Health Care News and Research

RSS

Republican push to undo health law will be no easy task

Even as the GOP flexes its new political muscle, news outlets offer analysis of the difficulties involved in the long-term strategy to prevent the health law's implementation — including the difficulties involved in attempts to defund it. Meanwhile, PBS explores how this debate could trigger the return of the "death panel" issue.

5 Jan 2011

Roundup: Calif. issues emergency medical care expenditure regs; High risk pools in Mich., Wis. face stumbling blocks

California's new insurance commissioner sought Monday to force health insurers to spend more of their revenue on medical care. In his first official act, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones ordered emergency regulations requiring insurance companies to devote at least 80% of their income to policyholders' claims in the state's individual insurance market (Helfand, 1/4).

5 Jan 2011

Governors take hard look at Medicaid dollars, programs

Amidst continuing state budget pressures, N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to reduce Medicaid spending by a hefty sum; Missouri's new governor pledges to reverse his predecessor's cuts; and in Kansas, program reforms are part of Gov. Brownback's agenda.

5 Jan 2011

Diet low in micronutrients can contribute to metabolic syndrome

Results of an epidemiological study conducted by researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and the Corporacion Ecuatoriana de Biotecnologia showed that the metabolic syndrome, a condition that increases a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, was prevalent in a low-income urban community in Ecuador and that a poor diet low in micronutrients appeared to contribute.

5 Jan 2011

Senate Dems line up against the effort to undo the health overhaul

In the Senate, Democratic leaders pledge to block any House attempt at repeal and cite the health measure's benefits for seniors as key reason.

5 Jan 2011

Opinions: U.S. International Affairs Budget; Health impacts of climate change; Role of U.N.; Drug development, free trade

Despite challenging economic times, "[t]wo areas we cannot afford to shortchange right now ... are our national security and our economic prosperity, which is why we must continue to have a strong and effective International Affairs Budget," U.S. Global Leadership Coalition Communications Director Richard Parker writes in a FoxNews.com opinion piece.

5 Jan 2011

Today's Opinions: GOP rerun; Finding bipartisanship; Pawlenty's legacy

You just can't close the door on this crowd. The party that brought us the worst economy since the Great Depression, that led us into Iraq and the worst foreign policy disaster in American history, that would like to take a hammer to Social Security and a chisel to Medicare, is back in control of the House of Representatives with the expressed mission of undermining all things Obama (Bob Herbert, 1/3).

4 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 4, 2011

The House GOP leadership sets Jan. 12 as the date for a vote on repealing the health law. Meanwhile, California's new health insurance commissioner takes action on health insurers' expenditures while New York's governor targets Medicaid spending.

4 Jan 2011

Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity honors Henry Schein Chairman and CEO

Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity honored Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein, Inc., the largest distributor of health care products and services to office-based practitioners, at the Organization's 2010 Annual Sunny Days Convention.

4 Jan 2011

Revolutions Medical reworks exclusive license with Traxyz for breast biopsy localization system

Revolutions Medical Corporation recently completed the reworking of a worldwide exclusive license with Traxyz, LLC for an image guided navigation system to convert over 50,000 conventional mammography systems for use as a high accuracy breast biopsies system (BBS). This BBS facilitates accurate and fast non-palpable lesions and micro calcification localization in the treatment of breast cancer.

4 Jan 2011

Clinical Decision Support Systems help reduce unnecessary CT and MRI scans

Researchers from Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA, have found that clinical decision support systems can help reduce inappropriate medical imaging, including unnecessary computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, according to a study in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (www.jacr.org).

4 Jan 2011

MBGH releases survey results of employers' reactions to health reform

Today the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) released the results of a recent national employer survey gauging the reactions and concerns related to health reform after the mid-term November elections. Conducted by MBGH and co-sponsored by the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), Business Insurance and Workforce Management, the findings indicate that employers believe the law will increase their benefit costs and changes are needed in the law to improve quality, reduce expenses and reward health system performance.

