Health and Human Services News and Research

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Longer looks: The timely trauma response in Boston; Problems with aging doctors; Transplants from donors with HIV

The bombs at the Boston Marathon were designed to maim and kill, and they did. Three people died within the first moments of the blast. More than a hundred and seventy people were injured. They had their limbs blown off, vital arteries severed, bones fractured, flesh torn open by shrapnel or scorched by the blasts' heat. Yet it now appears that every one of the wounded alive when rescuers reached them will survive.

19 Apr 2013

Key architect of health law worries that public confusion could lead to 'train wreck'

At a Wednesday Senate Finance Committee Hearing, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about what the administration is doing to educate the public as it rolls out key provisions of the law.

19 Apr 2013

Arkansas' Medicaid expansion alternative survives bumpy path, gains state legislators' final approval

The GOP-controlled legislature narrowly approved the compromise that would use federal funds to buy private insurance for low-income residents.

19 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 18, 2013

Today's headlines include reports from Capitol Hill about one Democratic senator's poor reviews of the Obama administration's progress in implementing the health law.

18 Apr 2013

SAMHSA's Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990 provides disaster crisis counseling

A disaster or tragedy is unexpected and often brings out strong emotions. The Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990 can provide immediate counseling to anyone who needs help in dealing with the tragedy in Boston.

17 Apr 2013

Updated labeling for Purdue Pharma's reformulated OxyContin tablets gets FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved updated labeling for Purdue Pharma L.P.'s reformulated OxyContin (oxycodone hydrochloride controlled-release) tablets.

17 Apr 2013

U.S. Marshals seize food products from rodent-infested warehouse in NY, FDA reports

U.S. Marshals have seized food products at a Ridgewood, N.Y. warehouse that manufactures and distributes kosher food products, after investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found widespread rodent infestation in the facility.

17 Apr 2013

Medicare auditors say millions could be saved by limiting advance payments to insurers

According to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the federal program prepays private insurers approximately 20 days before they pay their pharmacy bills but does not require them to return any of the interest earned during the time they hold that money.

17 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 16, 2013

Today's headlines include coverage of the Supreme Court oral arguments regarding whether patents should be granted for human genes.

16 Apr 2013

Drug products from ApotheCure, NuVision Pharmacy lack sterility assurance, FDA warns

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting health care providers, hospital supply managers, and pharmacists that sterile drug products made by ApotheCure, Inc. and sterile lyophilized (freeze dried powder) drug products made by NuVision Pharmacy were produced under conditions that could create a high potential for contamination.

16 Apr 2013

Sebelius assures lawmakers that insurance marketplaces will open Oct. 1

In a Friday appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius offered assurances about the readiness of 33 federally run health insurance marketplaces and answered questions about health care "navigators."

16 Apr 2013

Aetna releases two new metabolic syndrome programs to lower risk factors

Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced the launch of "Metabolic Health in Small Bytes" and the "Metabolic Health Advisor." The two new components can help people control the risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome.

16 Apr 2013

Obama budget plan would raise Medicare costs for higher-income seniors

The Associated Press examines how President Barack Obama's budget proposal would increase Medicare costs for some seniors while other news outlets report on reactions from the left and right.

16 Apr 2013

12 evidence-based principles to improve contraceptive counseling of adolescents

New research by Professor James Jaccard, Ph.D., and Nicole Levitz, M.P.H., of the New York University Silver School of Social Work and its Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH) has led them to suggest 12 evidence-based principles that can be used to improve contraceptive counseling of adolescents in U.S. health care clinics, doctor's offices, and health service organizations.

16 Apr 2013

Women with sufficient amounts of vitamin D less likely to develop uterine fibroids

Women who had sufficient amounts of vitamin D were 32 percent less likely to develop fibroids than women with insufficient vitamin D, according to a study from researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

16 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 15, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about the Medicare provisions in the budget plan released last week by President Barack Obama as well as previews of the Supreme Court's consideration of arguments regarding whether human genes can be patented.

15 Apr 2013

Sebelius: Insurance exchanges 'on track;' Premiums could rise for higher income Medicare beneficiaries

News outlets covered HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' appearance Friday before the House Ways and Means Committee, which included questions about insurance exchanges, the cost of Medicare premiums and the health law's requirement that small businesses provide health plans or face penalties.

15 Apr 2013

State Medicaid news: California, N.C. officials explore cost-saving measures

Media outlets report proposals to reduce Medicaid costs in California and North Carolina. In Maryland, the leader of a company with a $200 million Medicaid contract says he has not been told why that contract is being probed by state and federal investigators.

15 Apr 2013

State highlights: Baby boomers eye expanding end-of-life rights in states across nation; Calif. judges threaten governor with contempt of court over prison care

Claudia Burzichelli doesn't want to die like her dad. … In states across the country, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, graying baby boomers have been lobbying lawmakers in recent months at hearings, in letters and by phone, pushing to make it legal for doctors to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients.

15 Apr 2013

In the wake of Obama's budget, signs of optimism and discontent

Even as House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., expressed cautious optimism about some aspects of President Barack Obama's budget plan, others, like Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., took a harder line against it. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will take to Capitol Hill to defend her agency's budget request.

15 Apr 2013

Health and Human Services News and Research

Longer looks: The timely trauma response in Boston; Problems with aging doctors; Transplants from donors with HIV

Key architect of health law worries that public confusion could lead to 'train wreck'

Arkansas' Medicaid expansion alternative survives bumpy path, gains state legislators' final approval

First Edition: April 18, 2013

SAMHSA's Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990 provides disaster crisis counseling

Updated labeling for Purdue Pharma's reformulated OxyContin tablets gets FDA approval

U.S. Marshals seize food products from rodent-infested warehouse in NY, FDA reports

Medicare auditors say millions could be saved by limiting advance payments to insurers

First Edition: April 16, 2013

Drug products from ApotheCure, NuVision Pharmacy lack sterility assurance, FDA warns

Sebelius assures lawmakers that insurance marketplaces will open Oct. 1

Aetna releases two new metabolic syndrome programs to lower risk factors

Obama budget plan would raise Medicare costs for higher-income seniors

12 evidence-based principles to improve contraceptive counseling of adolescents

Women with sufficient amounts of vitamin D less likely to develop uterine fibroids

First Edition: April 15, 2013

Sebelius: Insurance exchanges 'on track;' Premiums could rise for higher income Medicare beneficiaries

State Medicaid news: California, N.C. officials explore cost-saving measures

State highlights: Baby boomers eye expanding end-of-life rights in states across nation; Calif. judges threaten governor with contempt of court over prison care

In the wake of Obama's budget, signs of optimism and discontent

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