Health and Human Services News and Research

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In 'fiscal cliff' talks, Medicare and Medicaid savings ideas draw scrutiny

The Wall Street Journal asks when cuts to these programs will start affecting beneficiaries and causing access issues. Other savings ideas face a burden of proof. Also, The Hill reports that the White House is cooling to the idea of $100 billion in Medicaid cuts floated earlier this year. In the background, news outlets offer reports about progress or lack thereof in averting the looming cliff.

12 Dec 2012

HHS to states: Partial Medicaid expansion won't get full federal funding

On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services said it was all or nothing on the health care law's expansion of Medicaid eligibility, disappointing some Republican governors who were considering smaller growth in the state-federal program for the poor and elderly.

12 Dec 2012

Clinical trial to examine AstraZeneca experimental drug against pulmonary tuberculosis

A clinical trial will examine an investigational drug's early bacteria-killing activity in patients newly diagnosed with drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis.

12 Dec 2012

Administration: No enhanced match for partial Medicaid expansion

The Obama administration filled in a key detail of what states must do to receive full federal funding for an expansion of Medicaid under the 2010 health law. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter sent Monday to governors that states cannot partially expand their Medicaid programs and get full federal funding.

11 Dec 2012

FDA expands approved use of Janssen Biotech’s Zytiga to treat men with mCRPC

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today expanded the approved use of Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) to treat men with late-stage (metastatic) castration-resistant prostate cancer prior to receiving chemotherapy.

10 Dec 2012

Roundup: Texas Medicaid funding fight looms; Minn. facing federal Medicaid scrutiny; health care jobs 'boom'

If the Texas Legislature is in session, there must be a fight about Medicaid going on. The health care program for the disabled, the elderly poor and the impoverished raises hackles every two years, mostly because the number in need keeps rising alongside health care costs.

10 Dec 2012

Women's Health: Advocates seek new Plan B consideration; Texas lawmakers find Planned Parenthood decision is costly

NPR notes that some backers of the "morning after" pill hope to get HHS Secretary Sebelius to review age restrictions on the drug. And, The Texas Tribune examines the costs to the state because of the lack of subsidized birth control.

7 Dec 2012

Viewpoints: Considering baby boomers' future burden on Medicare; Holtz-Eakin endorses state exchanges; The value (or not) of mammograms

The Congressional Budget Office projects that if current policies continue, total federal spending will rise to 24 percent of gross domestic product in 2022. [Republicans and Washington deficit hawks'] proposed solution is a cap on government spending.

7 Dec 2012

Christie rejects state-run health insurance exchange

The New Jersey governor said he didn't have enough information about the alternatives.

7 Dec 2012

First Edition: December 7, 2012

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations includes articles on the talks between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner on the "fiscal cliff."

7 Dec 2012

Benefits under health law will vary by state; Restaurant chain backs off plan to move to part-time workers to avoid insurance costs

The New York Times looks at the wide variations in essential health benefits defined by states, while The Associated Press reports that Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster, has decided not to try to avoid health law requirements and will not switch full-time employees to part-time status.

7 Dec 2012

Longer looks: The frustrations of academic medicine; Small business owners fear health law changes; A doctor struggles to save his mother

Like many franchisees, Robert U. Mayfield, who owns five Dairy Queens in and around Austin, Tex., is always eager to expand and - no surprise - has had his eyes on opening a sixth DQ. But he said concerns about the new federal health care law had persuaded him to hold off.

7 Dec 2012

Studies gauge health law's impact on consumer savings, Rx drug coverage

The Commonwealth Fund concluded that consumers saved $1.5 billion in 2011 as a result of a provision that limits how much insurers can spend on expenses not related to medical care. Meanwhile, Avalere Health found that drug coverage plans offered on health exchanges will vary by state.

6 Dec 2012

States continue sorting out choices about health exchanges, Medicaid expansion

Kansas, South Dakota and Texas are among the states still making decisions -- or reconsidering old ones -- about the health law's insurance exchanges and the Medicaid expansion.

6 Dec 2012

Synthetic marijuana linked to 11,406 of 4.9M drug-related ED visits in 2010

Street forms of synthetic cannabinoids - so-called "synthetic marijuana" - were linked to 11,406 of the 4.9 million drug-related emergency department (ED) visits in 2010, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

6 Dec 2012

Tennessee nursing-care company charged with Medicare fraud

A Tennessee-based nursing-care company systematically defrauded Medicare of millions of dollars by pressuring therapists to perform expensive, unnecessary treatments, according to a recently unsealed federal complaint.

5 Dec 2012

HHS says health law changes to Medicare drug program saved seniors $5 billion

The administration announces that almost 2.8 million people have saved an average $677, because the law is closing the prescription drug doughnut hole.

5 Dec 2012

Health plans welcome some HHS health law implementation rules, gear up for marketplace changes

Insurers are preparing for new approaches to selling plans directly to consumers and how some state exchanges will operate. They are also girding for additional guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services that could help stabilize the insurance market.

5 Dec 2012

Roe, Gingrey to lead GOP doctors caucus

Meanwhile, The Hill reports that House Republicans are likely to embrace the same Medicare cuts that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney had assailed President Barack Obama over, but which are likely to be included again in the House Republican budget. And Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., is getting encouragement to head the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee.

4 Dec 2012

Link between smoking, decreased bone density and osteoporosis risk in teenage girls

Teenage girls who smoke accumulate less bone during a critical growth period and carry a higher risk of developing osteoporosis later in life, according to new research in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

4 Dec 2012

Health and Human Services News and Research

In 'fiscal cliff' talks, Medicare and Medicaid savings ideas draw scrutiny

HHS to states: Partial Medicaid expansion won't get full federal funding

Clinical trial to examine AstraZeneca experimental drug against pulmonary tuberculosis

Administration: No enhanced match for partial Medicaid expansion

FDA expands approved use of Janssen Biotech’s Zytiga to treat men with mCRPC

Roundup: Texas Medicaid funding fight looms; Minn. facing federal Medicaid scrutiny; health care jobs 'boom'

Women's Health: Advocates seek new Plan B consideration; Texas lawmakers find Planned Parenthood decision is costly

Viewpoints: Considering baby boomers' future burden on Medicare; Holtz-Eakin endorses state exchanges; The value (or not) of mammograms

Christie rejects state-run health insurance exchange

First Edition: December 7, 2012

Benefits under health law will vary by state; Restaurant chain backs off plan to move to part-time workers to avoid insurance costs

Longer looks: The frustrations of academic medicine; Small business owners fear health law changes; A doctor struggles to save his mother

Studies gauge health law's impact on consumer savings, Rx drug coverage

States continue sorting out choices about health exchanges, Medicaid expansion

Synthetic marijuana linked to 11,406 of 4.9M drug-related ED visits in 2010

Tennessee nursing-care company charged with Medicare fraud

HHS says health law changes to Medicare drug program saved seniors $5 billion

Health plans welcome some HHS health law implementation rules, gear up for marketplace changes

Roe, Gingrey to lead GOP doctors caucus

Link between smoking, decreased bone density and osteoporosis risk in teenage girls

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