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First Edition: May 16, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports: "Florida wants to be the first state in the nation to charge most of its Medicaid recipients a monthly premium as well as $100 for using the ER for routine care. But even supporters acknowledge that the new fees, passed recently by the state legislature as part of a sweeping Medicaid measure, face long odds getting federal approval".

16 May 2011

New study on role of psychotherapy in personality disorders

This study shows that cluster A psychopathology is not a contraindication to benefit from psychotherapy. This is especially true for more intensive forms like inpatient and day hospital treatment.

16 May 2011

Study: HIV treatment drugs slash transmission risk

AIDS researchers offered evidence backing up the long-standing idea that people infected with HIV who are being treated are much less likely to transmit the virus than those who are not on drugs. This finding is being hailed as a breakthrough.

16 May 2011

Gingrich criticizes Obama and GOP health plans; Medicare politics sway N.Y. race

News outlets today focused on newly-declared Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's vision on health reform and on the continuing political fallout of Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal.

16 May 2011

Japan quake, tsunami transform country into major aid recipient

"Until a few months ago Japan was the world's fifth biggest aid donor, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, lending or giving away $9.5bn a year," the Guardian reports. But the recent earthquake and tsunami have transformed the country "into a leading destination for international charity. In two months it has received what the Democratic Republic of the Congo is given in a year," according to the article.

16 May 2011

Counterfeit medicines posing increasing risk to patients worldwide, U.N. agency says

Counterfeit medications are posing an increasing threat to patients' health worldwide, because they offer high returns and low risks for criminal organizations, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in a statement on Friday, Agence France-Presse reports.

16 May 2011

Report calls for developing new methods of contraception for women in developing countries

Women in the developing world need new methods of contraception that meet their needs and lifestyles, according to a Guttmacher Institute report that urges more investment in contraceptive technology, Agence France-Presse reports.

16 May 2011

Romney's defense of Massachusetts health plan triggers political questions

In what was billed as a major health care speech, Mitt Romney defended his state's plan but distanced himself from the federal health law, despite many similarities to the law Mitt Romney signed while governor. The circumstances have him walking a political tightrope.

16 May 2011

Early HIV treatment can reduce transmission risk by 96%, preliminary study results show

Preliminary results from a multicountry clinical trial, sponsored by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), show that HIV-positive people who take combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) can reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their HIV-negative partners by 96 percent, U.S. researchers announced on Thursday " in what is being hailed as a breakthrough in HIV prevention," the Los Angeles Times reports.

16 May 2011

With next election in mind, Medicare politics among the dynamics similar to 2010 congressional contests

Some news outlets report that "what goes around comes around" as many House Republicans are being reminded of the last election's raucous town hall meetings — this time, though, they are in the hot seat. Meanwhile, members of the GOP freshmen class have asked the White House to condemn liberal attacks on the Medicare proposal advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

16 May 2011

Loyola earns Joint Commission certification for heart pump therapy

Loyola University Hospital has been certified by the Joint Commission to begin implanting heart pumps known as left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as permanent therapy for advanced heart failure.

16 May 2011

New autism research findings presented at 10th annual IMFAR

Much about autism is unknown, but researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) are working to learn more about the neurodevelopmental disorder and its most effective treatments. A team of researchers from URMC joins researchers from across the world in San Diego this week for the 10th annual International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR).

16 May 2011

As consumers postpone care, health insurers make record profits

The nation's major health insurers are barreling into a third year of record profits, enriched in recent months by a lingering recessionary mind-set among Americans who are postponing or forgoing medical care. The UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest commercial insurers, told analysts that so far this year, insured hospital stays actually decreased in some instances.

16 May 2011

IRIN reports on temporary, free medical care in Cote d'Ivoire

"Many public hospitals in Cote d'Ivoire are overflowing as people rush to benefit from a brief period of free medical services, announced by the government [in April] as part of the recovery from months of post-election chaos. But the health ministry has been quick to point out that this is a temporary measure and fees will be reinstated at the end of May," IRIN writes in a story examining reaction to health care in the country.

16 May 2011

State news: La. House passes abortion measure; Ga. faces sharp deficits in health plans; Calif. GOP offers budget plan

The House voted 96-0 for a bill that would require abortion providers to post additional information in public spaces; compel the state health agency to develop a new website on termination procedures; and alter the state's conscience protection clause that allows health-care professionals to opt out of certain tasks. Planned Parenthood, which provides reproductive counseling and services, including abortions at clinics located outside Louisiana, opposes House Bill 636 as intrusive and unnecessary.

16 May 2011

Viewpoints: Snappy headlines, prose on Romney and Medicare dominate Today's opinions and editorials

The first question he got from the audience after his speech Thursday was the right one: What's to prevent states from a "race to the bottom," where they cut their costs by slashing spending on health care? Romney had no good answer beyond a vague assertion that Americans are a "generous people" who would not deny health coverage to their fellow citizens.

16 May 2011

With release of trustees' report, Medicare's finances likely to get even more attention

Congress is putting off changes to Social Security, but the massive retirement and disability program still faces long-term financial problems from an aging population and an economy that has been slow to rebound.

13 May 2011

Scientists 'tinker' with HIV drug chemistry hoping to reduce costs

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, founded by former President Bill Clinton, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.K. government, has hired former pharmaceutical company scientists "to tinker with the chemistry used to synthesize a key [HIV] drug, tenofovir" in an effort to reduce "the cost of manufacturing," the Wall Street Journal reports.

13 May 2011

AP reports on Global Fund commitment to transparency, fund responds

After an Associated Press story on Tuesday that reported the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's board "is considering scaling back its groundbreaking philosophy of full transparency about how it spends billions of dollars in health care in poor countries"

13 May 2011

Supreme Court of Canada opens hearings on safe drug injection facility

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday began hearing the Canadian government's case against Insite, a Vancouver-based legal injection site where people can obtain clean needles and syringes to inject their own drugs under a nurse's supervision, the Canadian Press reports. Proponents of the program say it "prevents overdose deaths, reduces the spread of HIV and hepatitis, and curbs crime and open drug use".

13 May 2011

Health Care News and Research

First Edition: May 16, 2011

New study on role of psychotherapy in personality disorders

Study: HIV treatment drugs slash transmission risk

Gingrich criticizes Obama and GOP health plans; Medicare politics sway N.Y. race

Japan quake, tsunami transform country into major aid recipient

Counterfeit medicines posing increasing risk to patients worldwide, U.N. agency says

Report calls for developing new methods of contraception for women in developing countries

Romney's defense of Massachusetts health plan triggers political questions

Early HIV treatment can reduce transmission risk by 96%, preliminary study results show

With next election in mind, Medicare politics among the dynamics similar to 2010 congressional contests

Loyola earns Joint Commission certification for heart pump therapy

New autism research findings presented at 10th annual IMFAR

As consumers postpone care, health insurers make record profits

IRIN reports on temporary, free medical care in Cote d'Ivoire

State news: La. House passes abortion measure; Ga. faces sharp deficits in health plans; Calif. GOP offers budget plan

Viewpoints: Snappy headlines, prose on Romney and Medicare dominate Today's opinions and editorials

With release of trustees' report, Medicare's finances likely to get even more attention

Scientists 'tinker' with HIV drug chemistry hoping to reduce costs

AP reports on Global Fund commitment to transparency, fund responds

Supreme Court of Canada opens hearings on safe drug injection facility

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

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