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State roundup: Minn. to add more adults to Medicaid; Mass. Gov. seeks savings in pensions and health care costs; Ariz. bishop and hospital spar over control

Minnesota can add 95,000 low-income adults to its Medicaid rolls, vastly improving their medical care, at no additional cost to the state, two officials at the state Department of Human Services told legislators Tuesday (Wolfe, 12/15).

16 Dec 2010

Arguments in twenty-state legal challenge to health law begin Thursday; Medicaid expansion central to action

Next step, Florida: On Thursday, arguments will be offered in the lawsuit brought by 20 states that seeks to invalidate the law's expansion of the Medicaid program.

16 Dec 2010

Opinions: Kangaroo care; NTDs, Women's health

New York Times contributing writer Tina Rosen, on the newspaper's "Opinionator" blog, examines the success of a system known as kangaroo care, which has helped to improve the survival rates of premature infants by using skin-to-skin contact with mothers in place of incubators in low-resource settings. The post notes the potential value of such a strategy in poor countries "where pregnant women are unlikely to get the food and care they need," and "low birth weight babies are very common."

16 Dec 2010

Three-day African food security forum opens in Accra

The 26th Annual Meeting of the Food Crisis Prevention Network, "which serves as the platform for deliberation on food production and food security in Africa," opened on Tuesday in Accra, Ghana, the Ghana News Agency reports. The three-day forum will examine "the agricultural and food situation for the 2010/2011 cropping season and come out with measures on tackling food crises," according to the news service.

16 Dec 2010

Nation's leading health care systems collaborate to improve quality while reducing costs

Six of the nation's leading health care systems today announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration to improve health care quality while reducing costs.

16 Dec 2010

Tort reform legislation has not reduced physician concerns about malpractice lawsuits: Study

Physicians' fears of being sued for malpractice are out of proportion to their actual risk of being sued, according to a recent study by a University of Iowa researcher and colleagues.

16 Dec 2010

CRS report details regs issued since passage of health overhaul

The Congressional Research Service issued a new report examining the processes followed in the development of the new rules put in place since the passage of the health overhaul. Meanwhile, the omnibus spending bill now moving through Congress includes funds for Medicare and Medicaid fraud prevention.

16 Dec 2010

Sun-Times: Medicare wants pharmacists out of Plan D decision-making process

Walgreens pharmacists are no longer giving customers advice on which Medicare Part D plans best work with the customers' prescriptions by the Dec. 31 deadline, and a Medicare spokesman says that's a good thing.

16 Dec 2010

Personalities, politics emerge from decision's aftermath

Personalities and politics swirl around news about Monday's ruling in the Virginia health law challenge, with news outlets detailing how judges in different cases reached their conclusions and examining Judge Henry Hudson's ties to a GOP consulting firm. More reports also surround the related political dust-ups and posturing.

16 Dec 2010

The Baltimore Sun: Stent sellers were allowed inside lab despite hospital ban

News outlets examine how the marketing of medical devices and treatments impacts health care costs and physicians' decisions.

16 Dec 2010

Today's Opinions: Reviewing judge's ruling on health law's individual mandate

The legal case against it almost certainly will make its way to the Supreme Court before the individual mandate is due to take effect in 2014. But considered in its proper context, it doesn't violate the Constitution (12/15).

15 Dec 2010

ICSA Labs can now test and certify electronics health record product solutions

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has designated ICSA Labs as an Authorized Testing and Certification Body for products and solutions for electronic health records.

15 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 15, 2010

Today's major health policy news is full of second-day stories and analysis regarding Monday's health law decision by a federal court judge in Virginia.

15 Dec 2010

New report on improving outcome of pregnancy

Moms and babies everywhere deserve high quality health care, and a new report from the March of Dimes and its partners offers providers a vision for how to offer top-notch services while giving moms practical tips to help them make smart choices.

15 Dec 2010

Research reveals pattern of declining health among Mexican-American immigrants

Mexican-Americans who are most integrated into the culture including those born in the United States, and not recent immigrants appear less healthy and more likely to require resources to manage their health conditions than more recent, less-integrated migrants, according to a new study from Rice University, Duke University and the University of Colorado Denver.

15 Dec 2010

Global Fund to draw up action plan against drug theft, invites stakeholders to participate

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Friday appealed to international donors to join them in an effort to fight medicine theft, SAPA/News24 reports.

15 Dec 2010

Legal analysis, implementation predictions and political posturing abound in the wake of yesterday's decision

Yesterday's court decision triggered a wave of analysis, speculation, posturing and predictions about what health reform's future will hold.

15 Dec 2010

AzTe and Zcube: Innovative treatment of chronic respiratory diseases

Zcube, Srl, the research venture of Italian pharmaceutical company Zambon Co., SpA, and Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), the technology venturing arm of Arizona State University, have entered into a licensing agreement that will allow Zcube to use ASU technology to develop and commercialize next-generation medical devices that can better monitor and treat chronic respiratory diseases like asthma.

15 Dec 2010

Federal judge in Virginia voids key provision of health law

A federal court judge in Virginia issued a decision Monday striking at a key element of the health care law — the individual mandate. This ruling marked the first time a court decision invalidated a part of the sweeping overhaul.

15 Dec 2010

Reuters looks at cost-effectiveness of pursuing malaria vaccine, eradication

Reuters examines the effort to create an effective malaria vaccine and asks: "[I]s the vaccine - and the global health community's aim of completely eradicating a disease that kills a child every 45 seconds - really worth the money?"

15 Dec 2010