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CMA and Pfizer Canada team up for new online CME program for physicians

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and Pfizer Canada are pleased to announce a collaboration for a new online Continuing Medical Education (CME) program for physicians across the country.

2 Dec 2009

Copper may help fight against healthcare-associated infections

In a busy Birmingham teaching hospital, researchers swapped a conventional toilet seat, tap-handles and a ward door push-plate for similar items made from 70% copper. They compared the number of microbes on the copper surfaces against the number of bacteria on the same items from another ward and found that the copper surfaces had 90-100% fewer live bacteria than the non-copper surfaces.

2 Dec 2009

World AIDS Day: IAC to be held in D.C.; examination of Obama's HIV/AIDS efforts; UNICEF report

During a briefing on the eve of World AIDS Day Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the International AIDS Society (IAS) has chosen Washington, D.C., to host the 2012 International AIDS Conference (IAC) now that the "decades-old ban on HIV-positive visitors" to the U.S. has been lifted, Agence France-Presse reports (11/30).

2 Dec 2009

U.N. calls for $7.1b in annual aid request

The 2010 appeal "is the largest ever since the creation of the Consolidated Appeal Process in 1991," PTI/Business Standard writes (Sharma, 12/1). "Last year the appeal sought $7 billion, which was then a record," according to the U.N. News Centre.

2 Dec 2009

South-South Cooperation conference kicks off in Kenya

The High Level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation started Tuesday in Nairobi, Kenya, with officials discussing prospects and challenges of the initiative, Xinhua reports (Ooko, 12/1).

2 Dec 2009

Emerging Healthcare Solutions announces their American health care initiative

Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc. today announced their American health care initiative. Fifty million new patients are set to explode on the healthcare system with the passage of national healthcare legislation.

1 Dec 2009

Women's insurance amendment slated for Senate's first health bill vote

As the Senate debates the health reform legislation, amendments are being advanced and Senators are reacting to the bill.

1 Dec 2009

Uninsured cancer patient gives human face to health care debate

The Sacramento Bee has a three-part profile of an uninsured cancer patient, which is tracked alongside the progressing health care reform debate.

1 Dec 2009

Op-eds on World AIDS Day: Research, funding, hunger, Uganda

The "National Institutes of Health - perhaps our best hope for funding a cure for AIDS - has been underfunded since 2003," Kate Krauss, director of the AIDS Policy Project, writes in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece.

1 Dec 2009

Swine flu cases appear to have peaked

The current wave of pandemic H1N1 appears to have peaked, with four weeks of declines in several key indicators, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. Despite the decrease, the outbreak is continuing to take a heavy toll of hospitalizations and deaths, especially among children.

1 Dec 2009

Seniors can be reluctant to switch Medicare drug plans

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, in collaboration with The Washington Post, writes about the decisions seniors face regarding their health coverage.

1 Dec 2009

Political squabbles mark opening day of Senate health debate

The Senate on Monday began its health bill debate amid speculation regarding how long the floor consideration would last and how much the bill will change before a final vote is taken.

1 Dec 2009

Nationwide 'Medicare Fraud Strike Force' focuses on driving down cost

A "Medicare Fraud Strike Force," which started in south Florida, has now expanded across the country to indict more than 300 on fraudulent Medicare billing charges, The Washington Times reports. Officials say the strike force has broken up operations that attempted to defraud Medicare of more than $700 million.

1 Dec 2009

With health reform, Reid faces political challenges on the Hill and at home in Nevada

While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is busy trying to gather all the Senate Democrats into supporting health care reform, Nevada Republicans are seizing on the opportunity to try to take control of his seat, USA Today reports.

1 Dec 2009

Medicaid funding subject of lawsuits in Massachusetts, Idaho

Some hospitals are suing Massachusetts' Medicaid program for underpaying. Idaho health agencies are broadening their own lawsuit against the state on Medicaid payment rules.

1 Dec 2009

To influence Senate health debate, lobbyists' public voices getting louder

As the Senate commences its health care debate, lobbyists are lining up, Roll Call reports. Tactics include television ads, memos, factsheets, abortion-rights activists' "DC Lobby Day," and signs in Washington's subway stations.

1 Dec 2009

Mystery surrounds possibilities for public option compromise in Senate health bill

Controversy regarding the public option provision in the Senate's health bill remains fierce, leading many to wonder what a compromise would look like, The Christian Science Monitor reports. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needs to win a majority of centrist votes for health care reform in the Senate to get to a filibuster-proof 60 votes.

1 Dec 2009

CHS introduces the Optic onsite health care solution

Comprehensive Health Services, Inc. (CHS), a leading national workforce health management company specializing in onsite health care solutions, announced today the successful deployment of Optic™, the next iteration of its wireless, paperless technology platform that provides electronic health record and enterprise practice management functionality, predictive modeling, clinical reporting, evidence-based medicine compliance reporting, and advanced financial outcome reporting.

1 Dec 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

Every debate in health care would benefit from more transparency about what things really cost and who gets paid what (Steven Syre, 12/1).

1 Dec 2009

Abortion-rights group gear up for Senate debate

Abortion-rights groups are holding a lobby day on Wednesday to fight language in the House healthcare bill that would impose greater restrictions on access to the controversial procedure. The amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), adopted before House passage on Nov. 21, would prohibit women who receive government subsidies for healthcare from purchasing insurance that covers abortions, and it would prohibit coverage of the procedure in government-run health plans.

1 Dec 2009