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U.N. needs $5B for humanitarian aid this year, mid-year report says

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs launched its mid-year appeal Wednesday, requesting "nearly $5 billion to meet its commitment to help 53 million people in 34 countries who need humanitarian aid this year as a result of conflict and disasters," the Associated Press reports.

16 Jul 2010

New initiative to improve children's nutrition education, help them make smarter food choices

A new initiative to improve children's nutrition education and increase the amount of healthy foods available in schools is a collaboration among Penn State researchers; Pennsylvania's Departments of Health, Education, and Agriculture; Pennsylvania food manufacturers and food distributors; and school districts across the state.

16 Jul 2010

Judge says FTC likely overstepped authority in sharing drugmaker pay-for-delay info

A judge Wednesday criticized the Federal Trade Commission for the "strong possibility" that it "overstepped its bounds and shared confidential information" in a pay-for-delay case between the government and a generic drug company, Reuters reports.

16 Jul 2010

Republicans demand hearing on CMS head Berwick, block other nominees

Senate Republicans are still angry over President Obama's recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

16 Jul 2010

Bill Gates emphasizes need for increased efficiency in HIV prevention, treatment programs

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "urged governments and health advocates Tuesday to 'get more out of every dollar' in the fight against AIDS, saying the global economic downturn has hit funding for the disease," Agence France-Presse reports.

16 Jul 2010

Insurers will pick up preventive care costs under new rules

The recommendations of a federal task force on preventive care - once just suggestions for doctors - will soon become coverage requirements for private insurers under regulations unveiled Wednesday by the Obama administration, according to Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post. "Under the new health care overhaul law, insurers will be required to pay fully for services that get an "A" or "B" recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a volunteer group made up of primary care and public health experts."

16 Jul 2010

Sumner M. Redstone donates $24M to Keck School of Medicine of USC to support cancer research

The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California has announced a $24 million charitable gift from media executive and philanthropist Sumner M. Redstone. The multi-million dollar gift will support cancer research directed by renowned oncologist David Agus, M.D., professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and director of the USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine and the USC Westside Prostate Cancer Center.

16 Jul 2010

Can abortion-rights activists return the procedure to mainstream medicine?

In the early 90s, anti-abortion activist Randall Terry declared doctors were "the weak link" in the fight against the procedure, The New York Times reports. Soon, the first of eight deadly attacks on doctors who perform abortion occurred, marking one facet of a shift of mainstream medicine away from abortions and leaving women seeking that type of care to go to specialty clinics operated by sympathetic feminists.

16 Jul 2010

Feds approve more funding for Medicaid recipients in Ohio while health costs strain town budgets in New Jersey

Federal regulators have approved a state plan to pay hospitals an additional $87 million this year for the care they provide to low-income Ohioans on Medicaid. The funds will be disbursed to hospitals by the end of this month. The bulk payment and a 5 percent increase in Medicaid reimbursement fees effective in October were included in last year's state budget to let hospitals recoup some of the money they were losing through a new state franchise fee. The fee is projected to cost hospitals statewide $718 million over the two-year budget ending June 30, 2011.

16 Jul 2010

Public, private efforts to boost health IT connectivity

First, Computerworld reports, "Verizon announced on Wednesday a new cloud-based service offering for healthcare providers that will handle the sharing of patient information electronically between disparate platforms. The new service, called the Verizon Health Information Exchange, consolidates clinical patient data from various providers and translates it into a standardized format that can then be accessed via a secure Web portal" (Mearian, 7/14).

16 Jul 2010

U.S. News releases 2010 Best Hospitals rankings

U.S. News & World Report has released its 2010 rankings of the best hospitals. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore topped this year's honor roll. "The special quality shared by the 152 that made it into the new 2010-11 Best Hospitals rankings (out of nearly 5,000 that were considered) is their ability to take on and meet the most difficult challenges" (Comarow, 7/14).

16 Jul 2010

Early HIV treatment reduces death, likelihood of TB, study finds

"Early treatment for HIV cuts patients' risk of death by about 75 percent," according to a study conducted in Haiti and published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The study also demonstrated that "early antiretroviral treatment reduces the likelihood of tuberculosis, a leading cause of death among HIV patients, by 50 percent," the news service writes (Aquino, 7/14).

