Health and Human Services News and Research

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Sebelius: Hotline coming soon

In this Kaiser Health News short take, staff writer Mary Agnes Carey reports: "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that "within a couple months we will have a very robust call center operation" to answer consumers' questions about the new health overhaul law" (Kaiser Health News).

6 May 2010

Sebelius urges states to investigate Wellpoint math on rate hikes

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said states should investigate if WellPoint Inc. made math errors in how it justified rate hikes this year, The Wall Street Journal reports.

6 May 2010

First Edition: May 5, 2010

Today's health policy news ranges from additional analysis of specific provisions of the health overhaul bill to Capitol Hill action and developments in the insurance market.

5 May 2010

HHS announces $16M award for Geisinger to create Keystone Beacon Community

Today the Department of Health and Human Services announced that Geisinger Health System will receive $16 million to create the Keystone Beacon Community as part of HHS's Beacon Community cooperative program.

5 May 2010

TeleHealth Services announces launch of High Blood Pressure and Stroke Awareness Campaign

TeleHealth Services, the nation's leading provider of interactive patient education systems and healthcare grade televisions for hospitals, today announced the launch of the High Blood Pressure and Stroke Awareness Campaign in support of National Stroke Awareness month, which takes place in May every year.

5 May 2010

States rely on federal funds to buttress Medicaid programs; Worry about the future

Late last year, when Congress' willingness to pass an enormous health care bill still was very much in doubt, states had a more modest goal that should have been easier to achieve. They wanted Congress to pass a 6-month extension of the part of the economic stimulus program that is helping to pay for their Medicaid programs.

5 May 2010

High risk pools, medical loss ratios and other health law implementation issues

News outlets report on state high risk pools and other implementation issues for the new health law.

5 May 2010

First Edition: May 4, 2010

Today's headlines include stories about parts of the new health reform law dealing with long-term care, high risk insurance pools and early retiree health insurance.

4 May 2010

Role of pharmacists on primary care health teams to be discussed during Health Affairs press briefing

Smith will discuss the role of pharmacists on primary care health teams during a Health Affairs press briefing on Tuesday, May 4 at 11:30 a.m. ET. She will be joined by an interprofessional team of colleagues that includes Christine Cassell of the American Board of Internal Medicine, Joanne Pohl of the University of Michigan School of Nursing and Bill Leinweber from the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

4 May 2010

$10M NIH grant to reduce cardiovascular disease risk among Latinos in East Los Angeles

The UCLA School of Public Health today announced a $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund a Center for Population Health and Health Disparities in partnership with the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and several community collaborators.

4 May 2010

Percentage of obese girls in the U.S. increases: HRSA study

The percentage of obese girls in the United States increased more than twice as much as the percentage of obese boys from 2003 to 2007, according to a study by researchers at the Health Resources and Services Administration.

4 May 2010

IFT supports FDA's salt reduction initiative

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) today offered its support to help the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) meet the challenges of reducing the amount of sodium in foods.

4 May 2010

Hologic commences enrollment in European trial of Gestiva for prevention of recurrent preterm birth

K-V Pharmaceutical Company announced today it has been informed by Hologic, Inc. that site initiation and patient enrollment has begun at international clinical trial sites in Europe in the ongoing trial of Gestiva™ (hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection, 250 mg/1 mL), commonly referred to as "17P," for the prevention of preterm birth in women pregnant with a single baby with a history of singleton spontaneous preterm birth.

From Hologic, Inc. 4 May 2010

Fate of the unused swine flu vaccines

The United States Government in an announcement on Monday revealed that the U.S. still has 71 million doses of unused H1N1 swine flu vaccine but there is still time left before it is wasted. They have urged the providers to keep the vaccines and continue to supply them to people until pharmaceutical manufacturers start distributing seasonal vaccine for the coming influenza season in the autumn.

4 May 2010

States decide on risk pools as first major health law decision

Politico reports that establishing high-risk insurance pools, the first major decision after the enactment of health care reform, "has come and gone with the decisions so far made mostly along party lines." Many Democratic governors "decided to help the Department of Health and Human Services by creating the pools themselves with federal funding.

3 May 2010

Some Republican states opting out of high risk health insurance pools

News outlets covered state responses to the federal government's deadline on high risk insurance pools.

3 May 2010

Schwarzenegger expresses support for health law while Reid uses reform as campaign issue

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday announced his support of the health reform law, even as other Republicans around the United States look for ways to roll back the measure's reach.

3 May 2010

Latinos have higher rates of developing visual impairment than non-Hispanic whites: Researchers

Latinos have higher rates of developing visual impairment, blindness, diabetic eye disease, and cataracts than non-Hispanic whites, researchers found. These are the first estimates of visual impairment and eye disease development in Latinos, the largest and fastest growing minority population in the United States.

3 May 2010

Officials face challenges in writing new health law regulations

Obama administration officials face a "monumental task" in writing new regulations to the health care law while keeping one eye on public perception ahead of November's midterm elections.

30 Apr 2010

New health law will penalize hospitals for poor quality

The new health law puts the nation's hospitals on strict notice. Either they improve the safety and quality of care for patients or the government will hit them where it hurts the most -- their revenue.

30 Apr 2010