Health Care News and Research

RSS

Pennsylvania's first case of West Nile in 2009 confirmed

State Health Secretary Everette James today reported this year's first confirmed human case of West Nile virus in Pennsylvania. The individual is a 21-year-old woman from Luzerne County.

12 Aug 2009

Providers, patients in States face budget squeeze

Local newspapers report on health care issues in Delaware, Lousiana and Hawaii. In Delaware, The News Journal reports on a Medicaid-related agreement regarding the state and prescription drug costs.

12 Aug 2009

Many senior drivers unaware of potential impact on driving performance associated with taking medications

The findings, released today by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, indicate that 95 percent of those age 55 and older have one or more medical conditions, 78 percent take one or more medications, and only 28 percent have an awareness of the risks those medications might have on driving ability.

12 Aug 2009

Latinos wait for health care reform while illegal immigrants face care decisions

The health care needs of an estimated 6.8 million undocumented and uninsured immigrants "has become the third rail in the debate over health-care reform," The Chicago Tribune reports. Some health care advocates have proposed broadening the proposals before Congress to include this population, but "fierce opposition has kept the idea off the table."

12 Aug 2009

Alticor and Metagenics enters into joint venture agreement

Alticor and Metagenics today announced that they have entered into a joint venture agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Alticor will obtain a substantial ownership interest in Metagenics, and the current Metagenics shareholders will continue to retain a significant interest in the company. The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Metagenics shareholders and antitrust clearance.

12 Aug 2009

Scientists discover how new drug kills roundworms

A PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases study found how a new drug developed by scientists in China effectively kills roundworms – "a parasite that lurks in the intestines and which affects nearly two billion people in tropical countries," Reuters reports. "Roundworms are particularly harmful to children and pregnant women," Reuters writes.

12 Aug 2009

Shwarzenegger’s cuts to HIV/AIDS programs to be protested

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the nation’s largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider, is joining a broad-based coalition of AIDS advocates and patients to protest draconian budget cuts that were blue lined out of the budget by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and that will jeopardize the public health by eliminating the vast majority of funding for AIDS prevention, care and treatment.

11 Aug 2009

Obama hopes to retake health debate with grass (and Net) roots activity

CQ Politics reports: "After enduring weeks of criticism over their efforts to retool the U.S. health system, President Obama invited all 60 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus to a White House lunch last week for a round of commiserating and chin-up encouragement ... Still, for all the rhetorical morale-boosting, some lawmakers are growing restive over the question of just what sort of big-picture health plan they’re fighting for.

11 Aug 2009

Obama pushes for health reform at New Hampshire Town Hall meeting

President Barack Obama held a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, early this afternoon to push for health care reform.

11 Aug 2009

Grassley feels the heat from interest groups, Demint becomes a leading opposition voice

The Associated Press/Chicago Tribune reports on interest group activity in Iowa. The AARP recently "announced it is launching an advertising and organizing blitz designed to 'debunk the myths' being offered by health care reform critics. 'We won't stand idle when opponents of health care reform attempt to scare or mislead the American people -- and older Americans in particular -- about what fixing the system really means,' said Bruce Koeppl, AARP Iowa director."

11 Aug 2009

Survey finds new low in support for health overhaul

A new poll finds a low in support for health care reforms amid cost concerns and raucous town hall meetings, according to CQ Politics.

11 Aug 2009

comScore releases new study on online health insurance industry

comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), has released a study of the online health insurance industry, which showed the effects of increasing U.S. unemployment on online consumer activity. While the number of visitors to health insurance provider sites has seen substantial declines, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of searches related to obtaining health coverage during the past year.

11 Aug 2009

Report: Some U.S. health care spending 'squandered'

CNN Money details a recent report from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute that found $1.2 trillion, or more than half of the $2.2 trillion the United States spends on health care each year, is wasted: "What counts as waste?

11 Aug 2009

An analysis of key provisions in health care legislation released to-date

The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) today released a side-by-side comparison of chronic care provisions contained within health reform legislation passed out of committee.

11 Aug 2009

Hillary Clinton tours International Medical Corps operations in DRC

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited International Medical Corps operations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Tuesday, a region devastated by more than a decade of conflict and displacement, and pledged an additional $17 million in support for victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and $3 million to form a female police force.

11 Aug 2009

Drug-resistant tuberculosis can apread as easily as drug-sensitive tuberculosis, study says

New research has found that drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are just as likely to be transmitted between people as drug-sensitive TB, which could make drug-resistant forms of the disease "highly prevalent in the next few decades," the Australian Associated Press/Sydney Morning Herald reports (Rose, 8/11).

11 Aug 2009

Canadian health care: Socialized insurance, not socialized medicine

"Amid the debate about reforming heath care in the United States, it's tough to turn on your television these days without hearing a political ad condemning the Canadian health care system," NPR reports. While those ads are "provocative," NPR asks whether they accurately portray Canadian health care.

11 Aug 2009

U.S., Mexico, Canada vow to work together against H1N1

President Obama together with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper "vowed on Monday to fight the spread of the H1N1 swine flu," during their summit in Guadalajara, Mexico, Reuters reports.

11 Aug 2009

Hillary Clinton visits Democratic Republic of Congo

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo said the U.S. is "very concerned about civilian casualties, both deaths and rapes, and other injuries from the military action" in the country, Reuters reports (Pleming, 8/11).

11 Aug 2009

Children of deployed parents at greater risk for psychosocial problems

About one-third of children with a parent deployed in the Global War on Terror are at high risk for psychosocial problems, suggests a study in the August issue of the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health and pharmacy.

11 Aug 2009