Healthcare News

RSS

Supreme Court sides with generic drug makers

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that generic drugmakers cannot be sued under state law for adverse reactions to their products, a decision that consumer advocates called a blow to patient safety. In a 5-4 vote, the court ruled for Mutual Pharmaceutical Co, owned by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, overturning a multimillion-dollar jury award to a badly injured patient in New Hampshire who alleged a generic drug she had taken was unsafe based on its chemical design (Hurley and Berkrot, 6/24).

26 Jun 2013

Study: Despite struggles with poverty, more children getting health insurance

Families in the United States are making gains in education and health, two key factors in their overall well-being, a report released on Monday showed, adding to data that suggests the U.S. economy is slowly rebounding from the 2007-2009 recession. Still, the latest findings on the state of U.S. children and their parents by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found many families continue to struggle ... Most states also saw more children with health insurance, improvements in birth weights, and fewer youth deaths between 2005 and 2011, it said (Heavey, 6/24).

26 Jun 2013

Improving care for depression in low-income communities provides greater benefits: Study

Improving care for depression in low-income communities -- places where such help is frequently unavailable or hard to find -- provides greater benefits to those in need when community groups such as churches and even barber shops help lead the planning process, according to a new study.

26 Jun 2013

Lawsuits, or threat of them, hover over Medicare policy

News outlets report on the government's position on releasing doctor-specific information and on Medicare patients' access to physical therapy. And, ProPublica investigates prescribing practices.

26 Jun 2013

Viewpoints: Exploring the bond between caretaker and patient; Missouri looks beyond expansion to reform Medicaid

This Op-Doc video explores the relationship between an immigrant caretaker and an elderly woman in the last months of her life. Joesy, a Fijian immigrant, works long hours providing live-in care for 95-year-old Haru Tsurumoto in Sonoma County, Calif. Through intimate and quiet scenes, we explore Joesy's complex relationship with Haru. The two respect each other in part because each has experienced being an outsider in the United States - Joesy as an undocumented immigrant who fears she could be sent back to Fiji, and Haru as a Japanese-American who was sent to an internment camp during the Second World War (Theo Rigby and Kate McLean, 6/24).

26 Jun 2013

Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to Massachusetts abortion law

As lawsuits over early abortion laws spring up across the country, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a different kind of abortion challenge - this one involving free speech. The court will consider a case challenging a Massachusetts law that bans demonstrations within 35 feet of entrances and driveways of abortion clinics. The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in January sided with the state in McCullen v. Coakley, ruling that the law strikes the right balance between protecting free speech and patients' rights (Millman, 6/25).

26 Jun 2013

New book provides step-by-step guide to build computer model of the human brain

It sounds like science fiction, but a new book by a University of Waterloo professor is actually a step-by-step guide, teaching readers how they can build their own computer model of the human brain.

26 Jun 2013

Patient-level factors impact likelihood of imaging during ED visit, study finds

Despite concerns to the contrary, very little of the variation in Emergency Department imaging utilization is attributable to physician experience, training or gender, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.

26 Jun 2013

Sebelius ramps up enrollment push

The Obama administration unveiled a revamped HealthCare.gov website, the centerpiece of its campaign in more than 30 states to enroll people in health coverage, as well as a 24-hour consumer call center. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius aims to enroll 7 million people by late March with help from major sports franchises and moms.

26 Jun 2013

Primary care physicians prefer to prescribe NSAIDS for chronic pain, report shows

For treating the estimated 100 million Americans with chronic pain -- a population larger than those with heart disease, cancer and diabetes combined -- researched reported in The Journal of Pain shows that primary care physicians overwhelmingly prefer to prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, in accordance with published clinical practice guidelines.

26 Jun 2013

Tenet's acquisition of Vanguard Health part of plan to buy other hospitals

While news emerges regarding Tenet's plan to acqure Vanguard Health for $1.73 billion, the Ford Motor Co. announces its plans to launch a two-year health management program.

26 Jun 2013

FDA authorizes marketing of two new tobacco products

or the first time since the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products, the agency has authorized the marketing of two new tobacco products and denied the marketing of four others through the substantial equivalence pathway.

26 Jun 2013

Many states missing out on Medicaid money for prisoners

Only a dozen states have taken advantage of a long-standing option to stick the federal government with at least half the cost of hospitalizations and nursing home stays of state prison inmates. The other states have left tens of millions of federal dollars on the table, either because they didn't know about a federal rule dating to 1997 or they were unable to write the laws and administrative processes to take advantage of it. States and localities have a constitutional obligation to provide adequate health care to prisoners, and they must pay for it out of their own budgets (Vestal, 6/25).

26 Jun 2013

Researchers develop breakthrough approach to reduce harmful effects from blood transfusions

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have developed an unprecedented approach to restore nitric oxide to donated blood, a breakthrough that could dramatically reduce harmful effects from transfusions.

26 Jun 2013

Health panel urges baby boomers be tested for hepatitis C

An influential health advisory group has reversed itself and concluded that all baby boomers should be tested for hepatitis C, meaning that under the new health law many insurance plans will have to provide screening without charge to patients.

26 Jun 2013

Government to bargain with insurers over exchange plans

Hoping to get consumers the best prices, the Obama administration is negotiating with insurers looking to sell policies in online health insurance marketplaces this fall, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Monday (Galewitz, 6/24).

26 Jun 2013

Study finds PTSD as risk factor for heart disease among Vietnam vets

Male twin Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder were more than twice as likely as those without PTSD to develop heart disease during a 13-year period, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.

26 Jun 2013

Health IT firm athenahealth plans expansion

Health information technology firm athenahealth, which offers electronic health records and care coordination products, will expand and create hundreds of new jobs in Georgia and Massachusetts.

26 Jun 2013

HHS inspector general details prescription-writing abuses

The new report finds that health providers such as massage therapists, chiropractors and athletic trainers often wrote prescriptions -- and Medicare paid for them.

25 Jun 2013

Adults attending synagogue regularly are healthier and happier than their non-religious counterparts

Two new Baylor University studies show that Israeli Jewish adults who attend synagogue regularly, pray often, and consider themselves religious are significantly healthier and happier than their non-religious counterparts. They also report greater satisfaction with life.

25 Jun 2013