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Maternal, infant ART drives down mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast-feeding, studies show

According to two new studies, "giving pregnant and nursing women triple antiretroviral drug therapy, or treating breast-fed infants with an antiretroviral medication, can dramatically cut transmission rates, enabling moms to both breast-feed and to protect nearly all children from infection," HealthDay News/Bloomberg Businessweek reports (Goodwin, 6/16).

18 Jun 2010

Drug makers face tightened regulations by FDA and less clout at medical meetings

The Washington Post: "The Food and Drug Administration this week began posting online the results of safety evaluations of recently approved drugs and vaccines. The action follows a law enacted in 2007 that requires the agency to provide more safety information to consumers and health professionals. The evaluations must be conducted 18 months after a new drug comes on the market.

18 Jun 2010

Loss of Manhattan hospital crowds other ERs; Utah discourages Medicaid patients from unnecessary ER visits

"Emergency rooms in downtown Manhattan have become more crowded since St. Vincent's Hospital closed in April, but ambulances are getting patients into the remaining ERs faster than they did when the 161-year-old Greenwich Village hospital was open." Bellevue Hospital Center, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York Downtown Hospital and New York University Langone Medical Center are the "four downtown ERs left to pick up the slack" and have experienced increases in patient visits in May compared with 2008 levels.

18 Jun 2010

Obama thanks nurses for health law support, nurse practitioners push role

President Obama Wednesday thanked the American Nurses Association for supporting the health reform effort, The Associated Press reports. "Obama said nurses are the 'beating heart' of the health care system. … The Obama administration on Wednesday also announced new funding (Today's Daily Report includes summaries of coverage related to this announcement.) to help educate and train full-time nurses" (Simmons, 6/17).

18 Jun 2010

Experts discuss G8 aid commitments

Economist Jeffrey Sachs said Wednesday that the G8 could endanger its credibility if leaders fail to fulfill several "broken multi-billion-dollar pledges" aimed at helping the developing world, Canwest News Service/Vancouver Sun reports.

18 Jun 2010

Fraudulent Tamiflu sold over Internet, FDA warns

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned consumers about a potentially harmful product represented as "Generic Tamiflu" sold over the Internet. FDA tests revealed that the fraudulent product does not contain Tamiflu's active ingredient, oseltamivir, but cloxacillin, an ingredient in the same class of antibiotics as penicillin.

18 Jun 2010

Republicans, Obama administration spar over health overhaul

A Heritage Foundation-affiliated conservative advocacy group, Heritage Action, will begin targeting lawmakers "at home in their districts" who fail to support the GOP-led efforts to repeal the overhaul with political ads and other tactics, according to The Hill, which quoted Michael Needham, the just-launched Action group's CEO "The effects of Obamacare are being felt more and more every day.

18 Jun 2010

Justice Department asks court to throw out states' lawsuit challenging health overhaul

The Associated Press reports that the Justice Department filed a motion in Florida late Wednesday asking a "federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by 20 states challenging President Barack Obama's health care overhaul." The states are arguing that the federal government cannot require individuals to buy health insurance, a key provision of the new health law.

18 Jun 2010

HHS announces $250 million in federal funding to boost primary care providers

The Washington Post: "In an attempt to address a national shortage of health-care workers, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that the federal government will spend $250 million in programs to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other care providers. The money ... includes $168 million to train 500 new primary-care physicians over the next five years, $30 million to encourage 600 nursing students to attend school full-time and complete their education, and $32 million to create 600 new physician assistants."

18 Jun 2010

IU-Regenstrief programs to address growing workforce needs for qualified health IT workers

Investments in the future of health care delivery include more than training additional doctors and nurses. Health information technology specialists are critical. While a growing number of hospitals and physicians want to offer their patients the benefits of electronic medical records and health information exchange, there is a nationwide shortage of highly skilled health IT workers to fill an estimated 60,000 positions.

18 Jun 2010

FDA approves new indication for Tasigna in treatment of rare blood cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a new indication for Tasigna (nilotinib) for the treatment of a rare blood cancer when it is first diagnosed. The cancer, called Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CP-CML), is a slowly progressing blood and bone marrow disease linked to a genetic abnormality.

