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Sebelius: insurers can't block public option; cost estimates off target

In an interview with the Associated Press Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, "I think there is a lot of understanding that the private market has really failed to provide affordable coverage to Americans."

17 Jun 2009

Lawmakers spar over health reform

As the Senate Finance Committee prepares to unveil a health overhaul proposal this week, key players have been weighing in on aspects of potential legislation.

15 Jun 2009

Medicare reimbursement issues enter health reform debate

New legislation introduced yesterday would attempt to shift Medicare reimbursement policy to reward patient health outcomes, rather than the volume of services provided, MinnPost, a nonprofit online news organization, reports. "We need to be sure to keep score," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who introduced the bill, according to MinnPost. "That means measuring outcomes and rewarding providers that deliver quality results."

13 Jun 2009

Certain pesticides double the risk of blood disorder

A study involving 678 individuals who apply pesticides, culled from a U.S. Agricultural Health Study of over 50,000 farmers, recently found that exposure to certain pesticides doubles one's risk of developing an abnormal blood condition called MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance) compared with individuals in the general population.

13 Jun 2009

Reports from the White House and Kaiser Family Foundation address health care disparities

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House Health Czar Nancy Ann DeParle held a discussion of minority health issues at the White House yesterday, where Sebelius "said the Obama administration is committed to addressing the 'alarming disparity in the delivery of quality health care'," which she said was necessary to lower costs, the Associated Press reports.

10 Jun 2009

Women of color more likely to have major health care problems than white women

Women of color in America are 11 times more likely than their white counterparts to contract AIDS, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

10 Jun 2009

Seniors seek help with Medicare's 'doughnut hole'

Senior and elderly advocate groups are calling on Congress to get rid of the "doughnut hole" in Medicare's drug benefit as part of the larger efforts to reform health care, according to The Dallas Morning News.

9 Jun 2009

DeParle, Sebelius: Time to tackle health care disparities

Officials said Tuesday that the time is now to tackle ethnic, economic and gender disparities in health care as they ready a major overhaul of the nation's health care system.

9 Jun 2009

Single-payer advocates challenge Democrats while private insurers get nervous

Democrats working feverishly on health care reform "face increasingly noisy protests from those on the left who complain that a national program like those in Europe has been excluded from the debate," The Washington Post reports.

9 Jun 2009

WHO to incorporate disease severity into pandemic alert scale

A meeting of the WHO's emergency committee held Friday to discuss the H1N1 (swine) flu ended without a pandemic declaration, but experts concluded that declarations would now be based upon the severity and transmission pattern of a virus, Reuters reports (Nebehay, Reuters, 6/5). "The Emergency Committee is composed of international experts and its task is to give advice to the WHO chief on influenza outbreak responses," according to Xinhua writes (Xinhua, 6/6).

9 Jun 2009

Indian Health Service loses equipment at alarming rate

The Associated Press reports that "the Indian Health Service is continuing to lose equipment at an alarming rate despite efforts to better account for the agency's property, according to congressional investigators.

4 Jun 2009

Baucus: Obama open to taxing health benefits to pay for health reform

On the same day President Obama expressed the urgent need for health care reform, he also met with two dozen Senate Democrats and suggested that he is open to considering taxing employer-provided health benefits to pay for health care reform, The Washington Post reports.

3 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

Cindy Mann to lead Center for Medicaid and State Operations

CQ HealthBeat reports on reactions to Cindy Mann’s appointment as Director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, noting that liberals are hailing her appointment and "saying she'll counter steps taken by the Bush administration to tighten eligibility and alter benefits."

2 Jun 2009

Daschle gives health reform 50-50 chance of passing

Even as President Barack Obama set August as a "make-or-break" deadline for overhauling the health care system, Tom Daschle, initally tapped by Obama to run the reform effort, predicted a "50-50 chance that something's going to pass."

2 Jun 2009

Nevada Assembly passes bill to protect physicians on J-1 visas

The Nevada Assembly last week voted to approve a bill (SB 229) that would authorize the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services to stop the exploitation of foreign physicians who have come to the state to provide care to residents in underserved areas, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

31 May 2009

Sanofi Pasteur receives U.S. Government order to produce new influenza A(H1N1) vaccine

Sanofi Pasteur announced today it has received the first of what is expected to be a series of orders from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to commence production of a vaccine to help protect against the new influenza A(H1N1) virus.

25 May 2009

Health information technology lobby group rallies support for certification group; critics question group's ties

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has asked HHS to give the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology authorization to determine which electronic health records systems can receive funding from the economic stimulus package, the Washington Post reports. In a letter dated April 27 to HHS officials, HIMSS officials wrote, "To ensure continuity, recognize CCHIT as the certifying body" of EHRs.

22 May 2009

Department of Justice, HHS boosts number of investigators, prosecutors looking at Medicare, Medicaid fraud

HHS and the Department of Justice on Wednesday launched the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team to detect and prevent fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, the Washington Post reports (Johnson, Washington Post, 5/21).

22 May 2009

Senate HELP committee approves bill that would allow FDA to regulate tobacco

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday voted 15-8 to approve a bill (S 982) giving FDA authority to regulate tobacco products, the Wall Street Journal reports.

22 May 2009