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As health insurance premiums rise sharply, lawmakers and consumers face tough choices

Steep increases in individual health insurance premiums are sparking reactions across the country.

21 Feb 2010

CDA Foundation selects five organizations to improve oral health care for state's most vulnerable residents

Continuing its efforts to improve oral health care for the state's most vulnerable residents, the California Dental Association Foundation today announced the latest organizations selected for support through its popular grant program. This year, the philanthropic effort is supported in part by Olympic Dental & Medical Devices.

20 Feb 2010

U.S. congressional delegation in Zimbabwe to assess power sharing agreement, economic reform, humanitarian assistance

A congressional delegation "met Thursday with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Finance Minister Tendai Biti to discuss progress in fully implementing the September 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing and on reforms by the Harare unity government," VOA News reports (Zulu, 2/18).

20 Feb 2010

American Well honored as one of the most innovative companies in Healthcare

American Well™ has been honored as one of the Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare by Fast Company in its annual Most Innovative Companies issue. American Well was recognized for extending Online Care to consumers and physicians nationwide in partnership with top health plans and delivery networks. Other leaders on Fast Company's list include Google, Cisco, Apple and GE, along with such rising newcomers as Twitter and Gilt Groupe.

20 Feb 2010

Research Roundup: Financing boomers' care; California's budget cuts; Racial disparities in surgical outcomes

Health Affairs: Chronic Conditions Account For Rise In Medicare Spending From 1987 To 2006 - "Medicare beneficiaries' medical needs, and where beneficiaries undergo treatment, have changed dramatically over the past two decades." For example, the authors write, "heart disease ranked first among the top-ten conditions in terms of attributable share of growth from 1987 to 1997, accounting for nearly 14 percent of the increase in Medicare spending."

20 Feb 2010

U.N. calls for $1.4B to fund basic needs in Haiti through the end of 2010

The U.N. on Thursday launched its "largest appeal following a natural disaster," calling for $1.4 billion "to provide food, water, shelter and sanitation to 3 million Haitians throughout 2010," Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reports (Varner, 2/18).

20 Feb 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

The Infectious Diseases Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog examines U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby's recent address to the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) where he reemphasized the Obama administration's commitment to "'maintaining, extending and increasing' the U.S. response to global AIDS." Goosby reflected on the lessons drawn from PEPFAR to date and presented components of the 5-year PEPFAR strategy, the blog notes.

20 Feb 2010

News outlets examine HIV vaccine research, cervical cancer screening data presented at conference

Several news outlets examine the latest reports out of this week's Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco.

20 Feb 2010

Health worker training program cuts stillbirths by 30% in 6 developing countries, study says

The rate of stillbirths was cut by more than 30 percent after health workers in rural parts of six developing countries were trained "in how to help a newborn start breathing and to keep it warm and clean," according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Reuters reports. The trainees - who included midwives, nurses, traditional birth attendants and physicians - were given "hand-held pumps and masks to fill babies' lungs with air if they were not breathing at birth, clean-delivery kits to prevent infection and scales to measure their weight," the news service writes.

20 Feb 2010

Opinion: Violence against women, rebuilding Haiti, food security

"Violence against women is a global epidemic, threatening the lives and safety of women and girls around the world," Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, writes in a Baltimore Sun opinion piece in which he asserts his support of the International Violence Against Women Act. In the piece, Cardin describes how violence against women increases risks of health problems - such as dying in pregnancy and contracting HIV - and poverty (2/19).

20 Feb 2010

Private health insurance around the world may be making health care problems worse

The Economist offers an analysis of private insurance around the world. "Governments are increasingly turning to private insurance in order to widen access to health care and make it more efficient. Are they expecting too much?"

20 Feb 2010

Money in Chicago health savings accounts company disappears

Federal investigators are looking into complaints that money put aside by consumers in health savings accounts has disappeared.

