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Resident doctors report working when sick

A new study demonstrates that young doctors often fail to heed the Biblical injunction, "physician, heal thyself." In a research letter published in the September 15, 2010, issue of JAMA, researchers report that three out of five residents surveyed came to work in the previous year while sick, possibly exposing their patients and colleagues to suboptimal performance and, in many cases, communicable disease.

15 Sep 2010

PAF announces expansion of Colorectal Care Line

The Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF), a national non-profit resolving patient access to health care issues, medical financial limitations, insurance denials and multiple government program enrollments, including Medicaid and Social Security Disability Income announced today a significant expansion of its Colorectal Care Line (CCL), beginning September 13, 2010.

15 Sep 2010

Study suggests decentralized clinics can reduce cost by offering mobile health services

Families from rural Mexico who receive health care from centralized clinics run by the federal government pay up to 30 percent less in out-of-pocket expenses and utilize preventive services more often than those families who access decentralized clinics run by states, according to a study by researchers at the UCLA School of Public Health.

15 Sep 2010

Democrats who voted 'no' on health overhaul face campaign fire, calls to 'de-fund' reform grow louder

The Hill: Labor unions are living up to their pledge to target and spend campaign dollars against Democrats who voted against the health overhaul. "The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), for instance, has spent almost $300,000 on direct mail and other activities in support of union activist Mac D'Alessandro's primary challenge to Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)." The primary in that race is Tuesday (Miller and D'Aprile, 9/14).

15 Sep 2010

Biomedical informatics is essential part of medical education

In an article published in the Sept. 15 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, (JAMA), author Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD, points out that although information underlies all clinical work, and despite the growing role that information management and access play in healthcare delivery and clinical support, there is a dearth of informatics competency being developed in America's future corps of physicians.

15 Sep 2010

Burned-out medical students admit unprofessional conduct in relation to patient care

A Mayo Clinic study involving seven major medical schools shows a majority of medical students surveyed suffer from burnout and that those students were more likely to cheat or be dishonest in relation to patient care. The findings appear in this week's issue of JAMA.

15 Sep 2010

USAID opens budget office, agency will assume more responsibility for its resources

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah recently told agency staff "of the creation of the new USAID Office of Budget and Resource Management (BRM), to be led by his senior budgetary advisor Mike Casella," Foreign Policy's blog, "The Cable," reports, adding that this will "give USAID an increased role in developing and then justifying parts of its own budget going forward."

15 Sep 2010

Scientist to develop antibiotics for drug-resistant superbugs

Antibiotics can work miracles, knocking out common infections like bronchitis and tonsillitis. But according to the Center for Disease Control, each year 90,000 people in the U.S. die of drug resistant "superbugs" bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a deadly form of staph infection resistant to normal antibiotics. Although hospital patients are particularly susceptible as a result of open wounds and weakened immune systems, the bacteria can infect anyone. Dr. Micha Fridman of Tel Aviv University's Department of Chemistry is now developing the next generation of antibiotics designed to overcome this kind of bacteria. And the key, he says, is in the bacteria itself.

15 Sep 2010

Senate amendments to strike health reform tax reporting provision fail

The Associated Press/Bloomberg Business: "The Senate failed Tuesday to repeal or ease an arcane tax reporting provision of the new health care law. ...Tucked into the health law is a requirement that businesses file tax forms called 1099s with the Internal Revenue Service for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods.

15 Sep 2010

Hunger costs developing nations $450B per year, report says

"Reduced worker productivity, poor health and lost education caused by malnourishment" is costing poor nations $450 billion a year, according to a report by the aid agency ActionAid, Agence France-Presse reports (9/13). The number is "more than 10 times the estimated amount needed to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving global hunger by 2015, said the report" according to the U.K. Press Association, which added that hunger also results in premature deaths (9/13).

15 Sep 2010

Kansas Governor to head nursing home group after leaving office in January

Kansas City Star: "Parkinson, a Democrat, will be president and CEO of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, a non-profit, Washington-based trade and lobbying organization representing 11,000 nursing homes and assisted living centers." Before becoming lieutenant governor, Parkinson used to run a chain of long-term care facilities. He assumed the governor's job after Kathleen Sebelius left that post to become secretary of health and human services under President Barack Obama (Klepper, 9/13).

