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WHO Western Pacific meeting addresses immunization, TB control, women's health

The WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific meeting continued with leaders discussing regional immunization goals, public health emergencies, TB control, and the health effects of urbanization, multiple news outlets report.

15 Oct 2010

New program will cut payment for durable medical equipment in Medicare test program

In California, beginning Jan. 1, "a new Medicare program will slash by 30 percent the prices it will pay for certain wheelchairs, oxygen concentrators and other medical devices in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, lowering costs for both local Medicare recipients and the American taxpayer," Redland Daily Facts reports.

15 Oct 2010

FDA revokes marketing clearance for knee orthopedic device

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that an orthopedic device used in the knee should not have been cleared for marketing in the United States. The announcement follows a re-evaluation of the scientific evidence that was undertaken after a September 2009 agency report identified problems in the agency's review of the device.

15 Oct 2010

HHS limits, but can't eliminate, child-only policy double-standards

The New York Times: "The Obama administration, aiming to encourage health insurance companies to offer child-only policies, said Wednesday that they could charge higher premiums for coverage of children with serious medical problems, if state law allowed it. ... Earlier this year, major insurers, faced with an unprofitable business, stopped issuing new child-only policies.

15 Oct 2010

Federal judge in Florida allows part of suit against health reform law to proceed

"A federal judge says some parts of a lawsuit by 20 states challenging the Obama administration's health care overhaul as unconstitutional can go to trial," The Associated Press reports. "District Judge Roger Vinson ruled Thursday in Pensacola, Fla., that some parts of the lawsuit need to be heard. The administration had asked him to dismiss the entire lawsuit, which was spearheaded by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum," a Republican (Nelson, 10/14).

15 Oct 2010

Issuing first report on NTDS, WHO aims for 'complete control' by 2015

The WHO said on Thursday that it was aiming for 'complete control' by 2015 of tropical diseases that affect one billion impoverished people and kill an estimated 534,000 people each year, Agence France-Presse reports.

15 Oct 2010

Sanofi-aventis announces TEMSO phase III study results for relapsing multiple sclerosis

Sanofi-aventis announced today the results from the two year phase III TEMSO study of teriflunomide, a novel oral disease modifier investigated for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS).

15 Oct 2010

Democrats mostly silent on health law in their Ads as election approaches

Democrats are mostly remaining silent on the new health law as they release advertisements in bids to retain their seats in Congress, NPR reports.

15 Oct 2010

Officials address several drug issues including medical risks, proper disposal of unused medicine

Federal and state officials are addressing several drug issues including the risks associated with bone-strengthening drugs, complaints about a blood-thinning drug and a new law to help people safely dispose of unused medicine.

15 Oct 2010

More minorities attending American medical schools

News outlets report on issues affecting the doctor workforce, including increased diversity at medical schools and questions about whether rural doctors will qualify for the Medicare payment bonus for primary care physicians.

15 Oct 2010

Administering ondansetron drug to children is economically advantageous

Two years ago, a study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found that an anti-vomiting drug called ondansetron helps reduce vomiting, the need for intravenous fluids and hospital admissions in children with acute gastroenteritis.Now a new economic analysis led by Canadian researchers, in collaboration with Michael J. Steiner, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at UNC, concludes that routinely giving ondansetron to children with gastroenteritis-induced vomiting would prevent thousands of hospitalizations and save millions of dollars each year.

15 Oct 2010

'Largest Medicare fraud scheme' busted

The Los Angeles Times: More than two dozen Los Angeles-area residents were arrested Wednesday "for their alleged roles in a nationwide scheme to bilk Medicare out of more than $160 million. The investigation, dubbed Diagnosis Dollars, resulted in the arrests of 52 people across the U.S. in what authorities described as 'the largest Medicare fraud scheme ever perpetrated by a single criminal enterprise.'"

15 Oct 2010

Study finds vaccination rates in decline for children covered by private health plans

A new report shows that vaccination rates among two-year-olds covered by private insurance plans dipped by almost four percentage points last year." At the same time, vaccination rates for children covered by Medicaid were edging up by less than 1%.

15 Oct 2010

State News: Wash. adults could lose Medicaid coverage for prescriptions, Michigan restores services

Detroit Free Press: "Michigan has reopened through Nov. 30 a program that provides free or nearly free medical care to adults 21 and older. The benefits could help as many as 58,000 poor people — some who couldn't previously get help because the Adult Medical Program, as it is called, had been frozen since May 31, 2009, because of state budget cuts.

15 Oct 2010

IRIN examines forthcoming U.N. child malnutrition program; IPS reports on FAO Latin American report

IRIN looks at a planned U.N. initiative to combat early childhood malnutrition and the questions surrounding it.

15 Oct 2010

Costs for end-of-life care rising, hospice care may be an antidote

Health care costs at the end of life show no signs of leveling off, according to new research from the United States and Canada published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

15 Oct 2010

NIH awards two new grants to develop Avidocin platform

AvidBiotics today announced the receipt of two new grants totaling $1 million dollars from the National Institutes of Health that further the development of the company's novel Avidocin™ platform for narrow spectrum antibacterial proteins against important health care threats. These grants add to three previous grants covering AvidBiotics' anti-infectious disease technologies, which provide approximately $3.4 million in currently active funding for the company.

15 Oct 2010

Health Care News and Research

WHO Western Pacific meeting addresses immunization, TB control, women's health

New program will cut payment for durable medical equipment in Medicare test program

FDA revokes marketing clearance for knee orthopedic device

HHS limits, but can't eliminate, child-only policy double-standards

Federal judge in Florida allows part of suit against health reform law to proceed

Issuing first report on NTDS, WHO aims for 'complete control' by 2015

Sanofi-aventis announces TEMSO phase III study results for relapsing multiple sclerosis

Democrats mostly silent on health law in their Ads as election approaches

Officials address several drug issues including medical risks, proper disposal of unused medicine

More minorities attending American medical schools

Administering ondansetron drug to children is economically advantageous

'Largest Medicare fraud scheme' busted

Study finds vaccination rates in decline for children covered by private health plans

State News: Wash. adults could lose Medicaid coverage for prescriptions, Michigan restores services

IRIN examines forthcoming U.N. child malnutrition program; IPS reports on FAO Latin American report

Costs for end-of-life care rising, hospice care may be an antidote

NIH awards two new grants to develop Avidocin platform

IOM Report: Food nutrition labels should be simple, on front

Reuters examines experts' concerns about global polio eradication effort

Today's Opeds: Upcoming problems with state health exchanges; lying campaign ads; overseeing assisted living

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

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