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Healthy lactic acid bacteria in wild honey bees can fight bacterial infections

The stomachs of wild honey bees are full of healthy lactic acid bacteria that can fight bacterial infections in both bees and humans. A collaboration between researchers at three universities in Sweden ¬- Lund University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Karolinska Institutet - has produced findings that could be a step towards solving the problems of both bee deaths and antibiotic resistance.

15 Mar 2012

State roundup: Caregivers face 'burnout' threat as need grows, Kansas nursing home staff inadequate?

Long term care advocates say they're concerned about caregiver burnout. And they say Wisconsin may be overestimating projected savings from uncompensated care that relatives provide. State health officials need to find nearly $80 million in savings from a popular program that keeps the elderly and disabled out of nursing homes. The administration wants to know what assistance friends and family are giving so that care isn't replaced by Medicaid services.

15 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Sandra fluke on slurs; Shifting the cost of uncompensated care

(D)espite the misinformation being spread, the regulation under discussion has absolutely nothing to do with government funding: It is all about the insurance policies provided by private employers and universities that are financed by individual workers, students and their families -- not taxpayers.

14 Mar 2012

New work describes communities of active bacteria harbored by honey bee colonies

A novel study of honey bee genetic diversity co-authored by an Indiana University biologist has for the first time found that greater diversity in worker bees leads to colonies with fewer pathogens and more abundant helpful bacteria like probiotic species.

13 Mar 2012

State roundup: Business health care tax credits; Wash. state insurers' surplus cash; Calif. million dollar bills

A relatively new tax credit is available to certain small businesses and charities to help offset the cost of providing health insurance to their workers. But tens of thousands of businesses in Minnesota and across the nation are leaving money on the table, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

13 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: The fight against IPAB; Chinks in GOP armor on health care law

As part of their broader campaign to repeal health care reform, House Republicans are determined to kill off an independent board that is supposed to help rein in federal spending on Medicare. Their rhetoric is predictably distorted: charging that "15 unelected bureaucrats" should not be able to "ration care." In truth, the independent payment advisory board of nongovernmental experts is specifically precluded from rationing care, and Congress, not the board, has the final say on what cuts should be made.

11 Mar 2012

Minn. GOP offers premium savings accounts as alternative to exchanges

Minnesota Republicans are offering state-based health premium savings accounts as an alternative to a health care exchange that Democrats in the state want to implement as part of the federal health reform law.

7 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Ryan and Medicare; Va. ultrasound bill 'overreaches'?; NEJM on patient-centered care

Over the past year, an entitlement revolution has taken place on Capitol Hill. ... The revolution involves Medicare, the health-care program for the elderly and the single biggest cause of America's looming debt crisis. Reform of Medicare would be achieved by a policy known as "premium support." It would bring consumer choice and spending restraint to the beleaguered program.

1 Mar 2012

State roundup: Mass. Gov. says state health reform easing cost increases; N.J. localities overpay on health coverage; Pa. cuts raise ire

At a speech to the American Cancer Society, Gov. Deval Patrick says that Massachusetts health reform has led to significant improvements in cancer screening. ... Patrick also calculates that current health care cost control efforts are enabling the state to "avoid nearly a billion dollars in cost increases in this fiscal year and another several hundred million more next year."

1 Mar 2012

State budgets improve but not enough to spare Medicaid; Calif. Gov. Brown pressing for co-pays

State budget shortfalls for the coming year total about $47 billion, the smallest aggregate deficit since the Great Recession, a report says. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found deficits in 29 states for the fiscal year ahead and another 10 states reported revenue for the current year fell $3.2 billion short of budget. ... A marked improvement from the $106 billion this year (so far) and $430 million the prior three years.

29 Feb 2012

State roundup: State tobacco funds scrutinized; More allegations against Calif.'s Prime Healthcare; Ore. CCOs get green light

A U.S. Surgeon General's report due to be released March 8 will come down hard on states that have cut anti-smoking funds in tough fiscal times, said Terry Pechacek, who oversees the report as director for Science in the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report can't result in sanctions, but it has proven to move public opinion in the past to force changes by tobacco companies in how they sell cigarettes, how states fund efforts and how the federal government regulates the trade.

27 Feb 2012

Abortion, contraception politics still on front burner as primaries loom

The political furor around abortion and contraception shows no sign of abating, according to news outlets.

27 Feb 2012

Calif. Medicaid chief promises dental changes for kids

California's state Medicaid chief is promising changes to dental care for kids, and North Carolina rolls out a medical home model for pregnant women.

