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Patient perceptions don't match Medicare hospital data

More than 120 hospitals given top marks by patients for providing excellent care also have a darker distinction: high death rates for heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia, a USA Today analysis of new Medicare data has found (Sternberg and Schnaars, 8/5).

6 Aug 2011

Medicaid changes rile advocacy groups in Calif., N.C. and Fla.

As states seek to find ways to curb costs in their Medicaid programs, many are getting opposition from patients and providers.

6 Aug 2011

New study shows antidepressant use increases among people with no psychiatric diagnosis

Americans are no strangers to antidepressants. During the last 20 years the use of antidepressants has grown significantly making them one of the most costly and the third most commonly prescribed class of medications in the U. S.

6 Aug 2011

Foreign aid being 'held up' by Congress

In a Foreign Policy opinion piece, FP staff writer Josh Rogin lists foreign aid as one of "the top eight foreign-policy items currently held up by the do-nothing 112th Congress."

6 Aug 2011

Delays in procuring food aid, funding hampering relief efforts in Somalia, aid agencies say

"Famine relief efforts in Somalia are being hampered as much by delays in procuring food aid and raising funds as by difficulties in accessing Islamist-controlled areas, according to humanitarian organizations working there," the Guardian reports.

6 Aug 2011

New edition of ACOEM's Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines released

Meniscal tears of the knee (aka, torn cartilage) are extraordinarily prevalent and become universally present as one ages. Treatment often involves surgery, but is surgery the best option? Not necessarily according to scientific evidence presented in the newly published 3rd edition of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine's Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines, knee disorders chapter.

6 Aug 2011

Mass. hospitals get Medicare funding lift, lots of criticism

The state's hospitals will get $275 million more a year in Medicare payments because of a special provision inserted in the health law. Critical reactions are coming from both inside and outside of Massachusetts.

6 Aug 2011

Lancet reports on Global Fund donors that have held back contributions

Several donors to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria "continue to hold back their contributions for this year … adding up to more than $500 million that the Global Fund had been counting on for this year out of a total budget of about $3 billion," the Lancet reports.

6 Aug 2011

Providers, patients worry about debt deal

Though the initial phase of the debt deal doesn't include immediate provider cuts, analysts say the next phase — the work of the 'super committee' — could make significant reductions in spending for entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid. Even some elements of the health law and scientific research could be on the chopping block.

6 Aug 2011

Dems launch Medicare attack on GOP

The campaign, which will be staged during Congress' August recess and is being advanced by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will focus on 44 House Republicans and will charge them with wanting to cut Medicare. Democrats hope this effort will be aided by the lines drawn during the debt-ceiling negotiations.

6 Aug 2011

Measles Initiative vaccinates one billion children

The Measles Initiative on Thursday "announced it has helped vaccinate one billion children in more than 60 developing countries since 2001, making significant gains in the global effort to stop measles," according to a Measles Initiative press release.

6 Aug 2011

Congressional heavy-hitters back Michigan's MLR waiver request

Michigan Republican lawmakers Dave Camp and Fred Upton endorsed their home state's request for a temporary waiver from the health law's medical-loss ratio requirement. Meanwhile, The Miami Herald asks if ACOs will be the next health care revolution.

6 Aug 2011

Sebelius, Berwick tout drop in Medicare Rx costs

Even as health costs continue to rise, Medicare beneficiaries will see the average price of a Part D drug plan decline slightly next year, the Obama administration announced Thursday, offering some relief amid pressure to cut the federal health insurance program for the elderly.

6 Aug 2011

Pentagon officials urge lawmakers to find savings in Medicare

As the yet-to-be named members of the debt deal's 'super committee' set to work, Pentagon officials say deep cuts in defense spending will place the nation's security at risk. Meanwhile, one of the defense budget's fastest growing line items is health care costs.

6 Aug 2011

USAID GeoCenter to use satellite imagery, on-the-ground reports to inform aid disbursement

USAID officials are in the early stages of planning a Geospatial Intelligence Center, or GeoCenter, that will combine information from "satellite imagery and on-the-ground surveys and reports to cut down on field-based work and give the agency a better sense of where development dollars can do the most good," Nextgov reports.

6 Aug 2011

U.S. should demand human rights-based approach to HIV prevention programs in Uganda

"Uganda has sometimes been considered a success story in fighting HIV and has been a darling of international donors," including the U.S., which has poured over $1 billion into the country for AIDS programs.

6 Aug 2011

Sending surplus medical supplies to developing country hospitals 'not the antidote' to poor conditions

"Every year, hospitals in America throw away thousands of tons of usable medical supplies and equipment - by some measures 7,000 tons a year, a value of $20 billion. … Yet every year, hospitals in developing countries around the world turn away patients or provide substandard care because they lack even the most basic medical equipment," journalist and author Tina Rosenberg writes in the New York Times' "Opinionator" blog.

6 Aug 2011

Roundup: State workers in Conn. get lock on retirement health funds

State employees have never warmed to the idea of having to contribute a portion of their pay to help fund their retirement health care, and one of the arguments they make against it is the history of special accounts' being used as a piggybank by legislators and governors when money is tight.

6 Aug 2011

Research roundup: Hospitalists & health costs; treating substance abuse

This study looks at the effects hospitalists -- or physicians who specialize in hospital medicine and health care -- have on patient care, costs and use of medical services.

6 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Birth control decision fallout; docs on Medi-Cal reimbursement; cutting out middlemen insurers

The most important financial matter for members of Congress when they return from their vacation is to figure out what is essential and what should be reduced or eliminated. … Medicare and Medicaid are absolutely justified for all of us at all ages.

6 Aug 2011