Health Care News and Research

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New (and old) ideas for health care show possibility of savings, improvements

The search for reform models continues, with news reports exploring the Veterans Administration's "government-run health care," Washington State's "reputation for lower-cost, higher-quality health care," and Kaiser Permanente's new money-saving approach to heart attack treatment.

3 Oct 2009

VA Medical Centers, health care organizations join Planetree to focus on patient-centered health care

As the nation focuses on the future of health care in U.S. hospitals, VA Medical Centers and health care organizations around the country will join Planetree this October to spotlight patient-centered approaches to health care by commemorating the third annual Patient-Centered Care Awareness Month.

3 Oct 2009

News outlets continue to examine findings of recent U.N. report

News outlets continue to mine through the findings of the U.N.'s 2009 progress report on HIV and AIDS.

3 Oct 2009

FDA approves Bayer's IUD Mirena for treating heavy menstrual bleeding

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Mirena (levonorgestrel intrauterine system) to treat heavy menstrual bleeding in women who use intrauterine contraception as their method of pregnancy prevention. This is the first intrauterine device approved by the FDA for this additional indication.

3 Oct 2009

New health care ads hit the airwaves

The onslaught of health care advertising continues, with new ads from MoveOn.org, Organizing for America, the medical industry and Americans United for Change.

3 Oct 2009

Budget cuts to affect low-income seniors

An 81-year-old San Francisco woman with dementia, little money and an equally aged caregiver sister who is suffering from cancer.

3 Oct 2009

Health reform unlikely to fix Medicare doctor payment system

Health care reform in Congress is unlikely to reform the Medicare physician payment system, and lawmakers are likely to settle for another one-year fix to block a reduction in payments to doctors, CQ Politics reports.

3 Oct 2009

Google's venture capital wing invests in biotech company

Google's venture capital group is investing millions into Adimab, a biotech company that will construct a massive library of antibodies, some of which may yield powerful new drugs, the New York Times blog Bits reports.

3 Oct 2009

First U.S. patients could receive H1N1 vaccine next week

U.S. health officials announced Thursday the first batches of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine the government ordered will begin arriving in designated locations across the country on Tuesday and may be administered in the first patients by the end of next week, Reuters reports (Fox, 10/1).

3 Oct 2009

Finance's marathon markup complete as senators look forward to panel vote and floor action

Senators finished amending the Senate Finance Committee's health reform draft early Friday morning. The next stop after the panel's final vote early next week is the Senate floor.

3 Oct 2009

Eye treatment reimbursement change could cost Medicare millions

A change in the reimbursement rate for the drug Avastin, used off-label to treat an eye illness in the elderly, could lead Medicare doctors to use a much costlier drug that would cost the system millions, The New York Times reports.

3 Oct 2009

CNN, TIME examine increasing antibiotic resistance

CNN examines a recent report by researchers that warns of increasing antibiotic resistance and appeals for governments to take action to develop new antibiotics to avert a health crisis.

3 Oct 2009

Democratic leaders shift on public plan, but push ahead despite setbacks

Despite recent setbacks, congressional Democratic leaders have continued pushing for a new government-run insurer as part of health reform. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warmed this week to a more moderate approach to the health insurance plan proposed by centrist Democrats, The Hill reports.

3 Oct 2009

HHS awards $2.1 million grant to Albert Einstein College to expand HCOE

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University a three-year, $2.1 million grant to expand and enrich its Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE).

3 Oct 2009

ALL initiative three-year clinical observational study results published

A program that bundled two generic, low-cost drugs - a cholesterol-lowering statin and a blood pressure-lowering drug - and gave daily doses to 68,560 people with diabetes or heart disease for two years is estimated to have prevented 1,271 heart attacks and strokes in the first year following the study period, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the American Journal of Managed Care.

3 Oct 2009

Doctors battle proposed penalties for heavy use of tests

"Doctors are trying to remove a provision in the Senate's latest health bill that would cut Medicare payments to those who administer the most tests and treatments," The Wall Street Journal reports. "The proposal -- aimed at reducing waste -- is one of several proposals in the bill by the Senate Finance Committee that could change how doctors are evaluated and paid."

3 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health news: U.S. food aid declines; agriculture in Zimbabwe; U.S.-backed ITN network; reducing maternal mortality; DNDI expands; healthcare in Congo

Although U.S. food aid funding has increased by 53 percent over the last two years, a Government Accountability Office report on Wednesday said that during the same time period, the "amount of food delivered to address emergencies abroad fell 5 percent," the Washington Independent reports.

3 Oct 2009

Cleveland and Mayo Clinic CEOs raise concerns about Congressional reform proposals

The chief executives of the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic, both held up as models for health reform, voiced concerns about the health care proposals moving forward in Congress.

3 Oct 2009

61 institutions awarded grants for cancer research from American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society, the largest non-government, not-for-profit funding source of cancer research in the United States, has awarded 94 new national research and training grants totaling $45,097,000 to 61 institutions nationwide in the second of two grants cycles for 2009. The grants go into effect beginning January 1, 2010.

3 Oct 2009

SNM's joint session with CMOD on molecular imaging biomarkers in clinical research

SNM is collaborating with the International Partnership for Critical Markers of Disease (CMOD) during CMOD's 7th Annual Biomarkers and Surrogate Endpoints Symposium, Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, Bethesda, Md., Oct. 19th, 2009.

3 Oct 2009