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Government-run health care and increased taxes top list of concerns

On the heels of the new $856 billion health care bill proposed yesterday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, doubt over health care reform passing this year still looms across the American public.

18 Sep 2009

Also in global health news: HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh; river blindness in Tanzania; potential immune system booster; compounds might fight TB

BDNews24.com reports on a new $13 million U.S.-government initiative aimed at "providing HIV-prevention services to two million at-risk people in Bangladesh including injecting drug users, male, female and transgender sex workers and their clients, and HIV-positive people through a network of 50 health centres." USAID will partner with Family Health International (FHI) to implement the program (9/17).

18 Sep 2009

Intermittent preventive treatment could prevent a third of infant malaria cases, study finds

Research into intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in infants (IPTi) found that one-third of malaria cases in African babies can be prevented by giving them regular doses of malaria drugs even if they have not contracted the disease, according to a Lancet study, published on Thursday, Reuters reports. The study found that IPTi "helped children build better immunity to the disease and reduced the risk of the parasite becoming drug-resistant," but "these benefits decrease if treatment is given continuously as a prophylaxis," Reuters writes.

18 Sep 2009

WHO in talks with developed countries about sharing H1N1 vaccine with developing nations

The recent news that a single dose of H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine can protect adults against the virus has sparked conversations between the WHO and developed countries about sharing their vaccine stockpiles with developing countries, Bloomberg reports.

From Baxter International Inc. 18 Sep 2009

Food aid hits 20-year low as number of 'critically hungry' people increases, WFP says

Global food aid is at a 20-year low even though the number of "critically hungry people" is expected to reach the highest level ever, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday, Reuters reports (9/16).

18 Sep 2009

Baucus plan gives a nod to GOP ideas

KHN reports that "[t]he Senate Finance Committee bill unveiled Wednesday by chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., contains several provisions that were inspired by Republicans, including testing new ways to handle medical malpractice cases, creating avenues for consumers to cross state lines to buy insurance and immediately launching a high-risk pool that would cover people with pre-existing medical conditions" (Pianin and Appleby, 9/17).

18 Sep 2009

Merge Healthcare launches FusionWeb application software

Continuing its technology leadership in image-enabling the healthcare enterprise, Merge Healthcare, today announced the release of FusionWeb™, a revolutionary zero-client software platform that enables secure

18 Sep 2009

Employers to reexamine health benefit strategies in response to passage of health care reform legislation

With health care reform efforts ramping up after the summer break, many of the nation’s employers are focusing on the action in Congress and plan to adjust their benefit strategies based on how final legislation affects their costs, according to a survey of 433 HR and benefit executives from midsize and large organizations conducted by professional services firm Towers Perrin.

18 Sep 2009

Obama to student audience: Health reform is 'defining struggle of this generation'

"Calling health insurance reform a 'defining struggle of this generation,' President Barack Obama told thousands of college students Thursday that Congress must resist scare tactics and false accusations to do a makeover."

18 Sep 2009

Two-day forum addresses maternal, child mortality in Asia-Pacific region

Poor health care, gender inequality, violence and poverty are to blame for Asian-Pacific countries' failure to significantly reduce maternal and child mortality rates in the region, Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said during the Asia-Pacific Forum on International Conference on Population and Development in Bangkok.

18 Sep 2009

How Republicans would overhaul the health system: The wish list

KHN reports that "[a]t least three comprehensive GOP bills have been introduced: one by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin; another by Rep. Tom Price of Georgia and a third by Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona. All three bills have a few themes in common with their Democratic proposals. ... While the main GOP proposals have no chance of passage, they could influence the debate" (Appleby, 9/16).

18 Sep 2009

Video library to address health insurance concerns

My Insurance Expert, one of the nation’s leading online services to compare and secure affordable health insurance, has launched a video library “Q&A” of unbiased perspectives on various health care insurance topics including how health care reform may affect individual and group coverage, determining the correct amount of co-pay and deductible, how to compare policies correctly, health savings account and much more.