16 Jul 2010

KHN column – Behind the scenes of health reform: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners

In this Kaiser Health News column, Timothy Jost writes: "The new health reform act has been widely criticized as a federal government takeover of the health care system. To a remarkable degree, however, the law actually relies on the states to reform health insurance" (7/15).

16 Jul 2010

ACTOS offers safety profile regarding risk of CV events in people with type 2 diabetes: Takeda

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee held a joint meeting primarily focused on reviewing the cardiovascular safety of rosiglitazone, as presented by the FDA and GlaxoSmithKline. Following this two day discussion, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc. ("Takeda") underscores its position that ACTOS (pioglitazone HCl) offers an established safety profile regarding the risk of CV events in people living with type 2 diabetes.

16 Jul 2010

Federal task force on preventive care faces new challenge under health law

Kaiser Health News staff writer Christopher Weaver, working in collaboration with The Washington Post, reports: "For years, an obscure federal task force sifted through medical literature ranging from colonoscopies to fluoride treatment, ferreting out the best evidence for doctors to use in caring for their patients. But now its recommendations have new financial implications, raising the stakes for patients, physicians and others in the health care industry"

16 Jul 2010

Abortion opponents say that elective abortions may be covered in high risk pools

Abortion opponents worry that vague language used in the new health care reform bill could lead to the coverage of elective abortions in new high risk insurance pools and say that may already be starting in New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

16 Jul 2010

Amnesty International reveals the rotting health care system in North Korea

According to a human rights group, Amnesty International, North Korea is unable to meet up to even the most basic health needs of its population. The report was released this Thursday.

15 Jul 2010

8.8% of drug-related hospital emergency department visits by adolescents is a suicide attempt

A new series of studies analyzing drug-related hospital emergency department visits throughout the country during 2008 reveals a substantial percentage of these visits involve suicide attempts. According to these studies conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) more than one in every twelve (8.8 percent) drug-related hospital emergency department visit by an adolescent is a suicide attempt - double the rate found among cases involving those age 25 and older (4.4 percent).

15 Jul 2010

AHCA recognizes Advocat's long term care facilities with 2010 National Quality Awards

Advocat Inc. today announced that five of its long term care facilities were recognized with 2010 National Quality Awards by the American Healthcare Association (AHCA).

15 Jul 2010

Sharp HealthCare deploys Allscripts Community Record for all employed physicians

Allscripts today announced that Sharp HealthCare has selected the Allscripts Community Record, provided in partnership with dbMotion, to deliver end-to-end connectivity across the health system. Using the Allscripts solution, Sharp's caregivers and those in affiliated physician practices will have shared access to a single, unified patient record, bridging gaps that often exist between hospital-based and office-based care.

15 Jul 2010

Health Care News and Research

U.N. needs $5B for humanitarian aid this year, mid-year report says

New initiative to improve children's nutrition education, help them make smarter food choices

Judge says FTC likely overstepped authority in sharing drugmaker pay-for-delay info

Republicans demand hearing on CMS head Berwick, block other nominees

Bill Gates emphasizes need for increased efficiency in HIV prevention, treatment programs

Insurers will pick up preventive care costs under new rules

Sumner M. Redstone donates $24M to Keck School of Medicine of USC to support cancer research

Can abortion-rights activists return the procedure to mainstream medicine?

Feds approve more funding for Medicaid recipients in Ohio while health costs strain town budgets in New Jersey

Public, private efforts to boost health IT connectivity

U.S. News releases 2010 Best Hospitals rankings

Early HIV treatment reduces death, likelihood of TB, study finds

KHN column – Behind the scenes of health reform: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners

ACTOS offers safety profile regarding risk of CV events in people with type 2 diabetes: Takeda

Federal task force on preventive care faces new challenge under health law

Abortion opponents say that elective abortions may be covered in high risk pools

Amnesty International reveals the rotting health care system in North Korea

8.8% of drug-related hospital emergency department visits by adolescents is a suicide attempt

AHCA recognizes Advocat's long term care facilities with 2010 National Quality Awards

Sharp HealthCare deploys Allscripts Community Record for all employed physicians

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