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Viewpoints: Brewer's stance on Medicaid expansion may signal important shift in GOP; A shrinking government--except for health care

Jan Brewer, Arizona's feisty Republican governor, is better known for wagging her finger at President Obama than for linking arms with him. That's why Brewer's recent announcement that her state intends to join the expansion of Medicaid central to Obama's health care law may represent an important shift. If even Brewer, who has battled repeatedly with Obama, finds the case for expansion compelling, other Republican governors now resisting may also reconsider.

10 Feb 2013

Viewpoints: Baker and Dingell urge efforts to cut gun deaths; Doctors as union workers

Gun violence now rivals traffic accidents as the leading cause of death by injury in the United States. Quite simply, gun violence threatens to overwhelm us. Americans are grappling for strategies to make sure that the horror that occurred in Newtown isn't repeated.

31 Jan 2013

State roundup: Legislatures tackle health budget gaps, worker pay

With the national economy picking up and the housing market improving, states are poised in 2013 to finally rebound from the recession's lingering revenue crunch. But continued budget delays in Washington may dampen that prospect.

24 Jan 2013

Project SEARCH interns become part of NIH fabric

When Project SEARCH interns enter the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Md., they are immediately recognizable—from their matching, sky-blue polo shirts to their smiling faces. "People know these interns," says Steve Blanks, program director at SEEC, Seeking Equality, Empowerment and Community for People with Developmental Disabilities.

24 Jan 2013

Team support aids Parkinson’s patients

A randomized controlled trial demonstrates improved outcomes if patients with Parkinson’s disease are cared for by a multidisciplinary team.

22 Jan 2013

Macular pigment screening: an interview with Jaquie Finn, Product Line Manager at Elektron Technology

AMD is the leading cause of vision loss in anyone over 50 and globally in 2010 it was estimated to cost $340 billion to treat AMD. The costs are set to spiral over the next 20 years and really over burden the healthcare system unless people start to take preventative action.

18 Jan 2013

Insurers in California, elsewhere, propose steep rate hikes

California's insurance commissioner criticized Anthem Blue Cross for raising rates for small businesses but acknowledged he has no authority to block it. Medpage Today looks at double-digit increases in the individual and small group markets nationwide.

11 Jan 2013

Roundup: Kan., Ga., Mass., Neb. face decisions on implementing health law

At an Atlanta panel discussion Tuesday previewing children's health issues for the upcoming General Assembly session, one item stood out. State Sen. Fran Millar (R-Atlanta) was officially on the panel to highlight "School Flexibility," but he summed up what he sees as the urgency of passing a Medicaid hospital provider fee during the legislative session. Approving the hospital assessment is "perhaps the most critical thing we have to do," Millar said.

11 Jan 2013

First Edition: January 9, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Ankita Rao reports: "While most health-related deals on sites like Groupon and Living Social are for cosmetic procedures like Botox, providers also offer everyday medical, vision and dental services. Health and medical deals make up about 5 to 10 percent of the online coupon industry, according to Unaiz Kabani, data product manager at Yipit, a service that aggregates companies' daily deals"

9 Jan 2013

Flusurvey: an interview with Dr Alma Adler

Flusurvey is an online system of tracking influenza across the UK. We are linked to other flu surveys across Europe, so there are about 12 flu surveys across Europe in total.

9 Jan 2013

Editorial, opinion pieces address effects of health worker murders in Pakistan on polio eradication

Several news outlets published opinion pieces regarding the recent murders of polio vaccination and other aid workers in Pakistan.

7 Jan 2013

Businesses and individuals grapple with decisions about coverage, penalties

News organizations preview what's to come in 2013 as provisions of the Affordable Care Act are put in place.

3 Jan 2013

Study reveals decline in cancer screening rates

The rate of people who seek preventive cancer screenings has fallen over the last ten years in the United States with wide variations between white-collar and blue-collar workers, according to a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine study published on December 27 in the open-access journal Frontiers in Cancer Epidemiology.

27 Dec 2012

Key to at-home geriatric care lies in reliability

Older individuals who live at home but are dependent on healthcare services perceive their care delivery system to be effective when it involves supportive and reliable services, indicate UK study results.

24 Dec 2012

Pakistan reports 9th death in polio worker attacks, resumes vaccination campaign under police escort

"Another victim from attacks on U.N.-backed anti-polio teams in Pakistan died on Thursday, bringing the three-day death toll in the wave of assaults on volunteers vaccinating children across the country to nine, officials said," the Associated Press reports (Khan, 12/20). "Four female health workers were killed in Karachi, shot dead by masked men on motorbikes.

21 Dec 2012

Three more polio workers shot in Pakistan

"Three workers in a polio eradication campaign were shot in Pakistan on Wednesday, and two of them were killed, the latest in an unprecedented string of attacks over the past three days that has partially halted the U.N.-backed campaign," Reuters reports.

20 Dec 2012

Conn. shootings spur questions about adequacy of mental health services

Lawmakers in both chambers are calling for Congress to start a conversation about mental health issues in the wake of last week's deadly shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, with one goal of ensuring adequate funding for services for those who need treatment.

19 Dec 2012

NCKU's wireless monitoring system helps track physiological status of dialysis patients

A wireless physiological monitoring system designed by the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan, has proved to increase medical efficiency and safety for dialysis patients.

18 Dec 2012

SLU receives $460,000 grant to expand efforts to detect and treat postpartum depression

Saint Louis University has received a three-year, $460,000 grant from the Maternal Child and Family Health Coalition (MCHFC) and St. Louis Mental Health Board to expand efforts to detect and treat postpartum depression in new mothers.