4 Jan 2011

Caution over frequent use of diagnostic tests for kids

The rapid growth in use of medical diagnostic imaging, such as CT scans, has led to widespread concern about radiation exposure in adults and the potential for future cancer risk in patients undergoing these tests.

4 Jan 2011

Combat-related PTSD associated with longer-term physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms

Combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms appear to be associated with longer-term physical (headache, tinnitus), emotional (irritability) and cognitive (diminished concentration or memory) symptoms, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Conversely, concussion/mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) do not appear to have long-term negative effects on troops.

4 Jan 2011

JAMIA introduces number of changes to journal's business operations and contents

The Jan-Feb 2011 issue of JAMIA, the scientific journal on informatics in health and biomedicine, introduces not only a new Editor-in-Chief, but also a number of changes to the journal's business operations and contents.

4 Jan 2011

Lancet editorial highlights similarities between current health challenges, those from 1911

"After a century of progress, the issues that medicine must tackle in the coming year aren't that different from the ones that faced doctors at the start of 1911, according to the observations" published Jan. 1 in a Lancet editorial, LiveScience reports (Parry, 12/30).

4 Jan 2011

Late-preterm infants often treated as developmentally mature, when not

In the last 15 years the U.S has seen a sharp increase in the number of babies born as late-preterm infants, between 34 and 37 weeks' gestation. This is approximately 400,000 children each year, comprising over 70 percent of all preterm births. Often, late-preterm infants are treated the same as full-term infants since they are commonly a similar size and weight. Growing research is showing that this can be detrimental to a late-preterm infant's health and frequently results in readmission to the hospital within the first month of life.

4 Jan 2011

Newsweek reports on growth of safety net programs in developing countries

"[A] recent study by the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization identified 72 different 'social pension' plans around the world dedicated to the elderly, the ill, or the down and out," Newsweek writes in an article exploring the growth in welfare programs around the world. "Most countries on the [WHO/ILO] list are developing nations once considered too destitute to help their poor and that, until recently, had little or no welfare coverage at all.

4 Jan 2011

Media examine potential Obama administration engagement with Africa in 2011, foreign policy action on Capitol Hill

"President Barack Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests," the Associated Press writes in a story looking at how the Obama administration might engage with African countries in the upcoming year.

4 Jan 2011

New House GOP leaders plan early vote on health law repeal

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Republicans would hold a vote on repealing the health-care law before Obama delivers his State of the Union address later this month. Upton said disenchantment with the law is so pervasive in the new House that they could reach the two-thirds threshold to overturn a likely presidential veto.

4 Jan 2011

Health Care News and Research

Republican push to undo health law will be no easy task

Roundup: Calif. issues emergency medical care expenditure regs; High risk pools in Mich., Wis. face stumbling blocks

Governors take hard look at Medicaid dollars, programs

Diet low in micronutrients can contribute to metabolic syndrome

Senate Dems line up against the effort to undo the health overhaul

Opinions: U.S. International Affairs Budget; Health impacts of climate change; Role of U.N.; Drug development, free trade

Today's Opinions: GOP rerun; Finding bipartisanship; Pawlenty's legacy

First Edition: January 4, 2011

Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity honors Henry Schein Chairman and CEO

Revolutions Medical reworks exclusive license with Traxyz for breast biopsy localization system

Clinical Decision Support Systems help reduce unnecessary CT and MRI scans

MBGH releases survey results of employers' reactions to health reform

Caution over frequent use of diagnostic tests for kids

Combat-related PTSD associated with longer-term physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms

JAMIA introduces number of changes to journal's business operations and contents

Lancet editorial highlights similarities between current health challenges, those from 1911

Late-preterm infants often treated as developmentally mature, when not

Newsweek reports on growth of safety net programs in developing countries

Media examine potential Obama administration engagement with Africa in 2011, foreign policy action on Capitol Hill

New House GOP leaders plan early vote on health law repeal

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

Latest News