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Utah Senate approves bill to establish Medicaid preferred drugs

The Utah Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill (SB 42) that would establish a preferred drug list for the state Medicaid program, the Deseret Morning News reports.

30 Jan 2007

Public reporting and pay for performance in hospital quality improvement

A Medicare pay-for-performance pilot project that rewards hospitals based on quality measures contributes to "modest" improvements in quality of care, according to a study published online Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Wall Street Journal reports .

30 Jan 2007

Value based insurance design

Like a one-size-fits-all shirt that doesn't fit anyone very well, American health insurance plans charge every person the same out of pocket cost for medical services - regardless of their effect on a person's health.

30 Jan 2007

CMS proposes increase in Medicare reimbursements for long-term care hospitals

CMS on Thursday proposed a 0.71% increase in standard Medicare reimbursement rates for long-term care hospitals for 2008, CQ HealthBeat reports.

29 Jan 2007

Number of Parkinson's sufferers will double in next 25 years

The study highlights the significant challenge facing countries with rapidly growing economies, particularly in Asia, many of which are ill prepared to meet this impending public health threat.

29 Jan 2007

Healthcare Research and Development Institute reaches settlement with two State Attorneys General over alleged anticompetitive practices

The Florida-based Healthcare Research and Development Institute, a consulting group owned by about three dozen hospital executives, has agreed to no longer accept fees from companies that sell medications, medical devices and financial services to not-for-profit hospitals nationwide, according to a settlement reached on Wednesday with the Connecticut and Florida attorneys general, the New York Times reports.

29 Jan 2007

China should own up to past HIV/AIDS mistakes

Although China in recent years "has made bold strides in its response to HIV/AIDS," the number of new HIV/AIDS cases will continue to increase unless the country "owns up to past mistakes, encourages and supports civil society involvement, and proactively deals with the serious challenges of stigma and misinformation".

29 Jan 2007

HIV/AIDS advocates call on Zimbabwe to address broad health care issues

Although some HIV/AIDS advocates in Zimbabwe are welcoming a recent pledge from the Zimbabwean government to provide increased access to antiretroviral drugs by the end of this year, they also are stressing the need to address a broader crisis in the country's health care system, VOA News reports.

29 Jan 2007

Greater Boston Interfaith Organization urges delay in penalties against uninsured

The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization on Wednesday asked state officials to delay for one year a provision of the Massachusetts health insurance law that will penalize residents who do not obtain insurance by July 1, the Boston Globe reports.

29 Jan 2007

Poverty, gender inequality contributing to spread of HIV in Caribbean

Poverty, gender inequality and discrimination are hampering efforts to curb the spread of HIV in the Caribbean, speakers at the Caribbean Summit on HIV/AIDS in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, said on Sunday, the Caribbean Net News reports.

28 Jan 2007

Guyanese Health Ministry to provide $450,000 for HIV/AIDS programs

The Guyanese Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced it will provide $450,000 to 16 nongovernmental organizations to conduct HIV/AIDS programs nationwide, the Stabroek News reports.

28 Jan 2007

Panel recommends FDA to not create specific effectiveness standard for oral contraceptive approvals

A panel of gynecologists, researchers and other medical experts on Wednesday at the end of a two-day meeting convened by FDA recommended the agency not set a specific standard of effectiveness for approval of oral contraceptives, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

28 Jan 2007

HIV prevention and education initiatives are not reaching girls in Africa

According to Bruce, young African girls often have low school attendance and few friends, making them hard to reach. Impoverished girls are more likely to engage in commercial sex work, which increases their risk of contracting HIV, Bruce said.

28 Jan 2007

Violence against women fueling spread of HIV worldwide

Violence against women worldwide is fueling the spread of HIV in the population, and unwillingness among some governments to acknowledge the issue will continue to undermine prevention and education efforts, advocates said this week at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, Inter Press Service reports.

28 Jan 2007

Bush promotes health care proposals

Initiatives that encourage U.S. residents to purchase health insurance through the private insurance market are the best way to expand coverage and reduce health care costs, President Bush said Thursday while visiting a Missouri hospital to promote the health care proposals he outlined earlier this week in his State of the Union address, the Washington Post reports

28 Jan 2007

China softens on one-child policy

Zhang Weiqing, head of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, announced that the government will reduce fines for low-income couples who violate the country's one-child-per-family policy, the Washington Post reports (Fan, Washington Post, 1/24).

28 Jan 2007

Voluntary HPV vaccination programs can work with 'informed and sensitive health education'

There is "no reason" why a voluntary human papillomavirus vaccination program that is "based on an informed and sensitive health education campaign ... would not work," Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy writes in an opinion piece.

28 Jan 2007

One-fifth of women in India experience menopause by age 41

About one in five women residing in India are likely to experience menopause by the age of 41, according to a study conducted by Bangalore, India-based Institute for Social and Economic Change, London's Times reports.

28 Jan 2007

More than 1 million fewer U.S. women received mammograms since 2000

The percentage of U.S. women ages 40 and older who reported receiving a mammogram declined from 76.4% in 2000 to 74.6% in 2005, according to a report published in the Jan. 26 edition of CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Washington Post reports.

28 Jan 2007

Uterine artery embolization is as effective as hysterectomy and myomectomy

Uterine artery embolization, a less-invasive treatment for uterine fibroids, is as effective as hysterectomy and myomectomy, according to a study published in the Jan. 25 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the Washington Post reports.

28 Jan 2007