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Uninsured populations to receive health care coverage through grants from HHS

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced $70.9 million in grants to 13 states to support the expansion of health care coverage for their uninsured populations.

4 Sep 2009

Complaint filed against Coventry for violating the Exchange Act

Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (“Coughlin Stoia”) today announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of an institutional investor in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Coventry Health Care, Inc. (“Coventry” or the “Company”) between February 9, 2007 and October 22, 2008, inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”).

4 Sep 2009

Obama's health care dilemma evokes memories of 1974

Kaiser Health News reports on similarities between past and present health reform efforts.

4 Sep 2009

Pzifer to pay $2.3 billion in medicare/medicaid fraud settlement

The Obama administration announced a landmark $2.3 billion health care fraud settlement with Pfizer, Inc. Wednesday, which is expected to change drug companies' promotion of off-label use of medicines.

4 Sep 2009

Media examine debate over UNESCO international sex education guidelines

The New York Times examines how "[a] set of proposed international sex education guidelines aimed at reducing H.I.V. infections among young people" and unplanned pregnancies, based on "more than 80 studies of sex education," has received some criticism. The release of the final guidelines, originally scheduled for next week by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has been delayed.

4 Sep 2009

Grant application guidelines released by The Center for Technology and Aging

The Center for Technology and Aging today released grant application guidelines for a $500,000 Medication Optimization Diffusion Grants Program. Up to six one-year grants will be made to organizations successfully proposing programs that directly benefit older adults. Four or five grants will focus on Californians, while one or two may benefit older adults in other regions of the U.S.

4 Sep 2009

Lessons for America: comparing health systems across Europe

Forbes published a package of articles and opinion pieces called "Public Vs. Private Health Care," which compares health care systems across Europe.

4 Sep 2009

Health workers' misdeeds kept in secret database

NPR: "Twenty-two years ago, the federal government started keeping a list of nurses, nurse aides, pharmacists and pharmacy aides who've been disciplined by state licensing boards. It's called the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank. But hospitals and nursing homes aren't allowed to see the database." The database was intended to be "open to hospitals and nursing homes when they hire staff and want to run a background check.

4 Sep 2009

Expectations high for Obama's 'Major Address' to Congress on health reform

President Obama plans to address Congress on Wednesday, only a day after lawmakers return from their August break, to spell out in detail his vision for overhauling health care, The Associated Press reports. The move signals that "Democrats have all but given up hope for a bipartisan breakthrough by Senate Finance Committee negotiators," because that committee - the only one seeking across-the-aisle compromise - had been given a Sept. 15 deadline.

4 Sep 2009

Also in global health news: Africa measles eradication; water, food security in South Asia; MDR-TB in Mumbai; SADC summit; U.S. Cuba embargo

WHO Regional Director for Africa Luis Gomes Sambo said Tuesday during the 59th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, that measles could be eradicated from the continent by 2020, citing an 89 percent reduction in the number of deaths caused by measles between 2000 and 2007, Angencia AngolaPress reports.

4 Sep 2009

Survey reveals health plan costs to increase in 2010

According to The Segal Company’s just-completed survey of projected 2010 health plan costs, medical plan cost trends will continue to be more than four times greater than the annual increase in average hourly earnings and in sharp contrast to changes in the consumer price index for urban consumers, which have been relatively flat or negative in the past 12 months.

4 Sep 2009

AARP members urge Congress members from Illinois to speed up health care reforms

With Congressional summer recess winding down and members of Congress home for just a few more days, AARP members in Illinois are taking to the streets to make sure they don't get a break from health care reform.

4 Sep 2009

Expedited access for members of Blue Shield affected by Southern California fires

Blue Shield of California announced today that it will be ensuring expedited access to needed prescriptions and mental health services for Blue Shield members impacted by the fires in Southern California.

4 Sep 2009

Groups unite for health care reform

Lobbying on health care increases and, despite differences, drug makers and consumer groups unite to push for their version of health care reform.

4 Sep 2009

Adding screens to homes can cut malaria risk, study says

A study conducted in the Republic of The Gambia found that adding screens to the windows and doors of houses can help reduce the number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes inside and prevent anaemia in children, CBCnews.ca reports (9/2).

4 Sep 2009

Nicotine replacement therapy before surgery can prevent common complications

People who start nicotine replacement therapy at least four weeks before surgery can halve their risk of poor wound healing. This is what the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) concludes in information published on informedhealthonline.org today.

3 Sep 2009

H1N1 vaccine to cost countries $2.50 - $20 per dose

The H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine will cost countries between $2.50 and $20 per dose, based on their ability to pay, according to the director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research at the WHO, Marie-Paule Kieny, Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times reports. During an interview published in the September issue of the WHO Bulletin, Kieny "also warned that there would not be enough vaccines for the world's population and that people should not rely entirely on the vaccine," the news service writes (9/2).

3 Sep 2009

A California consumer group says major insurers coerced employees to lobby

"The nation's two largest health insurers have been pressuring employees to lobby against healthcare reform in Congress in violation of a California law against coerced political activity, a consumer group alleged Wednesday," the Los Angeles Times reports.

3 Sep 2009

U.S. Department of Labor register apprenticeship programs organized by BlueCross BlueShield

The U.S. Department of Labor has registered information technology apprenticeship programs organized by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina with Apprenticeship Carolina(TM), a division of the S.C. Technical College System.

3 Sep 2009

Alliance for Health Reform to brief reporters on the hurdles to a meaningful health reform bill

This briefing, for reporters only, will look at some of the important issues that must be settled if President Obama is to sign a meaningful health reform bill this year.

3 Sep 2009