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For physicians, electronic medical records continue to pose challenges

This pair of stories offers insights — based on interviews and a hearing held by the House Small Business Committee — about how physicians are faring as they try to move toward digital systems.

4 Jun 2011

Study assesses public's willingness to consider pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention

In a recent clinical trial, non-HIV-infected individuals who used the antiretroviral drug Truvada on a daily basis cut their risk of becoming infected with HIV by 44 percent.

4 Jun 2011

G8 must fulfill pledges to women and children

"Making promises is one thing. Keeping them is another. If the G8 is really to deliver on and monitor the Muskoka Initiative - as it said it would last week - we must see it reported against in the 2012 G8 accountability report, with the gaps in aid information addressed".

4 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: Debating the best ways to 'fix' Medicare; ACO rule; states 'punishing' women?

The truth is, there is no perfect plan — we all know that. We also know that the only way this works is through a bipartisan effort where everyone prods their own sacred cows into the cattle chute, and everyone gives up something they like to protect the country they love. ... Members of both parties and both houses must publicly support the work of the Gang of Six. This is the time for heroes.

4 Jun 2011

U of Alberta researchers win Canadian Society of Chemistry award

A one-of-a-kind Canadian research group, based in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, has now won every award handed out by the Canadian Society of Chemistry for analytical and environmental chemistry.

4 Jun 2011

CARE in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy bill introduced in House of Representatives

Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that will set federal minimum education and certification standards in the Medicare program for the technical personnel providing, planning and delivering all medical imaging examinations and radiation therapy treatments.

4 Jun 2011

CMA's sixth public town hall event on health care to be held in Ottawa

The Canadian Medical Association's sixth and last public town hall event on transforming the health care system to better focus on patients will be held in Ottawa on June 7, 2011.

4 Jun 2011

House Dems urge Obama not to yield to GOP pressure to cut Medicare

In the context of ongoing budget talks, House Democrats urged President Barack Obama to maintain the Medicare program and stand firm against Republican efforts to cut the program's spending.

4 Jun 2011

U.S. HIV/AIDS interactive map tool

Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health this week introduced AIDSVu, an interactive online map that provides a detailed view of the number of people living with an HIV diagnosis in the United States by state and county, according to this blog.AIDS.gov post.

4 Jun 2011

European E. coli strain never seen before in humans, scientists say

The food safety office of the WHO on Thursday announced that the bacterium responsible for the E. coli outbreak in Europe is a strain never seen before in humans and could mean "the infection could prove unusually difficult to bring under control," Nature News reports.

4 Jun 2011

Research roundup: More spending can lead to better care; Calif. exchange lessons; high-volume hospitals

Medical Spending And The Health Of The Elderly -- Does more medical spending lead to better health care for people over age 64? To answer that question, "researchers from George Mason University and the Urban Institute used data of 17,438 elderly who entered the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey in the fall of each year from 1991 to 1999, and conducted multiple interviews over three years," according to one description of the study.

4 Jun 2011

Acos, medical loss ratio among health law elements drawing scrutiny

Hospitals and doctors are pushing back against an Obama administration initiative that urges them to create new organizations to coordinate the care of groups of Medicare patients.

4 Jun 2011

News highlights: Study finds reform didn't slow ER visits in Mass.; 2 ACOs take shape in Calif.; Md. hospitals report problems

Health care reform in Massachusetts only had a small impact on the number of trips residents took to the emergency room, according to a new study.

4 Jun 2011

U.S. should delay and reform Pakistan aid, report says

U.S. aid efforts in Pakistan have become "muddled" and should be delayed until reforms are implemented, a report (.pdf) compiled by a Center for Global Development (CGD) task force, said on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports (Tandon, 6/1).

3 Jun 2011

Candidate Romney on differences in 'Romneycare' And 'Obamacare'

Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, who now is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, continues to pledge to repeal the sweeping health measure signed into law by President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, fact-checkers focus on how different the federal health law is from the state reforms Romney signed into law five years ago.

3 Jun 2011

Message is key in debate over Medicaid block grant plans

Some congressional Democrats are concerned that Medicaid will become even more of a target for funding cuts and, as a result, are rallying the troops.

3 Jun 2011

Technology, expert training and real-time feedback improves Hepatitis C outcomes

Widely-available technology, expert training and real-time feedback helped ensure that patients treated for Hepatitis C in local communities did as well as patients treated at a university-based medical center, results of a new study funded by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality show. The study is published in the June 2 online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and in the June 9 print edition.

3 Jun 2011

Telethermographic device is not approved for screening breast cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned women not to substitute breast thermography for mammography to screen for breast cancer.

3 Jun 2011

New survey: State tax revenues up but so are Medicaid costs

Although state tax collections are picking up after several brutal years, a new survey by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers found that states still expect to collect less tax revenue and spend less money in the coming fiscal year than they did before the Great Recession began.

3 Jun 2011

Longer looks: Is American medicine destroying itself?

Ever since Republicans took control of half the country's statehouses this year, the anti-abortion movement has won one victory after another. At least 64 new anti-abortion laws have passed, with more than 30 of them in April alone. The campaign is the largest in history and also the most creative.

3 Jun 2011