Health and Human Services News and Research

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Low health insurance premiums may come with high deductibles

News accounts looks at the price data for the new insurance marketplaces released by the administration Wednesday and note that consumers need to consider costs beyond the premiums. That's because some lower-cost policies may have stiffer copayments and deductibles layered on top of their monthly costs.

27 Sep 2013

Viewpoints: Health law premium rates reveal 'mostly good news' but renew critics arguments; 'Cruz-ing for a bruising;'

President Obama, President Clinton, and Senator Ted Cruz all spent a lot of time talking about Obamacare on Tuesday. But the real news came just as the day was ending, right at midnight, when the Department of Health and Human Services released data on insurance premiums available through the new Obamacare marketplaces. Several states had already released their data. With this report, HHS provided premium information for most of the rest. Overall, the numbers are pretty consistent with previous reports, albeit with some new and interesting wrinkles. It seems like mostly good news, though the law's critics would argue it vindicates some of their arguments, as well (Jonathan Cohn, 9/25).

26 Sep 2013

Tackling commercial sexual exploitation, sex trafficking of minors in the U.S.

Commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors are serious problems in the United States with long-term adverse consequences for children and society as a whole, and federal agencies should work with state and local partners to raise awareness of these issues and train professionals who work with youths to recognize and assist those who are victimized or at risk, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

26 Sep 2013

Three research groups awarded NIH grants to develop framework for evaluating genetic variants

Three grants totaling more than $25 million over four years will help three research groups to develop authoritative information on the millions of genomic variants relevant to human disease and the hundreds that are expected to be useful for clinical practice. The awards are from the National Institutes of Health.

26 Sep 2013

Research by pharmacists can help improve health literacy

Limited health literacy can lead to difficulties in patients' self-care activities such as taking prescribed medications. Since a considerable amount of health information changes hands in the pharmacy setting, research by pharmacists into evaluating which tools are effective in practice can make a valuable contribution to goals set by the 2010 US National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy and lead to improvements in communications and health care, say experts in this special themed issue on "Pharmacy, Medication Use, and the National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy," published in the journal Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy.

26 Sep 2013

'Average' exchange premiums come in lower than projected

The Obama administration said Wednesday that average premiums in the health law's online insurance marketplaces will be lower than projected by the Congressional Budget Office - 16 percent lower nationwide.

26 Sep 2013

Research suggests omega-3 fatty acids may not benefit thinking skills

Contrary to earlier studies, new research suggests that omega-3 fatty acids may not benefit thinking skills. The study is published in the September 25, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Omega-3s are found in fatty fish such as salmon and in nuts.

26 Sep 2013

First Edition: September 25, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about projected health insurance premium costs on the health law's new online marketplaces, as well as news from Capitol Hill and a joint appearance by President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton to talk about the overhaul.

25 Sep 2013

State highlights: N.C. Medicaid director resigns, heads to private sector; Ohio readies funding for new Medicaid computer system

Carol Steckel, the state's Medicaid director, is leaving after eight months on the job. Her departure is the latest in a string of high-profile departures from the Department of Health and Human Services, which has been plagued of late by personnel issues (Hoban, 9/23).

25 Sep 2013

Battles have reduced health law's impact for consumers

Politico looks at the how the law squares with what it promised and talks to consumers in Kentucky about their expectations. Also, the Wall Street Journal examines one of the tactics health insurers are using to keep healthy customers.

24 Sep 2013

Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly present post-hoc analysis data from linagliptin clinical trials at EASD 2013

Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company today announced results from two post-hoc, pooled analyses of data from placebo-controlled clinical trials, which examined the safety of the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor linagliptin in adults with type 2 diabetes.

24 Sep 2013

Researchers find reassuring evidence of H1N1 influenza vaccine's safety during pregnancy

Researchers from Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center and UC San Diego, in collaboration with the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, have found 'reassuring' evidence of the H1N1 influenza vaccine's safety during pregnancy.

24 Sep 2013

Kan. Medicaid debate may resume next year as feds emphasize flexibility

Kansas lawmakers may return to the question next year of whether to expand Medicaid. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the federal government welcomes state experimentation with how health coverage to the poor is provided.

24 Sep 2013

FDA approves revised labeling for Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved revised labeling for the Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve, making the device available to an expanded group of patients who have inoperable aortic valve stenosis, a disease of the heart valves that causes narrowing of the aortic valve, restricting blood flow from the heart.

24 Sep 2013

New study finds the tally for medical mistakes much higher than previous estimates

It seems that every time researchers estimate how often a medical mistake contributes to a hospital patient's death, the numbers come out worse. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine published the famous "To Err Is Human" report, which dropped a bombshell on the medical community by reporting that up to 98,000 people a year die because of mistakes in hospitals.

24 Sep 2013

Study: Frequent bedsharing linked with longer duration of breastfeeding

Frequent bedsharing between a mother and infant was associated with longer duration of breastfeeding, but researchers warned of the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) associated with bedsharing, in a study by Yi Huang, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and colleagues.

24 Sep 2013

Researchers find evidence of H1N1 influenza vaccine's safety during pregnancy

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Boston University, in collaboration with the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI), have found evidence of the H1N1 influenza vaccine's safety during pregnancy.

24 Sep 2013

FDA's final guidance outlines tailored approach to mobile medical apps

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued final guidance for developers of mobile medical applications, or apps, which are software programs that run on mobile communication devices and perform the same functions as traditional medical devices. The guidance outlines the FDA's tailored approach to mobile apps.

24 Sep 2013

First Edition: September 23, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey reports: "Nearly 50 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. The 2010 health care law, known as the Affordable Care Act, will make some changes to the program.

23 Sep 2013

Avon Foundation for Women launches competition to bring emerging breast cancer technologies to market

A world-wide competition to bring emerging breast cancer technologies to market is being launched by the Avon Foundation for Women, in partnership with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the NIH, and the Center for Advancing Innovation.

21 Sep 2013

Health and Human Services News and Research

Low health insurance premiums may come with high deductibles

Viewpoints: Health law premium rates reveal 'mostly good news' but renew critics arguments; 'Cruz-ing for a bruising;'

Tackling commercial sexual exploitation, sex trafficking of minors in the U.S.

Three research groups awarded NIH grants to develop framework for evaluating genetic variants

Research by pharmacists can help improve health literacy

'Average' exchange premiums come in lower than projected

Research suggests omega-3 fatty acids may not benefit thinking skills

First Edition: September 25, 2013

State highlights: N.C. Medicaid director resigns, heads to private sector; Ohio readies funding for new Medicaid computer system

Battles have reduced health law's impact for consumers

Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly present post-hoc analysis data from linagliptin clinical trials at EASD 2013

Researchers find reassuring evidence of H1N1 influenza vaccine's safety during pregnancy

Kan. Medicaid debate may resume next year as feds emphasize flexibility

FDA approves revised labeling for Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve

New study finds the tally for medical mistakes much higher than previous estimates

Study: Frequent bedsharing linked with longer duration of breastfeeding

Researchers find evidence of H1N1 influenza vaccine's safety during pregnancy

FDA's final guidance outlines tailored approach to mobile medical apps

First Edition: September 23, 2013

Avon Foundation for Women launches competition to bring emerging breast cancer technologies to market

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