24 Feb 2012

SOT 51st Annual Meeting and ToxExpo to be held March 11-15

The Society of Toxicology (SOT) 51st Annual Meeting and ToxExpo - the largest meeting and expo of its kind anywhere in the world - will take place from March 11-15. The five-day program will feature more than 180 sessions, presenting the latest research findings and recommendations for remedial action on a wide range of issues affecting human and animal health and the environment.

22 Feb 2012

Patient satisfaction not linked with health status

Newly released research has linked higher patient satisfaction scores with greater healthcare costs and increased risk of mortality. Despite the growing reliance on satisfaction scores as a tool for evaluating physician performance, "research suggests a tenuous link between patient satisfaction and healthcare quality and outcomes," according to the study published online Feb. 13 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

15 Feb 2012

Viewpoints: Obama's budget, birth control choices; Planning hospital readmissions to save

In poll after poll, the public has made clear that it prefers the president's approach of rebuilding the economy now and tackling the deficit when the fundamentals are stronger. While Republicans have counted on voters blaming Mr. Obama for the hard times, some are beginning to worry that they will be blamed for their obstructionism.

15 Feb 2012

State roundup: Mass. small biz co-ops start, Miss. Medicaid changes, R.I. hospital overbilling Medicare

Thousands of small businesses will be offered discounts of at least 20 percent on health insurance rates under a new group purchasing cooperative, formed by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, that will begin enrolling members this week. The co-op is the first permitted to do business under a 2010 Massachusetts law that allows small employers to band together in large groups and negotiate for better-priced health coverage.

14 Feb 2012

Hospitals: N.Y. Times finds aggressive debt collection despite charity care rules

New York's charity care system, partly financed by an 8.95 percent surcharge on hospital bills, is one of the most complicated in the nation, but many states have wrestled with aggressive debt collection by hospitals in recent years. Like New York, several passed laws curbing hospitals' pursuit of unpaid bills, including Illinois, California and Minnesota.

14 Feb 2012

Despite contraception compromise, Catholic bishops, Congressional Republicans vow to continue fight

At Masses across the country Sunday, Roman Catholic priests blasted the Obama administration's compromise on contraceptive insurance coverage, a sign the White House's backtrack late last week did little to defuse the controversy. The new policy requires religious employers such as universities and charities to cover contraception in employee health plans but shifts the responsibility for paying for it away from the employer and on to its health-insurance provider. Previously, the administration had required all employers apart from churches to cover contraception in their employee-insurance plans.

14 Feb 2012

State roundup: Health law implementation in Alaska, Calif., mental health funding challenges, Miami's heart attack network

Alaska is one of several states suing to overturn the Affordable Care Act -- President Obama's health care overhaul. But behind the scenes, state agencies are quietly working on implementing various requirements in the law. One of those requirements is an exchange, which will work kind of like Expedia, but for health insurance plans. While the state studies its options, a bill moving through the legislature would also establish an exchange.

13 Feb 2012

Bee News and Research

Healthy lactic acid bacteria in wild honey bees can fight bacterial infections

State roundup: Caregivers face 'burnout' threat as need grows, Kansas nursing home staff inadequate?

Viewpoints: Sandra fluke on slurs; Shifting the cost of uncompensated care

New work describes communities of active bacteria harbored by honey bee colonies

State roundup: Business health care tax credits; Wash. state insurers' surplus cash; Calif. million dollar bills

Viewpoints: The fight against IPAB; Chinks in GOP armor on health care law

Minn. GOP offers premium savings accounts as alternative to exchanges

Viewpoints: Ryan and Medicare; Va. ultrasound bill 'overreaches'?; NEJM on patient-centered care

State roundup: Mass. Gov. says state health reform easing cost increases; N.J. localities overpay on health coverage; Pa. cuts raise ire

State budgets improve but not enough to spare Medicaid; Calif. Gov. Brown pressing for co-pays

State roundup: State tobacco funds scrutinized; More allegations against Calif.'s Prime Healthcare; Ore. CCOs get green light

Abortion, contraception politics still on front burner as primaries loom

Calif. Medicaid chief promises dental changes for kids

SOT 51st Annual Meeting and ToxExpo to be held March 11-15

Patient satisfaction not linked with health status

Viewpoints: Obama's budget, birth control choices; Planning hospital readmissions to save

State roundup: Mass. small biz co-ops start, Miss. Medicaid changes, R.I. hospital overbilling Medicare

Hospitals: N.Y. Times finds aggressive debt collection despite charity care rules

Despite contraception compromise, Catholic bishops, Congressional Republicans vow to continue fight

State roundup: Health law implementation in Alaska, Calif., mental health funding challenges, Miami's heart attack network

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