Children's Health News and Research

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West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency awards overpayment project to HMS

HMS today announced that it had been awarded a contract by the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency (WV PEIA) to perform provider credit balance reviews. The West Virginia Children's Health Insurance Program and AccessWV, the State's high-risk insurance coverage, will be joining with PEIA for these activities.

6 Aug 2009

Comprehensive health reform proposals could help 13 million uninsured young adults gain coverage

Comprehensive health reform proposals now before Congress could help the more than 13 million uninsured young adults ages 19-29 gain coverage, and such reforms would also help ensure that those who now have coverage would not lose it, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report.

6 Aug 2009

After-school programs are an important contributor to children's physical activity

Children's after-school activities often consist of sedentary behavior such as watching television, but after-school programs that offer physical activity and healthy snacks could be the best place for children's health.

3 Aug 2009

Number of uninsured California kids may double

A new deal to balance California's budget may have serious repercussions for the health of the state's children, while South Carolina grapples with health cuts of its own. Meanwhile, New Jersey may become one of the first states to publically disclose hospital errors.

3 Aug 2009

Ethical ramifications of H1N1 vaccine priority groups

Pregnant women are among the groups that should receive H1N1 (swine) flu vaccinations this fall, according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices panel whose recommendations are generally accepted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

31 Jul 2009

U.N. program has little effect in reducing deaths among children in Bangladesh, study finds

"The U.N. unveiled a multimillion dollar strategy a dozen years ago to save children worldwide, but a new [Lancet] study has found the program had surprisingly little effect in Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries," the Associated Press reports.

31 Jul 2009

Governors question Medicaid expansion while some states do more with CHIP

The New York Times reports that "The nation's governors, Democrats as well as Republicans, voiced deep concern Sunday about the shape of the health care plan emerging from Congress, fearing that Washington was about to hand them expensive new Medicaid obligations without money to pay for them.

20 Jul 2009

Iowa lawmakers discuss reform and increased coverage for children

An overhaul of the U.S. health care system would probably help maintain improvements already made in Iowa, Gov. Chet Culver and other health advocates said Tuesday, according to the Des Moines Register.

15 Jul 2009

NPR examines Obama's 'broad' global health strategy; maternal health in Afghanistan discussed at congressional briefing

NPR reports on President Obama's "broad global health strategy," which would increase the amount of funding for family planning, maternal and child health programs to about a "half billion dollars" next year. According to NPR, "the U.S. has committed $230 million [over the next five years] directly to health in Afghanistan, whose government has already built 2,000 health facilities since the collapse of the Taliban regime" (Wilson, 7/15).

15 Jul 2009

IQ explains some of the difference in heart disease between people of high and low socio-economic status

A unique study looking at the difference in cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke) and life expectancy between people of high and low socio-economic status has found that a person's IQ may have a role to play.

14 Jul 2009

Ethicists urge inclusion of pregnant women in Federal child-health study

A team of ethicists from Johns Hopkins, Duke and Georgetown universities is urging organizers of a recently begun $3 billion decades-long study of children's health to immediately add provisions to look at the health and medical profiles of the children's mothers during their pregnancies.

9 Jul 2009

Short-timer Whitehouse has his say

"While Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is expected to be on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee only for a short time, he should have a major effect on health reform," Roll Call reports.

7 Jul 2009

$40 million made available for children's health care enrollment efforts

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that states and local organizations can apply for $40 million worth of outreach grants "to enroll more eligible children in health-insurance programs," according to the Wall Street Journal.

7 Jul 2009

Dental health advocates want to sink teeth into health care reform

The Washington Post reports many oral health professionals worry that dental issues have "a tenuous place at best in the national debate" regarding an overhaul of the health care system. Still, they emphasize that dental health is an integral part of health care and note the special burden untreated dental issues have on poor children.

23 Jun 2009

Recession and budget cuts hit children especially hard

As the recession forces more hospitals and doctors to pare costs and services, children are being especially hard hit.

18 Jun 2009

First health study of teenage boys using cellular telephones

A $4.15 million, four-year National Institutes of Health grant will enable researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine to conduct the first health study of teenage boys using cellular telephones.

16 Jun 2009

Democrats target a dozen GOP senators in quest for health reform deal

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and other Democratic leaders are targeting more than a dozen moderate and conservative Republicans as they pursue a bipartisan deal to extend health care coverage to nearly 46 million uninsured Americans.

11 Jun 2009

Study finds childhood obesity increases early signs of cardiovascular disease

At a press conference held today at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., Nelly Mauras, M.D., Division Chief of Endocrinology at Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, announced the results of a four year study with findings that show childhood obesity increases early signs of cardiovascular disease. Dr. Mauras' study was chosen for distinction among 5,000 abstracts that were submitted to the national conference.

11 Jun 2009

International health experts to discuss environmental effects on children's health

International health experts will gather through Wednesday in Busan, South Korea, to discuss the effects of the environment on children's health for the Third WHO International Conference on Children's Health and the Environment, the Korea Times reports.

9 Jun 2009

Sebelius, DeParle ready to tackle health care overhaul

The friendship between "working moms" Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy-Ann DeParle "could pay big dividends for President Obama now," USA Today reports.

2 Jun 2009