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Wash your hands? You may now approach the patient bed!

Each year patients in the U.S. get more than a million infections while in the hospital being treated for something else. The best way to prevent infection is to practice proper hand hygiene, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

17 Mar 2011

Home care and hospice nurses, aides and providers march on Washington to ensure the right of every American to be cared for in their home

Hundreds of home care and hospice providers will arrive in that nation’s capitol to keep the fight alive for the critical, high-value, high-quality care that is delivered every day to some of the nation’s most vulnerable individuals.

17 Mar 2011

St. John Providence Health System selects Intuit Health Patient Portal

St. John Providence Health System, a 3,200 provider health system serving the Metro Detroit area, has selected Intuit Health, the nation's leader in patient-to-provider communication solutions, to provide its physician practices with a patient portal. With the Intuit Health Patient Portal, employed and private practices can now connect with data from multiple electronic health record and practice management systems to offer patients a single view of data for their personal health record.

17 Mar 2011

First Edition: March 17, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about a new GAO report showing success in health insurer appeals and a decision by Blue Shield of California to retreat from proposed rate increases.

17 Mar 2011

MedPAC recommends patients help pay home health care costs

The advisory panel also urged that payments for physicians and hospitals be increased and that the home health care payment formula be reworked. In related news, a Ways & Means subcommittee hearing on Medicare payment issues quickly turned into an exploration of a GOP proposal to replace the program's current structure with a voucher system.

17 Mar 2011

Kentucky Governor signs license bill to practice diabetes education

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear signed a bill yesterday that requires a license to practice diabetes education, a move that the American Association of Diabetes Educators says will enhance consumer protection and increase professional recognition.

17 Mar 2011

Health law battle lines prominent as 1st anniversary approaches

Some Democrats say their party should embrace the law in the upcoming campaign season, just as some tea party lawmakers are questioning the GOP leadership's commitment to repeal it. In the background, "death panels" have again emerged as a topic of congressional investigation.

17 Mar 2011

Abortion funding limits may be at odds with GOP interest in tax benefits

Bloomberg reports that House Republican efforts to limit abortion funding "are colliding" with the GOP aversion to limiting tax benefits. Meanwhile, NPR takes a look at state abortion legislation and what may be motivating those who support these proposals.

17 Mar 2011

Passage of short-term budget bill reveals deepening intra-GOP differences

The House measure, which is now expected to gain Senate approval, would keep the government running unti April 8 and does not include controversial policy "riders" to defund the health law and Planned Parenthood — elements that have become a sticking point within the Republican caucus.

17 Mar 2011

White House: Don't fast track Virginia's health law challenge to Supreme Court

Because the measure's individual mandate does not take effect until 2014, Administration lawyers are arguing that there is "no persuasive reason" to speed the Supreme Court's consideration of this lawsuit.

17 Mar 2011

FAO head highlights food security concerns, need for more agriculture investment

Rising oil prices and the recent drawdown in global cereal stocks could lead to a supply crisis and raise the risk of food riots in developing countries similar to those that occurred between 2007 and 2008, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Director General Jacques Diouf said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

17 Mar 2011

Harvard, UCI receive $2 million CDC grant to help reduce hospital-borne MRSA infections

A UC Irvine infectious disease specialist will be part of a nationwide Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research program to develop and test innovative approaches to reducing infection in healthcare settings.

17 Mar 2011

House passes FY11 measure to fund government with $6B worth of cuts

The House passed a continuing resolution on Tuesday "that would cut $6 billion from current discretionary-spending levels and keep the government operating through April 8," National Journal reports. The House voted 271-158 to approve the bill.

17 Mar 2011

WHO says it is ready to assist Japan with nuclear challenge as situation develops

The WHO on Tuesday said it is ready to assist Japan with its emerging "nuclear emergency after some reactors were damaged by last week's deadly earthquake" and tsunami, Agence France-Presse reports.

17 Mar 2011

New findings reveal abused women are frequent ER visitors for many health problems

More than three quarters of domestic violence victims who report the incidents to police seek health care in emergency rooms, but most of them are never identified as being victims of abuse during their hospital visit.

17 Mar 2011

Global Fund taps former HHS Sec., former President of Botswana to lead external investigation of its financial controls

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Tuesday named former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt and former President of Botswana Festus Mogae to co-chair "an external review of its financial systems, amid heightened scrutiny from donors over misuse of some grants and a potential funding reduction from the U.S.," the Wall Street Journal reports.

17 Mar 2011

UNAIDS, UNDP, WHO release policy brief advising countries on using TRIPS flexibilities to drive down HIV treatment costs

Amid growing concerns over the long-term sustainability of access to affordable HIV/AIDS drugs, UNAIDS, WHO and the U.N. Development Program on Tuesday released a policy brief advising countries on how they can successfully use rules written into the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights to lower the cost of and increase access to HIV treatment, Intellectual Property Watch reports.

17 Mar 2011

Health Care News and Research

Wash your hands? You may now approach the patient bed!

Home care and hospice nurses, aides and providers march on Washington to ensure the right of every American to be cared for in their home

St. John Providence Health System selects Intuit Health Patient Portal

First Edition: March 17, 2011

MedPAC recommends patients help pay home health care costs

Kentucky Governor signs license bill to practice diabetes education

Health law battle lines prominent as 1st anniversary approaches

Abortion funding limits may be at odds with GOP interest in tax benefits

Passage of short-term budget bill reveals deepening intra-GOP differences

White House: Don't fast track Virginia's health law challenge to Supreme Court

FAO head highlights food security concerns, need for more agriculture investment

Harvard, UCI receive $2 million CDC grant to help reduce hospital-borne MRSA infections

House passes FY11 measure to fund government with $6B worth of cuts

WHO says it is ready to assist Japan with nuclear challenge as situation develops

New findings reveal abused women are frequent ER visitors for many health problems

Global Fund taps former HHS Sec., former President of Botswana to lead external investigation of its financial controls

UNAIDS, UNDP, WHO release policy brief advising countries on using TRIPS flexibilities to drive down HIV treatment costs

State, federal health law implementation efforts examined

Report: Many docs sanctioned by hospitals not punished by state boards

PCMA ad campaign warns Mississippi legislators that SB 2445 can increase health care costs

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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