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Insurer continues challenge to its exclusion from La. Medicaid program

A major insurance firm is continuing to protest its exclusion from the state's planned $2.2 billion privatization of coverage for more than 800,000 of the state 1.2 million Medicaid enrollees.

25 Aug 2011

ADA's 2011 food and nutrition conference to be held in San Diego

The world's largest annual meeting of food and nutrition professionals, the American Dietetic Association's 2011 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, will be held September 24 to 27 in San Diego, Calif.

25 Aug 2011

Health law legal challenges: Date set for oral arguments in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals

Missouri's health reform lawsuit is heading for oral arguments in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 8th Circuit on Tuesday said oral arguments in the lawsuit, which challenges the individual mandate and the Medicaid expansion, will take place in St. Paul, Minn., during the week of Oct. 17.

25 Aug 2011

HHS finalizes rule on medical research and confilcts of interest

The guidance, which is designed to help scientists avoid financial conflicts when conducting government-funded research, will take effect Aug. 24, 2012.

25 Aug 2011

Medicare may begin covering STD screenings for beneficiaries

Medicare may soon be paying for sexually transmitted disease screening for the elderly. Though the final decision won't be made until November, the federal health care agency that covers about 40 million seniors will announce a draft recommendation Wednesday.

25 Aug 2011

South African Health Minister promotes exclusive breastfeeding to fight rising infant mortality rate

Speaking at a breastfeeding conference on Tuesday in Johannesburg, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that "reducing child mortality is one of the most important priorities in our country and central to this is breastfeeding as a child survival strategy," Agence France-Presse reports.

25 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Perry's health record, Medicare spending slows, postal service's health plan controversy

And now for some good news: Medicare spending growth has been slowing noticeably. ... some evidence suggests it may be a shift toward value in the health-care sector. Various hospital executives have told me they have already begun to prepare for less generous reimbursement from Medicare as the new federal health-care-reform law takes effect.

25 Aug 2011

ICU patients with MRSA infection may face 50% increased risk of death

Does the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, cause more deaths in hospitals than the bacteria that are sensitive to common antibiotics? Opinions have been varied, but now a worldwide study at, among others, Linköping University in Sweden, indicates that the mortality rate can be 50 % higher for intensive care patients infected with MRSA.

25 Aug 2011

Global Fund to resume suspended grants to China

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which "froze disbursements of its AIDS grant to China in November and all other grants in May over suspected misuse of the money and the government's reluctance to involve community groups, ... said Tuesday that it was lifting the freeze on financing to ensure that AIDS work in China continued while it worked with government officials, representatives from United Nations agencies and private groups to resolve the dispute," the Associated Press reports.

25 Aug 2011

Patients with liver disease may now access UCSD's new Nevada clinic

Patients in Nevada seeking care for liver disease may now access the university-level expertise of UC San Diego Health System's Center for Hepatobiliary Disease and Abdominal Transplantation.

25 Aug 2011

IMMY, University of Nevada receive FDA clearance for CrAg Lateral Flow Assay

The Food and Drug Administration has cleared a new diagnostic test that will help save the lives of hundreds of thousands of AIDS patients stricken with cryptococcosis, a fungal meningitis.

25 Aug 2011

Healthways to acquire Navvis

Ben R. Leedle, Jr., president and CEO of Healthways, announced that the Company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Navvis & Company, a St. Louis-based firm providing strategic counsel and change management services both to enable its healthcare system clients to become future-ready clinical enterprises and to align the incentives for all stakeholders.

25 Aug 2011

Roundup: Interim agreement between Planned Parenthood and Ariz. approved; Kan. to release budget plan

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Richard Gama this week signed off on an agreement between Planned Parenthood and the state that allows most of the 2011 regulations to go into effect while the legal challenge continues.

25 Aug 2011

Constituents try to connect with deficit panel members over possible spending cuts

With the work of the 'super committee' picking up steam, news outlets report on how, while back in their districts for the August recess, some of the panelists are hearing concerns about Medicare and other entitlement programs. Meanwhile, former GOP Senator John Danforth recollects his first-hand experiences with the politics of deficit-cutting commissions.

24 Aug 2011

GetWellNetwork doing well with hospitals

In other health IT news, a study found that Google-type word searches of hospital medical records are better at detecting patient safety issues than searches using numerical billing codes.

24 Aug 2011

Loss of job and health insurance threatens family's health and financial stability

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of people who lost their health insurance when they lost their jobs over the last two years said that they skipped needed health care or did not fill prescriptions because of cost, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. The same proportion is also struggling with medical bills or medical debt, compared to about half (49%) who lost jobs but not their health insurance.

24 Aug 2011

First Edition: August 24, 2011

In today's headlines, Medicare tries bundled payments and HHS signals that it may give states a second chance to avoid a federally-run health insurance exchange.

24 Aug 2011

Showing PEPFAR effectiveness and value important in face of budget negotiations

With "looming budget cuts for FY2012 and recent reports about the decline in AIDS funding from the USG in FY2010 relative to FY2009 ... now, more than ever, PEPFAR needs to better demonstrate the effectiveness and value of its programs," Nandini Oomman, director of the HIV/AIDS Monitor at the Center for Global Development (CGD), writes in the CGD's "Global Health Policy" blog.

24 Aug 2011

Monsoon rains displace thousands in Bangladesh, create need for food, water and shelter

"Heavy monsoon rains have caused several major rivers in Bangladesh to burst their banks, displacing thousands and affecting nearly a million people in all, according to the country's Disaster Management Bureau (DMB)," IRIN reports.

24 Aug 2011

Idaho governor appears 'open' to state-run exchange, Texas governor is not

Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter says it makes sense for his state to accept federal funds and set up its own exchange. But Texas Gov. Rick Perry stands firm in his opposition.

24 Aug 2011