18 Sep 2009

New bill to address Medi-Cal payment shortfalls

California's Medi-Cal program provides essential health care services to the poorest and most vulnerable Californians. Yet, the state ranks dead-last in the nation when it comes to funding health care for these patients. In 2008, California hospitals lost more than $4.2 billion in unpaid Medi-Cal costs.

18 Sep 2009

AAPA applauds Baucus' efforts to move forward on health care reform legislation

The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), representing 75,000 clinically practicing physician assistants (PAs) in the United States, is very pleased that America's Healthy Future Act of 2009, produced yesterday by Senator Max Baucus, fully integrates PAs into new team-based models of care that are designed to promote primary care and the coordination of care for patients with chronic medical conditions.

18 Sep 2009

Plans could change how Medicare pays doctors, hospitals

Sen. Max Baucus' health proposal includes achieving cost savings, in part, by reconfiguring the way doctors and hospitals are paid for their services, The Wall Street Journal reports.

18 Sep 2009

Federal officials say Louisiana owes $362 million for overpayments to public hospitals

The federal government says Louisiana public hospitals were overpaid by hundreds of millions of dollars.

18 Sep 2009

Merck, Wellcome Trust to launch vaccine center in India to produce vaccines for developing countries

Pharmaceutical company Merck and the Wellcome Trust have joined together to create a non-profit, £90-million (about $150 million) research center in India to facilitate the development of new vaccines, "including [those for] neglected diseases for which inadequate or no vaccines exist," Nature News reports.

18 Sep 2009

Health plan advanced by Senator Baucus is a step in the right direction: CEO of AHCA

The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (Alliance) characterized the health care finance reform plan released by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus as a step in the right direction, and said the process moving forward to a final bill should avoid steep cuts to Medicare financed nursing home care for the benefit of U.S. seniors, the overall stability of the nation's vital long term care sector, and the ongoing success of quality improvement initiatives.

18 Sep 2009

Health policy research roundup

Implementation Choices for the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 - This report examines two key areas of the implementation process of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009 - outreach and enrollment, and quality of care - and issues a set of recommendations. "Recommendations include: giving funding priority to states that will adopt or maintain key simplifications… ensuring quality measures focus on priority health needs for children, and building quality measurement and improvement capabilities into electronic health information systems, among others," according to a Commonwealth Fund description of the report (Simpson, Fairbrother, Touschner and Guyer, 9/10).

18 Sep 2009

Deterioration in brain function following breast cancer therapy has negative effects on quality of life

One of the most problematic side effects of cancer treatment, chemobrain - a range of symptoms including memory loss, inability to concentrate, difficulty thinking and other subtle cognitive changes following chemotherapy - seriously diminishes women's quality of life and daily functioning.

18 Sep 2009

Health Care News and Research

Government-run health care and increased taxes top list of concerns

Also in global health news: HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh; river blindness in Tanzania; potential immune system booster; compounds might fight TB

Intermittent preventive treatment could prevent a third of infant malaria cases, study finds

WHO in talks with developed countries about sharing H1N1 vaccine with developing nations

Food aid hits 20-year low as number of 'critically hungry' people increases, WFP says

Baucus plan gives a nod to GOP ideas

Merge Healthcare launches FusionWeb application software

Employers to reexamine health benefit strategies in response to passage of health care reform legislation

Obama to student audience: Health reform is 'defining struggle of this generation'

Two-day forum addresses maternal, child mortality in Asia-Pacific region

How Republicans would overhaul the health system: The wish list

Video library to address health insurance concerns

New bill to address Medi-Cal payment shortfalls

AAPA applauds Baucus' efforts to move forward on health care reform legislation

Plans could change how Medicare pays doctors, hospitals

Federal officials say Louisiana owes $362 million for overpayments to public hospitals

Merck, Wellcome Trust to launch vaccine center in India to produce vaccines for developing countries

Health plan advanced by Senator Baucus is a step in the right direction: CEO of AHCA

Health policy research roundup

Deterioration in brain function following breast cancer therapy has negative effects on quality of life

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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