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Roundup: Ore. cuts insurer's rate increase; Ga.'s effort to curb TB struggles; psychiatric care hard to get in Boston

The Oregon Insurance Division will allow the state's largest health insurer to raise rates on individual premiums an average 12.8 percent, far lower than the 22.1 percent the company had requested.

22 Jul 2011

Viewpoints: Will Gang of Six compromise work?; endorsing birth control recommendations; Minn. budget deal

Not surprisingly, the plan has drawn complaints from the left about cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and from the right about defense cuts and tax increases. But the senators are right about the need to simplify and broaden the tax code and to put entitlements on a sustainable footing without slashing aid to the most vulnerable.

22 Jul 2011

Flying is riskier than hospital says World Health Organization

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) announcement this Tuesday, millions of people die each year from medical errors and infections linked to health care and going into hospital is far riskier than flying.

21 Jul 2011

UMA introduces Healthcare Management and Health Information Technology degrees

To meet the growing demand for allied health professionals, Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA) has expanded its array of healthcare training programs with two new associate degrees. Prospective students throughout the U.S. can now enroll in online healthcare degree programs leading to an Associate of Science in Healthcare Management or an Associate of Science in Health Information Technology.

21 Jul 2011

First Edition: July 21, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about some of the specific cuts included in the "Gang of Six" deficit-reduction plan.

21 Jul 2011

State Department, USAID briefing on Horn of Africa

On Tuesday, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary for African Affairs; Reuben Brigety, principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration; Ambassador Donald Steinberg, USAID deputy administrator; and USAID Assistant Administrator Nancy Lindborg held a special press briefing to discuss the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, according to this post on the State Department's "DipNote" blog.

21 Jul 2011

Attention must be paid to famine early warning systems

Early warnings about rising malnutrition, drought and possible famine in the Horn of Africa "went unheeded" for the past year, but "[w]hat is the point of an early warning system if nobody is listening?" a Globe and Mail editorial asks.

21 Jul 2011

U.S. physicians to receive nearly $10M from Humana's Provider Quality Rewards Program

Humana Inc. has begun distributing nearly $10 million to physicians across the U.S. who participate in Humana's Provider Quality Rewards Program. Approximately 2,800 physician practices will receive payments of as much as $175,000 in recognition of performance improvements their practices made during 2010 related to improved outcomes for Humana's Medicare members.

21 Jul 2011

U.N. declares famine in two regions of Somalia; U.S. pledges $28M in additional aid

Speaking in Nairobi on Wednesday, Mark Bowden, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, said the U.N. had officially declared a famine in the southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions of Somalia, VOA News reports.

21 Jul 2011

Gates Foundation announces sanitation grants, calls for toilet innovation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced on Tuesday that it plans to invest millions of dollars in projects aimed at improving sanitation in the developing world, the Guardian reports.

21 Jul 2011

Anesthesiologists introduce Enhance Healthcare to provide peri-operative solutions

As more hospitals seek to align with physicians in response to health care reform, a pair of South Florida board-certified anesthesiologists has launched Enhance Healthcare, a national consulting practice that designs innovative peri-operative solutions for hospitals and anesthesiologists.

21 Jul 2011

New public opinion polls highlight debt-ceiling concerns, attitude shifts

The Wall Street Journal reports on a "dramatic shift in attitudes" as the majority of those polled support President Barack Obama's 10-year plan, which includes federal spending reductions that would touch Medicare and other entitlement programs.

21 Jul 2011

Conn., Calif. facing adult day care, respite center closures

Facing enormous budget constraints, lawmakers in California have sought to find a way to keep day-care services for adults to help keep them out of nursing homes. Conn. residents face a similar situation because the state is slated to close respite centers that help families get a break from caregiving.

21 Jul 2011

21 State AGs support Mo. Lt. Governor's health law challenge

Meanwhile, an appropriations bill has stalled because of jurisdictional turf issues regarding a provision that would prohibit federal funds from being used to implement the health law.

21 Jul 2011

High methodological quality studies of PET in malignant melanoma patients needed

The relevance of positron emission tomography (PET) alone or in combination with computed tomography (CT) in patients with malignant melanoma cannot be currently assessed due to a lack of meaningful studies. This is the result of a final report published by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) on 20 July 2011.

21 Jul 2011

HQCA recruits volunteers for provincial advisory panel to promote patient/family safety

The Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) is recruiting volunteers to serve on a new provincial advisory panel to leverage the experiences and perspectives of patients and their families to improve and promote safety in Alberta's health system.

21 Jul 2011

Public disclosure of Bachmann's migraine condition raises much-needed awareness

University of Vermont Professor of Neurology and migraine expert Robert Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., says U.S. Representative and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann's public disclosure of her migraine condition has brought much-needed awareness to this disabling, often-stigmatized disorder, which afflicts millions of Americans.

21 Jul 2011

Study finds 37% of Michigan's seniors struggling to meet basic living expenses

Michigan's older adults are more likely to be poor and at greater risk of not being able to afford their basic living expenses than U.S. Census data indicate. According to a recent analysis by the Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology's Seniors Count! project, 37 percent of Michigan's seniors are living at or below a level of basic economic security.

21 Jul 2011

Experts present new research at 2011 Alzheimer's Association ICAD

Experts from the Center of Excellence on Brain Aging at NYU Langone Medical Center will present new research at the 2011 Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's disease to be held in Paris, France from July 16 - 21.

21 Jul 2011

Women in embattled regions have limited access and means to use contraceptives

Violent conflict disrupts all aspects of society, including the delivery of the most basic reproductive health services: prenatal and maternal care, family planning, prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, abortions and emergency caesarian care.

21 Jul 2011