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New campaign urges Americans to oppose Senate restrictions on flexible spending accounts

Save Flexible Spending Plans, a national grassroots organization dedicated to protecting flexible spending accounts (FSAs), today launched a new campaign, "Ten Before Ten," that encourages Americans to voice their support for protecting the cost-saving benefit by sending 10,000 emails to their senators before the start of 2010.

11 Dec 2009

Ten years later: Look to nurses as champions of patient safety

In a column for Kaiser Health News, Mary Naylor and Mark Pauly write: "Ten years ago this month, the Institute of Medicine shattered a widely held perception that American health care was safe.

11 Dec 2009

Teamsters supports Sanders amendment to eliminate tax

The Teamsters on Thursday announced their support for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) amendment to eliminate the proposed excise tax on insurance plans from the Senate health care reform proposal.

11 Dec 2009

COA: Current health reform legislation does not address major inadequacies in Medicare reimbursement

The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) today issued a statement warning that oncologists throughout the U.S. may face closing their practices if critical Medicare reimbursement fixes for treating cancer patients are not made as a part of health care reform.

11 Dec 2009

MedPAC home care cuts can harm home health agencies and impact senior Americans, says NAHC

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) once again has used a flawed data analysis to recommend cuts that would severely damage the ability of thousands of home health care agencies to provide valuable services to the most vulnerable of Americans, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) said today.

11 Dec 2009

Combination of MRI and mammography screenings detects early-stage breast cancer

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) coupled with mammography detects almost all cancers at an early stage, thereby reducing the incidence of advanced stage breast cancer in high-risk women.

11 Dec 2009

Italy's economically disadvantaged people have higher rates of hospitalization for ACSC disorders

Despite free public healthcare, Italy's poor are more likely to end up in hospital with avoidable conditions, new research shows. This pattern, reported today in the online open access journal BMC Public Health, mirrors findings from a number of different healthcare systems around the world, although to date fewer studies have been completed in Europe.

11 Dec 2009

People of diverse communities are at increased risk for depression and suicide

Americans do not believe that they know much about depression, but are highly aware of the risks of not receiving care, according to a survey released by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

11 Dec 2009

FY2010 State and Foreign Ops bill expected to move on the Hill this month

The fiscal year 2010 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which includes funding for global health-related measures, "is moving on the Hill as part of a mammoth catch-all spending bill that's expected to move through both chambers this month," Foreign Policy's blog, "The Cable," reports. "

10 Dec 2009

$6.5 million awarded to Esperanza Health Center for construction and renovation projects

President Obama announced yesterday nearly $600 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant awards to fund major construction and renovation projects at a total of 85 community health centers nationwide, including a $6.5 million award to Esperanza Health Center in North Philadelphia.

10 Dec 2009

Global food prices reach 14-month high, FAO report says

In its latest report, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Wednesday said the agency's Food Price Index had been increasing for four consecutive months and reached a 14-month high in November, Reuters reports. FAO said the "index - which measures monthly price changes for a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar - averaged 168 points last month, the highest since September 2008.

10 Dec 2009

Flu vaccine shortages in developing countries could destabilize global security, says former WHO deputy head

"Flu vaccine shortages in developing nations may destabilize global security should the H1N1 [swine flu] virus become more deadly … David Heymann, a former deputy head of the World Health Organization" said Monday, Bloomberg reports.

10 Dec 2009

Financial Times analyzes global approaches to debate over family planning

The Financial Times' Andrew Jack analyzes the debate over different approaches to family planning worldwide. According to Jack, there is a "growing worry that some developing countries have failed to follow the broader 'demographic transition' to lower fertility levels that has occurred in past decades in the western world and more recently across Latin America and much of Asia.

10 Dec 2009

ARTs safe without routine lab tests, Lancet study finds

A Lancet study published online Tuesday validates the safety of administering first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) to patients with HIV without routine toxicity and efficacy lab tests, "[b]ut tests of immune-system function might still be a good idea to monitor the progression of the disease and guide the second year of treatment," HealthDay/U.S. News & World Report reports. Patients in Africa "often receive [HIV] drug treatment ... without routine laboratory monitoring," according to the article.

10 Dec 2009

Pelosi: Depending on Senate, House could work part of Christmas week

CQ Politics: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she wouldn't rule out keeping the House in session for part of Christmas week, if that could lead to final action this year on a health care overhaul. Right now, however, such a scenario appears unlikely." In the Senate, Democratic leaders are waiting for an updated Congressional Budget Office analysis -- a report not expected before next week -- that includes the most recent round of proposals to the bill they are considering.

10 Dec 2009

Psychologists can help people deal with anxiety and depression symptoms more effectively

From Thanksgiving to New Year's, there are many wishes for everyone to have a blissful and celebratory holiday season. But for many people, the holidays bring more misery than mirth, particularly at a time when the ailing economy can't seem to recover quickly enough and money worries remain on people's minds.

10 Dec 2009

MedPAC suggests recouping overpayments to hospitals

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission suggested Thursday that Congress should adjust what it pays hospitals for inpatient care in 2011 to recoup overpayments that have come from changes in documentation and coding used by Medicare, according to a report on Modern Healthcare.

10 Dec 2009

AFP examines insecticide resistance's effect on malaria fight in Nigeria

Agence France-Presse examines the increase in insecticide-resistant mosquitoes in Nigeria - "the latest threat to combating malaria" in the country. "Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, contributes more than a quarter of the one million malaria deaths in Africa, according to official statistics," AFP writes.

10 Dec 2009

Fewer Massachusetts taxpayers penalized for lacking health insurance

The Boston Globe: "Fewer Massachusetts taxpayers were penalized for lacking required health insurance last year than were fined in 2007, the state said yesterday in a report reflecting the second year that residents had to report on their tax returns whether they were covered under the state's near-universal-coverage mandate.

10 Dec 2009