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White House marks World AIDS Day

Commemorating World AIDS Day on Wednesday President Barack Obama called for continuing to fight HIV/AIDS domestically and abroad, Agence France-Presse reports (12/1).

2 Dec 2010

Physician-led models of care benefit patients, health system

To best meet the goals of optimized, coordinated patient care and also help curb health care costs, physicians should be the heart of accountable care organizations (ACOs), an evolving model of patient care. The American Medical Association today outlined recommendations to make this a reality in comments provided to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

2 Dec 2010

GE announces image exchange solution

GE Healthcare today announced its eHealth Image Exchange software solution: a flexible, standards-based platform for sharing images and integrating workflows across a healthcare community. The eHealth Image Exchange helps improve the quality of radiology care across the healthcare community by reducing costs and inefficiencies caused by using CDs and film to share images, and by enhancing online patient review capabilities among multi-disciplinary teams in numerous locations.

2 Dec 2010

Employer-sponsored family health insurance premiums increase 41% from 2003 to 2009

Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased an average of 41 percent across states from 2003 to 2009, more than three times faster than median incomes, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. Yet, insurance is buying less. The report found that deductibles per person rose 77 percent, on average. Higher premiums plus higher out-of-pocket costs are putting working families' budgets under stress across the country.

2 Dec 2010

GE Healthcare launches eHealth Image Exchange software solution

GE Healthcare today announced its eHealth Image Exchange software solution: a flexible, standards-based platform for sharing images and integrating workflows across a healthcare community.

2 Dec 2010

VCU receives $1 million to improve health care for geriatric patients

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine has received a Next Steps in Physicians' Training in Geriatrics grant totaling nearly $1 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to support programs to train medical students, residents and physicians in geriatrics.

1 Dec 2010

California's largest insurers fined nearly $5 million

Los Angeles Times: "California's seven largest health plans were fined nearly $5 million in total Monday for failing to properly pay medical claims submitted by thousands of doctors and hospitals over the last three years. Insurance regulators said the companies also would pay 'tens of millions of dollars' in restitution to medical providers whose claims were underpaid or incorrectly rejected.

30 Nov 2010

Gavi Alliance elects new chair to continue global immunisation efforts

Former Norwegian Minister of Health and current member of parliament Dagfinn Høybråten was unanimously elected by the GAVI Alliance Board as its new Chair, GAVI announced on the first day of its board meeting taking place in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

30 Nov 2010

Emergency artesunate suppositories are cost-effective intervention for children with suspected severe malaria

Giving emergency artesunate suppositories to children with suspected severe malaria before referring them for treatment is a cost-effective intervention that can substantially improve the management of childhood malaria in remote African settings, according to a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health [BUSPH] researcher Yesim Tozan, PhD.

30 Nov 2010

Opinions: The Pope and condoms; fighting HIV/AIDS in South Africa; malaria eradication or control; health care workers; foreign aid in Haiti

Reflecting on Pope Benedict XVI's recent statements regarding the use of condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV, Michael Gerson writes in a Washington Post column.

24 Nov 2010

WHO report calls for countries to improve access to health services

Tens of millions of people are pushed into poverty each year as a result of rising costs for health care, the World Health Organization said Monday as the agency released a report on financing health systems and universal coverage, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports.

23 Nov 2010

Health groups urge restrictions on tobacco additives

Following five days of deliberations aimed at fleshing-out the so-called Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, delegates on Saturday approved a proposal to limit the use of tobacco additives, which critics say improve the flavor of cigarettes, encouraging consumers to smoke more, Reuters reports.

23 Nov 2010

Perspectives on World Health Report 2010

With the financial crisis still hanging over many countries, this year's World Health Report from the World Health Organization, "Health Systems Financing: The Path to Universal Coverage" is timely and relevant to the question of how to ensure that all people have access to health care services, without suffering financial hardship. This is the conclusion of a Perspective article on the 2010 World Health Report from Sara Bennett (Johns Hopkins University, USA) and colleagues, published in PLoS Medicine to coincide with the release of the Report.

22 Nov 2010

Parties to WHO FCTC strengthen tobacco-control efforts worldwide

Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) unanimously adopted a number of decisions this week strengthening tobacco-control efforts worldwide.

22 Nov 2010

ECRI Institute PSO enters agreement with Tennessee Center to provide patient safety services

ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization (PSO) today announces an agreement to provide patient safety services to the Tennessee Center for Patient Safety established by the Tennessee Hospital Association.

20 Nov 2010

Obagi Medical Products prices secondary offering

Obagi Medical Products, Inc., a leader in topical aesthetic and therapeutic skin health systems, today announced the pricing of the secondary public offering of 2,690,244 shares of its common stock by the Stonington Capital Appreciation 1994 Fund, L.P. and the Zein and Samar Obagi Family Trust, at a public offering price of $10.25 per share.

20 Nov 2010

MedSynergies receives gold-level award for website design

MedSynergies Inc., the leading provider of hospital-physician alignment solutions, received the gold-level award for achieving the best website design in the Corporate Business Improvement Site division of the 2010 eHealthcare Leadership Awards.

20 Nov 2010

Tackling physical, mental health of prisoners would improve public health, researchers say

Providing the more than 10 million people incarcerated around the world "with better health care could prevent outbreaks of HIV and tuberculosis from spilling over into the general population experts say," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

20 Nov 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

New This Week In The Kaiser Global Health Policy Tracker: The President's Malaria Initiative announced a new focus country and USAID released a new fact sheet on the agency's reform initiative. Kaiser's Policy Tracker provides a timely single reference point for the latest information on congressional and administration action on global health.

20 Nov 2010

New report highlights need for improved safety measures in organ procurement travel

The transplant community was largely unaware of sub-standard transportation practices for donor organs until a number of fatal air crashes took the lives of transplant personnel, calling attention to procurement aviation safety.

19 Nov 2010