly through his dense defense of this nation's state-by-state approach to insurance regulation. This small New England state generates more insurance business than all but a half-dozen nations. He sided with consumer advocates in March at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, helping to delay a federal regulation designed to protect fees for health insurance brokers. Advocates said the regulation would have driven up the costs of insurance to consumers.

28 Sep 2011

Sex therapy for prostate cancer after treatment may improve sex life: Study

Prostate cancer treatments can play havoc with men’s sex lives causing erectile dysfunction and other frustrating problems. For example, a recent study found about 60 percent of men with prostate cancer who had their prostate glands removed had not recovered their sexual function two years after their treatment. Many also lost some desire for sex and had a diminished ability to reach or enjoy orgasms. But new research shows that sex therapy can make a big difference.

27 Sep 2011

Asthmatic kids with type 1 diabetes have tougher time maintaining healthy sugar levels: Study

The reason why asthma might complicate pediatric diabetes care remains unclear, however, and is “something that needs to be explored more,” said Dr. Anita Swamy, a pediatric endocrinologist and medical director of the Chicago Children's Diabetes Center at La Rabida Children's Hospital in Chicago. She was not involved in the new study. The study appears in the October issue of Pediatrics.

27 Sep 2011

With increasing population, now is not the time to cut international family planning funding

Robert Walker, executive vice president of the Population Institute, writes in this Huffington Post opinion piece that despite an increase in government and NGO support for maternal and child health programs, including family planning services, announced last week by the U.N. as part of its Every Woman, Every Child campaign, "the world's largest donor nation, the United States, is retreating on its commitments to international family planning, and other donor nations may follow suit."

27 Sep 2011

Health Care News and Research

Specialty groups: We shouldn't have to pay to fix Medicare's physician payment formula

Experts explore close link between sanitation, clean water supply and environment

GAVI to purchase $1 billion in childhood vaccines for distribution in 37 of the poorest nations

Medical education must put greater emphasis on public health and prevention

Wis. unveils Medicaid savings website; some low-income Minn. residents must change health plans

High prevalence of NTDs in Central Asia after 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union

Burundi makes significant progress against NTDs

Study finds no link between end-of-life care and patients' survival rates

Global health blunders can lend useful lessons

New method for quickly identifying individual viruses

New York Times 'Small Fixes' section examines multiple low-cost interventions for global health problems

Justice Department does not seek full appeals court review clearing path for high court to decide health law's constitutionality next summer

Microbiologist offers advice to guard against coming down with the flu

DMARDs appear to be more effective for children with arthritis

Lockheed Martin acquires QTC

Study sheds light on when to start antiretroviral therapy

Roundup: Conn.'s new insurance commissioner getting noticed; Miami-Dade County fires consulting firm over health care issue

Sex therapy for prostate cancer after treatment may improve sex life: Study

Asthmatic kids with type 1 diabetes have tougher time maintaining healthy sugar levels: Study

With increasing population, now is not the time to cut international family planning funding

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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