15 Sep 2010

Some health insurance changes set to take effect next week

Kaiser Health News: On Sept. 23, a number of health law provisions will go into effect, including a ban on lifetime caps on health benefits, a practice some insurance plans use to restrain costs. For one family with two children with hemophilia whose treatments cost around $250,000 a year, that's a reassuring change that means "more freedom" for the kids.

15 Sep 2010

Ahead of MDG Summit, U.N. Secretary-General calls for additional funds, strategy for tackling women's and children's health issues

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday announced that "nearly 140" world leaders are planning to attend next week's U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit in New York, where they will discuss ways to help countries reach the targets by 2015, the Canadian Press reports (Lederer, 9/13).

15 Sep 2010

Florida Judge signals he will likely allow some parts of states' health law challenge to proceed

Bloomberg: "U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola said today he will make a decision by Oct. 14 on whether the states have jurisdiction to sue. He told lawyers he would probably dismiss part of the suit, while allowing other claims to proceed." The states involved in the lawsuit maintain that the federal government's "requirement that people buy health insurance" goes beyond Congress' constitutional powers.

15 Sep 2010

Berwick breaks silence, calling on insurers to join pursuit of 'shared goals'

In his first big speech as President Barack Obama's top Medicare official Donald Berwick Monday called on insurers to join in a "full partnership" with his agency to achieve a health system with lower costs that doesn't withhold care from anyone or risk harming patients, The Associated Press/Washington Post report. The remarks were delivered to a conference hosted by America's Health Insurance Plans. "The choice of the insurance lobby for his speech was unusual since the administration continues to trade verbal potshots with the industry" (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/13).

15 Sep 2010

Wintherix announces WX04554 molecule can cause bone healing

Wintherix, LLC, a privately held biotechnology company focusing on bone healing and regenerative medicine, today announced that WX04554, a potent small molecule activator of the Wnt pathway, has been designated as a lead drug for clinical development in bone healing and repair indications.

15 Sep 2010

Medicare, Social Security grow with baby boomer retirement, joblessness

The Washington Post: Rapid growth in the number of applicants for Social Security disability benefits has soared between 2008 and 2009, threatening the solvency of the program. With an increase of 21 percent in that timeframe, "growth is the sharpest in the 54-year history of the program. It threatens the program's fiscal stability and adds to an administrative backlog that is slowing the flow of benefits to those who need them most." Broad economic problems and a flood of jobless applicants have caused the spike (Fletcher, 9/14).

15 Sep 2010

Guardian launches global development website

The Guardian on Tuesday launched a new website that will cover global development issues, such as hunger and infant mortality, according to an introductory note on the site (Bunting, 9/14).

15 Sep 2010

White House supports effort to scale back small business provision of health law

"Facing a backlash from small businesses over a new tax-reporting requirement in the healthcare law the president signed in March, the Obama administration is embracing the first change to the landmark legislation," the Los Angeles Times reports. "In a letter to Senate leaders, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner urged the Senate to back a proposal to scale back the new reporting mandate.

15 Sep 2010

Number of people enrolled in FEHBP expected to rise

Federal News Radio: "The number of people covered by the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program is expected to jump dramatically next year and the number of people switching from self-only to family coverage will also go up. Those eligible for FEHBP coverage will include dependent children and foster children up to age 26 who are not living with their federal parents.

15 Sep 2010

Health Care News and Research

Resident doctors report working when sick

PAF announces expansion of Colorectal Care Line

Study suggests decentralized clinics can reduce cost by offering mobile health services

Democrats who voted 'no' on health overhaul face campaign fire, calls to 'de-fund' reform grow louder

Biomedical informatics is essential part of medical education

Burned-out medical students admit unprofessional conduct in relation to patient care

USAID opens budget office, agency will assume more responsibility for its resources

Scientist to develop antibiotics for drug-resistant superbugs

Senate amendments to strike health reform tax reporting provision fail

Hunger costs developing nations $450B per year, report says

Kansas Governor to head nursing home group after leaving office in January

Some health insurance changes set to take effect next week

Ahead of MDG Summit, U.N. Secretary-General calls for additional funds, strategy for tackling women's and children's health issues

Florida Judge signals he will likely allow some parts of states' health law challenge to proceed

Berwick breaks silence, calling on insurers to join pursuit of 'shared goals'

Wintherix announces WX04554 molecule can cause bone healing

Medicare, Social Security grow with baby boomer retirement, joblessness

Guardian launches global development website

White House supports effort to scale back small business provision of health law

Number of people enrolled in FEHBP expected to rise

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