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New York Times examines international response to Somali famine

"Twenty years after the central government collapsed," Somalia is facing drought, food insecurity and conflict larger in scale than when famine conditions hit the nation in the 1990s, "[a]nd given the world's limited interest in a major intervention, that is not likely to change anytime soon," the New York Times reports in a news analysis on the situation.

17 Sep 2011

MedPAC prepares 'doc fix' proposal with full cost offset

The plan takes the commission into an area it generally tries to avoid: how to pay for such a major change to the Medicare system. Its suggestion is to pay for the SGR fix by reducing payments to specialists and imposing cuts on other parts of the health care sector.

17 Sep 2011

Research roundup: Personalized info helps consumer decision-making; Racial disparities in knee replacement

Comparison Friction: Experimental Evidence From Medicare Drug Plans – Defining comparison friction as "the wedge between the availability of comparative information and consumers' use of it," the authors determined that providing prescription drug pricing information, even though it was free and accessible in other ways, increased the amount of "plan-switching" in the group to 28 percent compared to 17 percent in another that did not get the individual information.

17 Sep 2011

Medicaid officials push Florida to improve patient care, reach agreement 'in principle' with Texas

Texas and Florida have requested waivers from the federal government to restructure their Medicaid programs.

17 Sep 2011

MedPAC recommendations may jeopardize access to care: ACS

Yesterday, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reviewed draft recommendations related to the flawed and unsustainable Medicare Physician Payment system. The American College of Surgeons (ACS) is pleased that the MedPAC has recognized the need to eliminate the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and move towards a reimbursement system that is based on quality of care.

17 Sep 2011

List of top-performing hospitals includes small and rural hospitals

Small and rural hospitals headed the list of top performing hospitals in using evidence-based processes closely linked to positive patient outcomes, according to the Joint Commission's annual report on quality and safety, Improving America's Hospitals.

17 Sep 2011

Chad faces food security and health challenges, but opportunity exists for improvement, U.N. official says

U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Chad Thomas Gurtner "says Chad faces daunting food security and health challenges" but that "peace and growing stability in Chad bodes well for the country's future," VOA News reports.

17 Sep 2011

High-fat maternal diet during pregnancy results in deposition of excess body fat in the newborn

New research in mice indicates that babies born to moms who eat a high-fat diet before and during pregnancy have a higher fat mass and smaller livers than babies whose moms consume low-fat fare, according to scientists at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

17 Sep 2011

Prevention is global health community's greatest challenge in fight against chronic diseases

"A new pandemic has emerged and is beginning to overshadow all others," "The chronic-disease pandemic will be the 'face' of global health in the coming decades ... an insidious pandemic for those who are affected, causing slow and subtle declines in health over years."

17 Sep 2011

Congressional cuts to global health R&D spending would hinder preparations for new pandemic threats

The movie "'Contagion' is fiction, but truth closely trails behind. It tells an effective story of why we need new vaccines, tests, drugs, and other tools to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases to address existing and emerging global health threats," Kaitlin Christenson, coalition director of the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), writes in an opinion piece in The Hill's "Congress Blog."

17 Sep 2011

Perry attacks Romney on Mass. health plan, similarities to Obama

In a campaign swing through Iowa, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry drew distinctions between himself and Mitt Romney, another Republican presidential candidate, by highlighting the similarities between the federal health law and the Massachusetts health plan that became law while Romney was the state's governor.

17 Sep 2011

Bioethicists up the ante in Bachmann's HPV brouhaha

Since Monday's GOP presidential primary debate, Michele Bachmann, a Republican candidate, has been under the microscope for criticizing fellow GOP hopeful Rick Perry for his policy in Texas requiring girls to get the Gardisil vaccine against HPV. Now, two bioethicists have offered cash prizes if she can prove a claim she made about the vaccine's link to mental retardation.

17 Sep 2011

Blue Cross plans push HHS to release regs by early 2012

"Health plans don't have the information they need to carry out some important health reform changes – and they don't have enough time to get the work done either, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association says.

17 Sep 2011

CLASS Act criticism continues, but new report sees 'fixes'

Though conventional wisdom and partisan positions suggest the program is fiscally "out of whack," experts say there are multiple ways to try to make it more sound.

17 Sep 2011

U.N. expresses concern over flooding in Pakistan; UNICEF says 2.5M children affected

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday expressed concern over widespread flooding in Pakistan and "pledged the United Nations' continued commitment to supporting the government in its efforts to respond to the humanitarian needs of the more than five million people in the affected areas," the U.N. News Centre reports.

17 Sep 2011

IHA introduces 'Value Based Pay for Performance' to assure physician accountability

Reflecting the importance of measuring and rewarding both quality and cost-efficiency, the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA), now in its 10th year of physician organization measurement and reporting, is taking another leap forward in its efforts to assure physician accountability with the introduction of "Value Based Pay for Performance."

17 Sep 2011

Coulter Foundation awards University of Pittsburgh $3.54M grant for translational bioengineering research

The Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh has received a $3.54 million grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.

17 Sep 2011

Public health organizations fear industries may manipulate outcomes of U.N. summit on NCDs

"A group of public health organizations said on Friday they were concerned that industries selling fatty foods, alcohol and cigarettes could hijack a United Nations meeting on how to tackle chronic disease in order to protect their own interests," Reuters reports.

17 Sep 2011

Plans for new hospital outside Detroit raise questions

Developments in hospital news also include an analysis of Maryland's success with rate regulation, the economic power of health care jobs in San Francisco and reports that a Mass. hospital system is launching a health plan.

17 Sep 2011

Medicare Advantage premiums to fall 4% in 2012

As premium costs fell, enrollment rose – despite dire predictions from opponents of the 2010 health law that the overhaul would cause enrollment to drop while forcing the cost of premiums to increase.

17 Sep 2011

Health Care News and Research

New York Times examines international response to Somali famine

MedPAC prepares 'doc fix' proposal with full cost offset

Research roundup: Personalized info helps consumer decision-making; Racial disparities in knee replacement

Medicaid officials push Florida to improve patient care, reach agreement 'in principle' with Texas

MedPAC recommendations may jeopardize access to care: ACS

List of top-performing hospitals includes small and rural hospitals

Chad faces food security and health challenges, but opportunity exists for improvement, U.N. official says

High-fat maternal diet during pregnancy results in deposition of excess body fat in the newborn

Prevention is global health community's greatest challenge in fight against chronic diseases

Congressional cuts to global health R&D spending would hinder preparations for new pandemic threats

Perry attacks Romney on Mass. health plan, similarities to Obama

Bioethicists up the ante in Bachmann's HPV brouhaha

Blue Cross plans push HHS to release regs by early 2012

CLASS Act criticism continues, but new report sees 'fixes'

U.N. expresses concern over flooding in Pakistan; UNICEF says 2.5M children affected

IHA introduces 'Value Based Pay for Performance' to assure physician accountability

Coulter Foundation awards University of Pittsburgh $3.54M grant for translational bioengineering research

Public health organizations fear industries may manipulate outcomes of U.N. summit on NCDs

Plans for new hospital outside Detroit raise questions

Medicare Advantage premiums to fall 4% in 2012

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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