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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

AHIP study finds large cost variations in medical care

A survey by America's Health Insurance Plans released Tuesday online finds large price variations common in medical care, according to the New York Times.

11 Aug 2009

Democrats, Republicans dispute meanings and motivations behind angry Town Hall meetings

"Angry crowds have put many lawmakers on the defensive as they try to talk about health care with their constituents, leading some to replace public forums with teleconferences or stepping up security to keep protesters at bay," The Associated Press reports.

11 Aug 2009

Stress management to male nursing in Johns Hopkins Nursing Summer issue

The birth of a baby. A diagnosis of breast cancer. The frailty that comes with old age. They are part of the dynamic, complex, and ever-changing landscape that makes up a women's life span. Whatever the ailment, Hopkins nurses are empowering women to embrace healthier lifestyles.

11 Aug 2009

UNAIDS report says 50 million women in Asia at risk of HIV infection from intimate partners

A UNAIDS report released Tuesday at the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Bali, Indonesia, estimates that more than 90 percent of the 1.7 million HIV-positive women living in Asia were infected by husbands or long-term partners who engaged in "high-risk sexual behaviours," Agence France-Presse reports. The UNAIDS report also found "women accounted for 35 percent of all adult HIV infections in Asia in 2008, up from 17 percent in 1990, the AFP writes.

11 Aug 2009

Discovery of link between over-indebtedness and obesity

Scientists at the University of Mainz have discovered a close correlation between over-indebtedness and obesity. According to the report published in the journal BMC Public Health, over-indebted Germans are more likely to be overweight or obese than the population in general.

11 Aug 2009

New method for neonatal icus reduces infection and lung distress in preemies

A new method for improving quality of care can reduce hospital-acquired infections and chronic respiratory distress with oxygen dependency in premature infants in neonatal ICUs, according to a new study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

11 Aug 2009

HIV-treating clinicians support health care reform, express caution

The International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC), which represents approximately 4,000 HIV-treating clinicians in the United States [out of a global membership of over 13,000], today released results of a nationwide survey indicating that while supportive of ongoing health care reform efforts, a significant percentage of its U.S. membership is concerned about issues ranging from increased patient caseloads to the possibility of rationing HIV care.

11 Aug 2009

Indian health service contemplates its role in health care reform

Indian Country Times reports on the Indian Health Service's role in national health care reform with IHS Director Dr. Yvette Roubideaux arguing that things are improving at IHS, but the agency must adapt to rapid changes in national health care reform and demonstrate willingness to improve.

11 Aug 2009

Obama’s corporate wellness initiatives delivered by Professional Health Services

The Obama Administration has put corporate wellness programs like those offered by Professional Health Services (PHS) at the forefront of healthcare reform. The benefits of improving employee health not only increase productivity and decrease absenteeism, but also lower health care costs.

11 Aug 2009

Major medical biller goes public as health reform raises expectations for sector

Emdeon Inc., a company that processed nearly half of all electronic medical claims in the United States last year, is going public in an IPO this week, The Wall Street Journal reports.

11 Aug 2009