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OpEds: Sebelius, Fla. Attorney General, USA Today, Wash Post opine about repeal strategies

Over the past nine months, I've traveled around the country and seen the benefits of this law firsthand. Unless we want to take coverage away from cancer patients, reduce oversight for insurance companies, raise prescription drug costs for seniors, weaken Medicare, add $1 trillion to the deficit and undo dozens of other reforms that are improving health around the country, we can't afford repeal (Kathleen Sebelius, 1/5).

6 Jan 2011

Outlook continues to be negative for insurers, modern healthcare reports

Health insurers' outlook continues to be negative as the sector faces new regulations, heightened political pressure and a weak economy, which are expected to squeeze earnings, one major ratings agency said (Evans, 1/4).

6 Jan 2011

Politics and advocacy swirl around the health overhaul's next chapter

News outlets examine how lobbyists and policy advocates have fared thus far and look ahead to the 2012 election.

6 Jan 2011

Democrats defend health law, prepare to fight back as House minority

Democrats who initially voted against the health overhaul are now considering where they stand on the repeal effort.

6 Jan 2011

FAO's food price index for December 2010 exceeds 2007-2008 levels

"Food prices hit a record high" in December, exceeding 2007-2008 levels when price spikes resulted in riots around the world, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Wednesday in its monthly Food Price Index, the Financial Times reports (Blas, 1/5).

6 Jan 2011

Water Street Healthcare announces acquisition of OraPharma from Johnson & Johnson

Water Street Healthcare Partners announced today that it has acquired OraPharma, Inc. from Johnson & Johnson. Water Street, a strategic private equity firm focused exclusively on health care, plans to build OraPharma into a leading specialty pharmaceutical company focused on dental and oral health care.

6 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 5, 2011

In today's headlines, reports about how Republicans and Democrats are preparing for the new power dynamic in the House.

5 Jan 2011

HCI signs deal with VHA for Community Health Needs Assessment System

Healthy Communities Institute (HCI) announced today it recently signed a deal with VHA Inc. to make available the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) System to hospitals that belong to VHA Inc., the national health care network.

5 Jan 2011

20% of patients who received implantable cardioverter-defibrillators did not meet guidelines for receipt of ICD

A study that included more than 100,000 patients who received implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) found that about 20 percent did not meet evidence-based guidelines for receipt of an ICD, and that these patients had a significantly higher risk of in-hospital death than individuals who met criteria for receiving an ICD, according to a study in the January 5 issue of JAMA.

5 Jan 2011

New Wisconsin Governor backs legal challenge

Taking the position that the law is unconstitutional, the state's new republican governor gave the attorney general permission to proceed with legal action.

5 Jan 2011

Men are more willing to receive HPV vaccine, trend may help reduce cancer deaths

Men are more willing to receive human papillomavirus vaccine when they learn the vaccine can prevent cancer, according to a recent University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study.

5 Jan 2011

Alzheimer's Association applauds President Obama for signing National Alzheimer's Project Act into law

As the leading care, research and advocacy organization for Alzheimer's disease, the Alzheimer's Association® applauds President Obama for signing the National Alzheimer's Project Act(NAPA) into law. NAPA creates for the first time a coordinated national strategy to confront one of America's most feared and costly diseases, a disease that will only plague more baby boomers as they age.

5 Jan 2011

Indian government rejects Abbott's patent application for second-line ARV

India's patent office "has rejected American drug maker Abbott Laboratories' patent application for an HIV combination drug, allowing low-cost local drug makers to make and sell their generic versions in India and other countries where the medicine is not patented," Economic Times reports (1/4).

5 Jan 2011

Anti-tobacco laws can reduce smoking habits in Europe

The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases has announced its intention to release a Request for Applications on Implementation Research on Hypertension in Low and Middle Income Countries.

5 Jan 2011

CIGNA announces introduction of Dental Network Savings Program

CIGNA today announced the introduction of the Dental Network Savings Program, designed to provide Dental PPO and Dental Indemnity clients and customers additional savings opportunities when receiving covered dental plan services from a participating program dentist.

5 Jan 2011

Obama to sign food safety law today

The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to enact provisions of the new food-safety bill that was passed by Congress in the waning days of 2010 and is expected to be signed into law Tuesday (Tomson, 1/4).

5 Jan 2011

AvMed receives NCQA's Excellent Accreditation status for commercial and Medicare products

Once again, AvMed Health Plans has received an Excellent Accreditation status from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for both its commercial and Medicare products, a distinction shared only by a select group of health plans in the country.

5 Jan 2011

High risk of burnout among residents and senior physicians

The January issue of the journal Anesthesiology examines the issue of burnout among anesthesiologists. Two studies provide significant burnout statistics among these highly trained medical specialists, and editorials offer personal perspective on the issue as well as advice on how best to avoid professional burnout.

5 Jan 2011

Setting the date: House scheduled to vote Jan. 12 on health law repeal

House GOP leaders have scheduled for Jan. 12 a much-awaited and politically charged vote to repeal the health law. In the background, news organizations report on the positions being taken by Democrats who may have voted against the measure the first time around and how Republicans plan to explain the budget implications of this repeal effort.

5 Jan 2011

Seattle Times looks at response to Haitian cholera outbreak on the ground

Though Haiti's cholera "epidemic continues to spread, infecting more than 125,000 people and killing more than 3,200," it seems to have "stabilized in" the town of Mirebalais, which is close to the "U.N. camp of Nepalese peacekeepers who are under investigation as a possible source" of the outbreak, the Seattle Times reports in a story outlining how aid groups and health workers are dealing with the situation.

5 Jan 2011