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MCHCP offers Mercy Health Plans options to its members

Missouri state employees in the Southwest and South Central Missouri regions will now have the option to choose Mercy Health Plans thanks to an agreement reached Tuesday between Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan (MCHCP) and Mercy Health Plans.

21 Nov 2009

Employers take action to improve medication adherence

More employers are taking steps to improve their employees' health by making sure they take their medicines as prescribed, a move that could stave off more serious and costly health consequences, according to a new report sponsored by the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC).

21 Nov 2009

PhRMA reaffirms its commitment to support the health reform

POLITICO recently published an editorial by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Senior Vice President Ken Johnson. In the editorial, Johnson makes the case for health reform and reaffirm's PhRMA's commitment to supporting this historic effort.

21 Nov 2009

Publication serves as a guide to build productive partnerships and overcome global health challenges

Meaningful and lasting progress in addressing global health challenges cannot be achieved without partnerships and collaboration, according to a publication released today, Case Studies for Global Health.

21 Nov 2009

American Academy of Actuaries urge Senators to strengthen individual mandate in the health reform bill

The American Academy of Actuaries is urging senators to modify health care reform legislation released this week to contain stronger language regarding a health insurance individual coverage mandate. The actuaries said that an effective and enforceable mandate will minimize adverse selection stemming from more restrictive issue and rating rules prescribed by the bill.

21 Nov 2009

AHHE and NHCCH launch social media campaign

The Association of Hispanic Healthcare Executives and the National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Health today announced the launching of their social media campaign, which will partner Hispanic media, the country's leading Hispanic professional health associations and Hispanic consumers.

21 Nov 2009

Health care bill: LAHP warns of higher premiums and reduced benefits

The Louisiana Association of Health Plans today warned that Louisianians could experience higher health care premiums and reduced benefits if proposals being considered by Congress should become law.

21 Nov 2009

CWA disappointed by Senate health care bill

The Senate bill’s proposal to tax health care benefits would make our health care system worse, not better. This new tax, which is opposed by the majority of Americans, would affect millions of families. Average families who clearly don’t have “Cadillac” health care plans would owe thousands of dollars in new taxes.

21 Nov 2009

The American Legion applauds the Senate for the passage of Caregiver bill

The national commander of The American Legion applauds the Senate for their overwhelming support of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009 with a resounding 98-0 vote yesterday. “This legislation will improve the lives of so many veterans and their families,” said National Commander Clarence E. Hill. “Especially those with serious health care challenges.”

20 Nov 2009

Senate health care reform bill disappointing: National Retail Federation

The National Retail Federation today expressed disappointment in the Senate health care reform bill introduced by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

20 Nov 2009

The Economist examines attention to world's food supply

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20 Nov 2009

UNICEF report highlights gains in child health, while 1b still lack essential services

A special edition of UNICEF's annual State of the World's Children report, released 20 years after the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, shows that "fewer youngsters are dying and more are going to school - but an estimated 1 billion still lack services essential to their survival and development," the Associated Press reports.

20 Nov 2009

Children with kidney disease likely to have "masked" hypertension

Spot blood pressure readings in children with chronic kidney disease often fail to detect hypertension - even during doctor's office visits - increasing a child's risk for serious heart problems, according to research from Johns Hopkins Children's Center and other institutions. A report of the findings appears online in the Journal of American Society of Nephrology.

20 Nov 2009

5% tax on cosmetic surgery opposed by AAFPRS

The United States Senate is about to consider health system reform legislation which contains a 5% tax on cosmetic surgery deemed unnecessary for medical purposes. The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) announces it strongly opposes the inclusion of this tax as it is discriminatory and has already failed in other states.

20 Nov 2009

USAID nominee visits Capitol Hill

President Barack Obama's nominee to head USAID, Rajiv Shah, "made the rounds" on Capitol Hill Thursday, which included a meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (D-Mass.), Politco's Laura Rozen reports on her foreign policy blog. Rozen also examines this week's markup of the Kerry-Lugar foreign aid reform bill and quotes a Hill staffer saying that there is a "fundamental disagreement between what USAID should look like and what it should do between the administration and Congress."

20 Nov 2009

Nelson says he'll vote to allow debate, others still up in the air

With the Senate's test vote fast approaching, some lawmakers are disclosing where they stand. For instance, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said Friday he will vote with Democrats to advance to debate on a health care reform bill but that he's reserving the right to vote down the bill on final passage.

20 Nov 2009

Lancet examines Uganda's child-health volunteers

A Lancet World Report examines how a small group of village volunteers trained in basic health care are helping to improve the health of Ugandan children. "In a country where government spending on health is US$39 per person and 13% of children younger than 5 years die, trained volunteer health workers can make a substantial difference in remote rural areas," said Jerome Kabakyenga, dean of Medicine at the Mbara University of Science and Technology (MUST).

20 Nov 2009

Evidence does not connect H1N1 vaccine to patient deaths, WHO says

The deaths of 41 people from six countries who had received the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine were not directly linked to the vaccine, the WHO said Thursday, the Associated Press/MSNBC reports (11/19).

20 Nov 2009

Antibiotic resistance a growing problem, particularly in southern, eastern Europe

Antibiotic resistance is increasing throughout the world because of excessive use, Agence France-Press reports. The news service writes, "Experts at the 2nd annual European antibiotics awareness day held by the Stockholm-based European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control (ECDC) said new, hyper-resistant bacteria were emerging, threatening the pillars of global health."

20 Nov 2009

News outlets examine malaria drug resistance, hope for malaria eradication in Africa

Experts at an American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting this week said that resistance to the best available drug to treat malaria "is more widespread in Southeast Asia than previously reported," Science News/Wired Science reports. Researchers have been monitoring drug resistance along the Thailand-Cambodia border where patients taking artemisinin combination therapy - the most potent treatment for malaria - have been clearing the parasite from their bodies more slowly.

20 Nov 2009