18 Jun 2010

GOP extenders proposal fails; Dems still seek to lower cost on their bill

Senate Republicans failed Thursday to replace a broad Democratic jobless benefits bill, which includes a provision to stop a pending 21 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors. The Republican option failed in a 57-41 vote, The Wall Street Journal reports.

18 Jun 2010

Health IT implementation plan: 'Bold incrementalism'

Farzad Mostashari, a senior official in the government's health IT office, said in a speech Tuesday that the strategy for implementing federal ehealth efforts is one of "bold incrementalism," Modern Healthcare reports. Mostashari listed as an example the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's "approach to the health information exchange.

18 Jun 2010

Women with college degrees more likely to have health insurance

Attention college grads: Your degree may be the key to both a career and better health coverage. According to a new study of women's health insurance from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, women without a high school diploma were nearly four times more likely to be uninsured as women with a college degree.

18 Jun 2010

Feds to states: Set up health insurance pools for high-risk patients by July 1

The program, one of the highest profile provisions of the law, is designed to provide health insurance to people who have been denied coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition and have been without coverage for at least six months. It will start enrollment on July 1 and begin coverage on Aug. 1, according to guidance that Jay Angoff, director of the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, sent to state officials last week.

18 Jun 2010

States want Congress to keep extra Medicaid money flowing

Illinois will face a $750 million shortfall in the fiscal year beginning in July if Congress doesn't extend increased Medicaid funding, originally part of last year's economic stimulus, Illinois Statehouse News reports. "The increased Medicaid reimbursements stand as a national issue as the recession lingers. Thirty states have crafted budgets for the fiscal year set to begin July 1 based on an extension of the increased payments, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures" (Massingale, 6/16).

18 Jun 2010

$FDA approves Jevtana in combination with prednisone for metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer$

FDA approves Jevtana in combination with prednisone for metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer

Sanofi-aventis announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted marketing authorization for Jevtana® (cabazitaxel) Injection in combination with prednisone for the treatment of patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer (mHRPC) previously treated with a docetaxel-containing treatment regimen.

18 Jun 2010

Democrats scale back 'doc fix' in pursuit of votes to pass jobs bill, Medicaid provision may be dropped

A bill that would, among other things, extend some unemployment benefits and provide a temporary fix for Medicare physician payment rates languished in the Senate Wednesday as a procedural vote to end debate on the bill failed, 52 to 45, The Wall Street Journal reports. Eleven Democrats broke with the party to vote no.

18 Jun 2010

St. Jude Medical commences enrollment in LAPTOP-HF study

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced the first enrollment in its LAPTOP-HF (Left Atrial Pressure Monitoring to Optimize Heart Failure Therapy) study. The goal of the LAPTOP-HF study is to demonstrate that the new investigational left atrial pressure (LAP) management system safely and effectively improves outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF).

17 Jun 2010

One in three people with psoriasis do not receive proper treatment due to health insurance issues: Survey

Results from a new survey reveal that one in three people with psoriasis do not receive proper treatment for their disease due to health insurance issues—and many won't be helped by the new health care reform law.

17 Jun 2010

Health Care News and Research

Maternal, infant ART drives down mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast-feeding, studies show

Drug makers face tightened regulations by FDA and less clout at medical meetings

Loss of Manhattan hospital crowds other ERs; Utah discourages Medicaid patients from unnecessary ER visits

Obama thanks nurses for health law support, nurse practitioners push role

Experts discuss G8 aid commitments

Fraudulent Tamiflu sold over Internet, FDA warns

Republicans, Obama administration spar over health overhaul

Justice Department asks court to throw out states' lawsuit challenging health overhaul

HHS announces $250 million in federal funding to boost primary care providers

IU-Regenstrief programs to address growing workforce needs for qualified health IT workers

FDA approves new indication for Tasigna in treatment of rare blood cancer

GOP extenders proposal fails; Dems still seek to lower cost on their bill

Health IT implementation plan: 'Bold incrementalism'

Women with college degrees more likely to have health insurance

Feds to states: Set up health insurance pools for high-risk patients by July 1

States want Congress to keep extra Medicaid money flowing

FDA approves Jevtana in combination with prednisone for metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer

Democrats scale back 'doc fix' in pursuit of votes to pass jobs bill, Medicaid provision may be dropped

St. Jude Medical commences enrollment in LAPTOP-HF study

One in three people with psoriasis do not receive proper treatment due to health insurance issues: Survey

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