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New international guidelines launched to protect health workers against HIV, TB

Health workers are at the frontline in providing prevention, treatment and care for people living with HIV and TB throughout the world. They are at risk of occupational exposure to HIV and TB but often themselves lack adequate access to protection and treatment. To address this gap, new international guidelines are being launched today by the International Labour Organization, WHO and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

20 Nov 2010

Containers to Clinics opens pilot health facility in Haiti

Containers to Clinics (C2C), a nonprofit initiative that seeks to build health care infrastructures in developing countries through networks of converted shipping container clinics, today announced the opening of its pilot health facility at Grace Children's Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The clinic's services will include health screenings, vaccinations, pre-and post-natal care, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, post-partum and newborn care, infectious disease testing and treatment, nutrition counseling and health education classes.

20 Nov 2010

New initiative to help improve oral health for North Carolina children

The North Carolina Head Start-State Collaboration Office and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), today announced the launch of the Head Start Dental Home Initiative to improve oral health for North Carolina children.

20 Nov 2010

MedSynergies receives gold-level award for website design

MedSynergies Inc., the leading provider of hospital-physician alignment solutions, received the gold-level award for achieving the best website design in the Corporate Business Improvement Site division of the 2010 eHealthcare Leadership Awards.

20 Nov 2010

Tackling physical, mental health of prisoners would improve public health, researchers say

Providing the more than 10 million people incarcerated around the world "with better health care could prevent outbreaks of HIV and tuberculosis from spilling over into the general population experts say," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

20 Nov 2010

One-third of malaria-endemic countries are complying with WHO malaria drug efficacy monitoring standards, report says

Thirty-four percent of malaria-endemic countries are complying with WHO guidelines to monitor artemisinin resistance within their borders, the agency said in a report on Thursday, CBS News reports (11/18). Reuters reports that artemisinin "is the best drug available against malaria, especially when used in artemisinin combination therapy (ACT), which combines it with other drugs that finish off the [malaria] parasite" (Nebehay, 11/18).

20 Nov 2010

Repeal, replace and revise are the new health overhaul buzzwords as congressional power changes hands

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 32 other GOP senators officially filed a brief on Thursday in favor of a court case challenging healthcare reform. McConnell filed a 16-page brief in a federal case based in Florida arguing that a key part of the new healthcare law, the requirement that all individuals have health insurance, was unconstitutional.

20 Nov 2010

Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals decides to voluntarily remove propoxyphene from the U.S. market

Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals Inc. which makes Darvon and Darvocet, the brand version of the prescription pain medication propoxyphene, has agreed to withdraw the medication from the U.S. market at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has also informed the generic manufacturers of propoxyphene-containing products of Xanodyne's decision and requested that they voluntarily remove their products as well.

20 Nov 2010

Health industry players offer insights, expectations about overhaul's impact

Republicans made major gains in the midterm election, running vowing to "repeal and replace" the health law passed with solely Democratic votes earlier this year.

20 Nov 2010

Insurers payments to hospitals vary significantly by region

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jordan Rau reports: Adding another piece to the argument that some hospitals are making huge profits from insurers, a new study finds great differences in hospital rates, with San Francisco the most expensive of eight areas that were examined (Rau, 11/18).

20 Nov 2010

No agreement on health cost containment at bipartisan commission

The Obama administration's bipartisan commission studying efforts to reduce the nation's debt remained at odds after three days of closed door meetings - on how to deal with health care costs.

20 Nov 2010

States focus on Medicaid budget challenges

Nearly missed in the noise from newly elected politicians vowing to upend the Obama administrations health care reform law was a federal decision allowing California to start implementing it and improve its fiscal situation in the process. On Election Day, California got word it would receive $10 billion in federal Medicaid money to extend coverage to some 500,000 people who are currently uninsured. ...

20 Nov 2010

Senate acts on Medicare doctor pay fix

Although the Senate agreed to postpone for one month cuts in Medicare physician payments, the House must still act, too, in order to delay a scheduled fee reduction that will kick in Dec. 1.This very short-term approach is likely to frustrate the physician community.

20 Nov 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

New This Week In The Kaiser Global Health Policy Tracker: The President's Malaria Initiative announced a new focus country and USAID released a new fact sheet on the agency's reform initiative. Kaiser's Policy Tracker provides a timely single reference point for the latest information on congressional and administration action on global health.

20 Nov 2010

A hospital chiefs tough task in tough times: cut costs, improve quality

Kaiser Health News staff writer Peggy Girshman spoke with Judy Rich, president and CEO of the Tucson Medical Center.

20 Nov 2010

CMS grants Qutenza J-code to NeurogesX

NeurogesX, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel pain management therapies, today announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has granted a unique, Level II Health Care Common Procedural Coding System (Level II HCPCS), commonly referred to as a J-code, for Qutenza (capsaicin) 8% patch.

19 Nov 2010

State roundup: California PPOs 'low marks'; Geriatric nursing; Physician shortages

News outlets covered a range of developments including workforce issues in Minnesota and California, and a Kentucky order for insurers to provide child-only policies.

19 Nov 2010

Political cartoon: Mayberry R.F.D.?

Kaiser Health News provides a political cartoonist's perspective on health policy developments with "Mayberry R.F.D.?" by Eric Allie.

19 Nov 2010

U.S. falling short of its goals to improve access to clean water, sanitation worldwide, report says

The U.S. is falling short on its goal of improving conditions for the 2.6 billion people worldwide without access to clean water and sanitation despite the fact the Water for the Poor Act became law in 2005, according to a report released Thursday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), WaterAid, CARE and 11 other organization, Food Safety News reports.

19 Nov 2010

World Bank report examines member banks' response to global economic downturn, highlights effect on global poverty

By the end of this year, an additional 64 million people will fall into extreme poverty as a result of the global economic downturn that started in 2008, the World Bank said in a study on "member banks' response" to the situation, Reuters reports.

19 Nov 2010