20 Feb 2010

WSNA holds informational picket to highlight issues critical to public health and safety

Washington State Nurses Association, representing more than 300 registered nurses at Public Health - Seattle & King County, is holding an informational picket today to highlight issues critical to public health and safety. During stalled contract negotiations, public health nurses are deeply concerned that the administration's new limitations on work schedules will reduce the ability to meet the needs of patients and clients.

20 Feb 2010

Rockefeller Foundation to support implementation global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa

The Rockefeller Foundation has awarded a $630,100 project support grant to the American Medical Informatics Association to support the initial implementation this year of a global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa designed for primary care providers, technical staff and health policy-makers.

20 Feb 2010

Workforce issues: Health care jobs boom in Nevada; Florida nurses lobby for safer hospital staffing

News outlets report on the health care workforce, including the thriving job market in Nevada and an effort to institute mandatory staffing ratios for nurses in Florida hospitals.

20 Feb 2010

Health care fraud: Massachusetts hospital to pay $2.79M for settling False Claims Act allegations

Mercy Hospital Inc. (d/b/a Mercy Medical Center) of Springfield, Mass., has agreed to pay the United States $2,799,462 to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act between 2005 and 2006 by failing to provide, or failing to document that it provided, the minimum number of hours of rehabilitation therapy required under Medicare guidelines, the Justice Department announced today.

20 Feb 2010

Obama plans to offer own health bill before summit as parties stake claims

President Obama will offer "comprehensive" health reform legislation in advance of next week's planned summit with Republicans, The New York Times reports. "Democratic officials said the president's proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority."

20 Feb 2010

Stalled health bills could lead to increase in hospital mergers

Some analysts expect an increase in hospital mergers if health care overhaul remains stalled and the head of the Cleveland Clinic discusses why he thinks an overhaul won't lower health costs.

20 Feb 2010

State lawmakers address 'troubling trends' in insurance market

Des Moines (Iowa) Register: "State lawmakers want to press Iowa health insurers to release more details to help lawmakers decide whether rate increases are justified. This week, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer, said it would raise rates an average of 18 percent for about 80,000 Iowans who buy their own health insurance" (Jacobs, 2/19).

20 Feb 2010

P4P programs may be effective in incentivizing low performing physicians: Study

Pay-for-performance (P4P) programs are payment models that reward workers for meeting certain performance measures for quality and efficiency. In the healthcare setting, P4P programs use a variety of methods to reward physicians financially for achieving targets, including fee differentials and bonuses.

20 Feb 2010

Health Care News and Research

As health insurance premiums rise sharply, lawmakers and consumers face tough choices

CDA Foundation selects five organizations to improve oral health care for state's most vulnerable residents

U.S. congressional delegation in Zimbabwe to assess power sharing agreement, economic reform, humanitarian assistance

American Well honored as one of the most innovative companies in Healthcare

Research Roundup: Financing boomers' care; California's budget cuts; Racial disparities in surgical outcomes

U.N. calls for $1.4B to fund basic needs in Haiti through the end of 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

News outlets examine HIV vaccine research, cervical cancer screening data presented at conference

Health worker training program cuts stillbirths by 30% in 6 developing countries, study says

Opinion: Violence against women, rebuilding Haiti, food security

Private health insurance around the world may be making health care problems worse

Money in Chicago health savings accounts company disappears

WSNA holds informational picket to highlight issues critical to public health and safety

Rockefeller Foundation to support implementation global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa

Workforce issues: Health care jobs boom in Nevada; Florida nurses lobby for safer hospital staffing

Health care fraud: Massachusetts hospital to pay $2.79M for settling False Claims Act allegations

Obama plans to offer own health bill before summit as parties stake claims

Stalled health bills could lead to increase in hospital mergers

State lawmakers address 'troubling trends' in insurance market

P4P programs may be effective in incentivizing low performing physicians: Study

Event guide: 3rd Measuring Patient Engagement Summit eBook

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

How microplastics and bacteria interact to drive antibiotic resistance

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