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Peer partner program helps diabetic patients to manage their conditions

Phone calls with a peer facing the same self-management challenges helped diabetes patients manage their conditions and improved their blood sugar levels better than those who used traditional nurse care management services alone, according to research from the University of Michigan Health System.

19 Oct 2010

Government Officials, U.N. Staff meet with sex workers in Asia to examine access to HIV services

In parts of Asia, policies outlawing sex work are undermining HIV/AIDS prevention efforts by fragmenting and stigmatizing the sex workers and turning condom possession into an act that could lead to jail time, NGO officials say, IRIN reports.

19 Oct 2010

Researchers explore impact of various factors on increasing rates of Clostridium difficile infection

In five different studies presented at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 75th Annual Scientific meeting in San Antonio, researchers explored the impact of various factors on increasing rates of Clostridium difficile infection (C. difficile), such as the use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and the substantial increase in antibiotic use due to new National Hospital Quality Measures; strategies to combat high rates of C. difficile infections; and cutting‐edge treatments for this potentially deadly-and quite common-infection.

19 Oct 2010

Dengue cases in Western Pacific doubled in last 10 years; WHO says disease needs higher profile

The number of dengue cases has more than doubled in the last decade in the Western Pacific, according to the WHO, BBC reports.

19 Oct 2010

Federal judge says he'll rule on Virginia's health law challenge by year's end

Bloomberg: "A federal judge in Virginia said he'll rule by yearend whether President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is constitutional, adding that his decision will be a 'brief stop' in the case on its way to the Supreme Court." U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson heard arguments today in Richmond, Virginia, about whether the health law's requirement for individuals to buy health insurance is congressional overreaching.

19 Oct 2010

Researchers report breakthrough studies in liver cell transplantation

Two research teams from the Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine (Okayama, Japan) have reported breakthrough studies in liver cell transplantation.

19 Oct 2010

Federal court to allow Calif. case on Medicare underpayments to move forward; LA county gets new health department head

A recent court decision gave a group of California counties another chance to challenge what they contend are severe Medicare underpayments that jeopardize access to care across the country.

19 Oct 2010

DOJ targets Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in anti-trust violation

The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires: "The U.S. Justice Department on Monday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, alleging that provisions of its agreements with hospitals are anticompetitive." The action, filed in a Michigan federal court, challenges the "insurer's use of provisions known as 'most favored nation clauses'" (Kendall, 10/18).

19 Oct 2010

Health on The Hill - October 18, 2010

Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey talks with NPR's Julie Rovner and KFF's Jackie Judd about the latest health policy developments, including action on the campaign trail and in the courts.

19 Oct 2010

The state of sexually transmissible and blood-borne infections in Australia: the 2010 Surveillance Reports

Australia last year reported its largest number of new HIV cases since the early 1990s but has seen a reduction in cases of hepatitis, infectious syphilis and gonorrhoea, new data contained in HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia Annual Surveillance Report 2010 shows.

18 Oct 2010

CMS could save billions by changing payment, delivery methods

Experts examine ways to change care delivery and payment at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services while seniors prepare for the Medicare open enrollment period.

18 Oct 2010

As health law kicks in, so do grants, subsidies and worries for insurance brokers

Federal spending on health care is proof that the industry can look forward to continuing growth, according to the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. "Along with the $2.7 billion increase that the state received to pay for Medicaid, at least $655 million in grants from stimulus funds and the health-reform law recently has been awarded.

18 Oct 2010

Higher Medicaid reimbursement rates could increase childhood vaccinations

Reuters: A new study in the journal Pediatrics suggests that raising Medicaid reimbursement rates could help more children from low-income families receive flu vaccinations. "Although the vaccine itself is provided free of charge to children covered by Medicaid, doctors are only reimbursed for about half the cost of administering it," and are losing money in the process, say researchers.

18 Oct 2010

Support for health law dips, GOP aims to seize opportunity

Politico reports that support among the public for the health overhaul dipped during the last month, even as the "percentage of Democrats who say they'll go to the polls to defend the law rose. … According to the Kaiser Family Foundation October Tracking Poll out Monday morning, overall support for the law has dropped to 42 percent — down seven points in a month (Kaiser Health News is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation).

18 Oct 2010

Legal challenge to 'individual mandate' sees day in court

The Washington Post:The legal challenges to the health law continue. "A federal judge in Virginia will hear arguments Monday on whether the new federal health care law is unconstitutional. Virginia Attorney Gen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R) will argue that Congress overstepped its constitutional authority by enacting a provision that requires individuals to purchase health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine.

18 Oct 2010

Ricoh awarded document management contract by Premier

Ricoh Americas Corporation, a leading provider of digital office equipment and advanced document management solutions and services, today announced a contract win with one of the nation's top healthcare purchasing networks, Premier Purchasing Partners, L.P. of the Premier healthcare alliance. The document management contract covers a vast range of management needs including document creation, storage and distribution among the healthcare industry nationwide.

18 Oct 2010

Candidates turn health reform volume up as midterms near

A number of candidates for federal and state office are sounding off on how they view health reform.

18 Oct 2010

California hospitals: Prices rising rapidly, but quality varies

Kaiser Health News writer Jordan Rau, in collaboration with the Bay Area News Group, examines the cost and quality of hospitals in the Bay Area of California.

18 Oct 2010

KHN column: What's the worst that could happen with the new health law?

In this Kaiser Health News column, Rea Hederman and Paul Winfree, both of the Hertiage Foundation, write "the health overhaul could end up costing American taxpayers millions of dollars in higher health insurance premiums or put a tremendous amount of pressure on an already soaring national debt.

18 Oct 2010

Today's Opinions: Health law's effects on the economy and Medicare; 10th Amendment questions

The health care reform legislation also will have a devastating impact on the spending power of working Americans and our economy as the higher premiums kick in (Armstrong Williams, 10/17).

18 Oct 2010