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Adequate resources, trained staff lacking for pediatric emergency care

Recommendations to improve emergency care for children from a three-part report by Institute of Medicine "should be considered and implemented immediately," Joseph Wright, a member of the IOM's Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the U.S. Health System, writes in a Washington Post, opinion piece.

3 Oct 2006

Democrats focus on income gap, health care costs in election campaigns

Many Democratic candidates "see this as the year when the widening gap between the rich and the rest of America will help win them votes" and some have focused on the issue of health care costs for middle-income voters, the Wall Street Journal reports.

3 Oct 2006

New York State to receive $1.5B to improve Medicaid

HHS has agreed to pay New York $1.5 billion over five years to help stabilize the state's hospital industry in exchange for renewed efforts to shrink the industry, curb Medicaid costs and reduce Medicaid fraud, the New York Times reports.

3 Oct 2006

More medical students enter dermatology, leave other specialties

The Detroit News on Tuesday examined how "droves" of medical students nationwide are opting to pursue careers in dermatology "as doctors flee some of the most critical medical fields -- family practice, internal medicine and obstetrics."

3 Oct 2006

HHS says New Orleans-area health care reform proposal needs revising

A draft proposal from the Louisiana Health Care Design Collaborative on reforms for the New Orleans-area health care system requires some revisions to receive federal approval, a representative for HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said on Thursday, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports (Moller, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 9/29).

3 Oct 2006

Massachusetts health insurance mandate does not include children

The new Massachusetts health insurance law "contains a little-known loophole: The mandate that all residents have coverage by next summer does not include children," the Boston Globe reports.

3 Oct 2006

NHGRI funds assessment of public attitudes about population-based studies on genes and environment

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has announced it has awarded $2 million to the Genetics and Public Policy Center of the Berman Bioethics Institute at Johns Hopkins University to conduct a public discussion about future potential large U.S. population-based studies examining the roles of genes and environment in human health.

28 Sep 2006

Making sense of food labels not that easy for some

According to a recent survey many people in the United States are struggling to understand current food labels.

27 Sep 2006

Los Angeles Times examines medical identity theft problems, risks

The Los Angeles Times on Monday examined medical identity fraud, in which individuals use the names and medical records of others to obtain health care.

26 Sep 2006

Michigan Senate approves bills that would require girls to receive HPV vaccine before entering sixth grade

The Michigan Senate on Wednesday voted 36-1 to approve two bills (SB 1416, SB 1417) that would require girls in the state entering the sixth grade in the 2007-2008 school year and beyond to have received Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, the AP/Detroit Free Press reports (AP/Detroit Free Press, 9/20).

26 Sep 2006

HPV vaccine Gardasil approved for sale in EU

The European Commission on Friday approved Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil for sale and marketing in the European Union, London's Guardian reports (Batty, Guardian, 9/22).

26 Sep 2006

'Neglect,' not biology, kills 1 in 20 women in Africa

One in 20 women in Africa is at risk of dying in childbirth, but "[i]t's not biology that kills them so much as neglect," New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes in an opinion piece.

26 Sep 2006

Retrial of medical workers accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV adjourned after defense lawyer hospitalized

The retrial of five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor accused of infecting Libyan children with HIV adjourned on Thursday until Oct. 31 after a defense lawyer for the Bulgarian nurses was hospitalized for high blood pressure and could not appear in court, the Sofia News Agency reports (Sofia News Agency, 9/22).

26 Sep 2006

Hispanics more likely to lack health care coverage

Hispanics in smaller, more rural communities have greater barriers in accessing care than do Hispanics in larger communities, according to a report released on Thursday by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, the Bradenton Herald reports.

26 Sep 2006

Workers often turn to managers for information on consumer-driven health insurance plans

The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined how, although consumer-driven health plans have "motivated some workers to research what they are paying for medical care," the "employees' research often consists of going" to their managers for help.

26 Sep 2006

Call for examination of tax breaks for employer-based health insurance

The problem with the U.S. health care system is that it gives "the biggest tax breaks for employer-provided insurance to those in the highest brackets" and makes "everyone over 65 eligible for taxpayer-funded medical care regardless of financial need and, more insidiously, regardless of past opportunity to save," columnist Holman Jenkins writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

26 Sep 2006

Hospital services most expensive part of U.S. health aystem

About 33% of every dollar spent on U.S. health care goes toward inpatient hospital care, according to a report by HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Washington Times reports (Howard Price, Washington Times, 9/23).

26 Sep 2006

Bill to allow U.S. residents to bring prescription drugs across the Canadian border

Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, discusses an appropriations bill that would allow U.S. residents to bring prescription drugs across the Canadian border, legislation to reauthorize NIH and the pending approval of Andrew von Eschenbach to head FDA in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

26 Sep 2006

Laura Bush becoming 'public face' of U.S. commitment to fight HIV/AIDS

First lady Laura Bush is becoming the "public face" of the U.S. government commitment to fight HIV/AIDS and address other humanitarian and social issues, the Washington Post reports.

26 Sep 2006

Companies push condom use, STI messages on college campuses to promote safer-sex

The New York Times on Sunday examined the campaigns conducted by the condom industry on college campuses nationwide that aim to promote condom use and safer-sex messages in an effort to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

26 Sep 2006