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India close to eradicating polio

"Scientists, health workers and community outreach officials in India believe they're finally on the cusp of a major milestone, the defeat of polio throughout the country," the Los Angeles Times reports.

28 Jun 2011

UNICEF representative warns Filipino children displaced after flooding face disease risk

About 450,000 children, displaced by severe flooding in the southern Philippines, could face an outbreak of diarrhea and pneumonia, Vanessa Tobin, UNICEF's representative in the Philippines, said on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Jun 2011

Accelerated hepatitis B vaccination schedule effective for high-risk pregnant women

UT Southwestern Medical Center maternal-fetal specialists have confirmed a potential new protocol to protect pregnant women who are at risk for hepatitis B, a health problem that affects 2 billion people worldwide.

28 Jun 2011

More than 18,000 cholera cases recorded in Haitian capital since start of May, WHO says

More than 18,000 cases of cholera have been recorded in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince since the beginning of May, an increase that may be related to "the beginning of the rainy season and the flooding that hit the capital," according to Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesperson, Agence France-Presse reports.

28 Jun 2011

Health law headlines: PR challenges and overhaul tell-alls

Although Democrats are having some success with attacks on the GOP Medicare plan, they are still playing defense on the health law, according to Politico. Meanwhile, former Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag writes a "tell-all" for the magazine Foreign Affairs about the health overhaul.

28 Jun 2011

Kindstar, Mayo Clinic enter multiyear agreement to offer specialized laboratory support

Mayo Clinic today announced that it has entered into a multiyear agreement with Wuhan Kindstar Globalgene Technology, Inc. (Kindstar) to provide specialized laboratory support based on provision of knowledge from Mayo Clinic's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and its reference laboratory, Mayo Medical Laboratories.

28 Jun 2011

Mayo Clinic signs agreement with Kindstar

Mayo Clinic today announced that it has entered into a multiyear agreement with Wuhan Kindstar Globalgene Technology, Inc. (Kindstar) to provide specialized laboratory support based on provision of knowledge from Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and its reference laboratory, Mayo Medical Laboratories.

27 Jun 2011

Diabetes numbers on the rise: Experts worried

According a new international study more than 350 million in the world now have diabetes. The analysis, published online by the Lancet on Saturday, adds several tens of millions to the previous estimate of the number of diabetics and indicates that the disease has become a major global health problem.

27 Jun 2011

Brazil stepping up efforts to fight HIV/AIDS

"Long heralded as a model for the global response to HIV/AIDS, Brazil is intensifying its actions, at home and abroad, in the face of potential setbacks including an arising need for new treatment regimens, the resultant increase in drug prices and the debate over intellectual property rights," Inter Press Service reports.

27 Jun 2011

GAO report examines U.S. food aid

A new GAO report (.pdf) examines international food aid. "GAO recommends that Congress consider eliminating the 3-year waiting period for foreign vessels that acquire U.S.-flag registry to be eligible to transport U.S. food aid.

27 Jun 2011

U.S., South Korea sign international development coordination agreement

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan "on Friday signed an agreement to better coordinate international development aid during a meeting [in Washington] between the two countries' top diplomats," Agence France-Presse reports.

27 Jun 2011

With the clock ticking, Obama enters deficit negotiations

Even though the threat of default looms, Democrats and Republicans remain split over the possibility of tax increases and cuts to programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

27 Jun 2011

Abortion policies under scrutiny in a number of states

Wisconsin's governor signed a budget that cuts some funds to health clinics, including Planned Parenthood, but in Indiana, a federal judge ruled against the state's plans to end funding for the group. Those developments came as abortion policies are coming under scrutiny in a number of states.

27 Jun 2011

Obama administration plans 'stealth' study of patient access to physicians

In an effort to explore what the administration termed a "critical public policy problem" — a shortage of primary care physicians — a team of "mystery shoppers" will be recruited to find out how hard it is to get care when it is needed.

27 Jun 2011

Passport Health Communications wins revenue cycle solution contract with SSM Health Care

Passport Health Communications Inc. has announced a contract to deliver revenue cycle software and services to 15 hospitals owned and operated by St. Louis-based SSM Health Care. SSM will use Passport's integrated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to improve the speed, accuracy and efficiency of financial operations within each facility and achieve Payment Certainty for Every Patient™.

27 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Supreme Court drug decisions; Medicaid's burden; Concierge medicine questioned

The image of Justice blindfolded, holding her scales, is familiar from courthouses all over the United States and the world. Sadly, in its Thursday ruling in the case of PLIVA v Mensing, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that makes one wonder if that blindfold made the court unable to see the right thing to do.

27 Jun 2011

State roundup: Indiana's effort to privatize public assistance

(Louise) Cohoon's mother, now suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was one of thousands of Indiana residents who abruptly and erroneously lost their welfare, Medicaid or food stamp benefits after Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels privatized the state's public assistance program — the result of an efficiency plan that went awry from the very beginning, the state now admits.

27 Jun 2011

Metropolitan enters definitive merger agreement to acquire Continucare

Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. and Continucare Corporation announced jointly today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby Metropolitan will acquire Continucare in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $416 million at the time of announcement.

27 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 27, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about the status of ongoing deficit negotiations and details about a "stealth" survey on access to doctors.

27 Jun 2011

New guide indicates when and how genetic testing is useful for inherited cardiac conditions

While genetic inheritance is known to play a role in the multifactorial development of most diseases of the heart, there are also a number of clearly diagnosed cardiac conditions which owe their development to quite specific genetic abnormalities. When these genetic disorders affect the integrity of the heart's muscle they are known as a "cardiomyopathy"; when the disorder affects the heart's "excitability", it is known as a "channelopathy".

27 Jun 2011