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Roundup: Okla.'s health reform lawsuit; Medicaid issues draw attention in Texas, N.Y., N.J.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's alliance with the state's health-care union and hospital lobby is drawing fire from some patient advocates, who question the governor's decision to give the powerful industry figures a front-and-center role in the process of overhauling Medicaid (Gershman, 1/8).

10 Jan 2011

Obama administration sides with drug companies in pricing lawsuit; Supreme Court agrees to hear case regarding use of prescription drug data

At issue are charges to public hospitals and clinics that treat a large number of poor patients and a Vermont law that restricts prescription drug data.

10 Jan 2011

Political dynamics, stakeholder positions clarify in the next chapter of the health debate

Just as the repeal positions of some big insurers are becoming more clear, more details on the Democrats' strategy to defend the law are emerging.

10 Jan 2011

How the overhaul's small business tax credit is working

Kansas Health Institute News explores how tax credits — one existing at the state level and the new one put in place by the health law — may be encouraging small business owners to provide health coverage to their employees.

10 Jan 2011

CMS issues rule to reward hospitals for high-quality care

This proposed rule, which is required by the health law, outlines how Medicare will reward hospitals for delivering high-quality care.

10 Jan 2011

House postpones repeal vote, tones down rhetoric

House Republicans have called off [this] week's legislative action, including a planned Wednesday vote on a GOP bill to repeal President Obama's health care law, because of today's shooting attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and others in Tucson. Giffords supported the law (Davis and House, 1/8).

10 Jan 2011

OpEds: Health reform repeal; CBO's numbers; Reviving public option?

[A]s a political matter, an outright repeal isn't really a winner. Most Americans dislike the law, but few are gunning to do away with it altogether. They don't like its mandates and costs, but they'd prefer to see a scaled down law that still provides more access to health care. Republicans run the risk of overreaching on this, as Democrats did in pushing a vast expansion of government into the health care field.

10 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 10, 2011

Health policy headlines include reports about the decision to delay the scheduled House vote on repealing the health law.

10 Jan 2011

Food price rise will affect 'millions,' FAO economist says

Abdolreza Abbassian, an economist with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on Friday "warned of a 'worrying rise' in food prices which will affect millions of people following unexpected shortfalls in major cereals owing to bad weather in 2010," Agence France-Presse reports.

10 Jan 2011

Hospice of Michigan offers toolkit to help people on end-of-life decision making and planning

Hospice of Michigan offers a complete toolkit to empower individuals and families to take control of end-of-life decision making and planning. The free resource is the www.haveyouhadthetalk.org website from which a toolkit can be downloaded and printed for free.

10 Jan 2011

Colorectal cancer screening disparities in certain regions

Individuals from certain areas of the United States are more likely to get screened for colorectal cancer than those from other areas, particularly when comparing non-whites living in different parts of the country. That is the conclusion of a new study published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Additional research is needed to better understand how colorectal cancer screening disparities develop in some regions and not in others.

10 Jan 2011

U.N. announces members of independent panel to investigate source of Haiti's cholera epidemic

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the names of four experts to be part of an independent panel that will "investigate the source of Haiti's cholera epidemic, which some Haitians blame on U.N. peacekeepers," Reuters reports (Worsnip, 1/6). "The members of the panel have been selected based on their global stature, expertise and extensive experience working with cholera in all its aspects," according to a statement from Ban's spokesperson, U.N. News Centre reports (1/6).

10 Jan 2011

HHS grants $10 million fund for HCPG opportunity

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced up to $10 million in funding for a Health Center Planning Grant opportunity for organizations across the country that would like to become a Community Health Center.

10 Jan 2011

GOP sets stage for health reform law repeal vote; Dems fight back, citing CBO report

News outlets report that as House Republicans moved ahead to bring the repeal of the health law to a floor vote next week, political messaging wars about the law are continuing.

10 Jan 2011

Researchers demystify death of brain cells in Parkinson's patients

Just 5 percent of Parkinson's disease cases can be explained by genetic mutation, while the rest have no known cause. But a new discovery by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio may begin to explain why the vast majority of Parkinson's patients develop the progressive neurodegenerative disease.

10 Jan 2011

Male circumcision helps reduce rates of HPV transmission to women, study finds

"Among HIV-negative sexual partners, male circumcision helps prevent the transmission of human papillomavirus [HPV] from men to women," according to a study published online Thursday in the Lancet, HealthDay News/Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

10 Jan 2011

House approves rule for repeal vote; clears the way for Wednesday action

The Associated Press: "Confronting President Barack Obama, the new Republican-led House took a first step Friday toward a symbolic vote to repeal his landmark health care overhaul law." The 236-181 was a largely party line vote, is "unlikely to amount to more than a political message, since Democrats who still run the Senate have promised to block efforts to scrap the law and Obama has veto power."

10 Jan 2011

FDA approves Abstral drug for treatment of breakthrough pain in cancer patients

Orexo AB announces today that its partner ProStrakan Group plc has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Abstral. Abstral is licensed for the treatment of breakthrough pain in cancer patients, 18 years of age and older, who are already receiving, and are tolerant to, opioid analgesics for their underlying persistent cancer pain.

10 Jan 2011

House delays vote on repeal of health care law

In the wake of the shooting rampage today in Tucson, Ariz., at an event held by Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the House has postponed all legislative business for the next week. This most importantly includes the vote to repeal President Obama's health care law, which was scheduled for Wednesday and would have be the first major vote of the House since Republicans took control last week.

10 Jan 2011

New lab-on-a-chip technology detects protein in blood less than 30 minutes

While most blood tests require shipping a vial of blood to a laboratory for analysis and waiting several days for the results, a new device invented by a team of engineers and students at the University of Rhode Island uses just a pinprick of blood in a portable device that provides results in less than 30 minutes.

10 Jan 2011