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Some GOP lawmakers are shifting focus from Medicare to the tax code

House Republican leaders began a series of meetings last week to sell this idea to their rank-and-file members. Also in Capitol Hill news, cancer clinics argue that Congress should have addressed the cuts they took as a result of sequestration before turning to the spending reductions' impact on air travel.

30 Apr 2013

Research report provides recommendations to better protect children, adolescents from crashes

A research report released today from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia provides specific recommendations for optimizing the rear seat of passenger vehicles to better protect its most common occupants - children and adolescents.

30 Apr 2013

Research roundup: Young women and delays in breast cancer diagnosis

Adolescents and young adults (ages 15-39) make up 5 and 6 percent of all breast cancer cases in the United States and have the lowest five-year survival rates.

30 Apr 2013

UCSF study focuses on vexing problems of handling skin cancers among elderly patients

Surgery is often recommended for skin cancers, but older, sicker patients can endure complications as a result and may not live long enough to benefit from the treatment.

30 Apr 2013

Florida House rejects federal Medicaid expansion funds

The Florida House of Representatives passed its own limited health care bill that relies on state money to expand coverage to the state's neediest residents. Also in the news, reports from Ohio, Montana, Texas, Nebraska and Arizona on the status of state decision-making regarding the expansion.

30 Apr 2013

Obama tells Planned Parenthood he'll fight to maintain abortion rights

President Obama told attendees of Planned Parenthood's annual meeting that he will fight to maintain abortion rights and the group's federal backing. In the meantime, an antiabortion group releases undercover videos it took at abortion clinics.

30 Apr 2013

Naturopathic lifestyle counselling helps reduce risk of cardiovascular disease

Counselling and treatment with naturopathic care as well as enhanced usual care reduced the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, a risk factor for heart disease, by 17% over a year for participants in a randomized controlled trial published in CMAJ.

30 Apr 2013

Medicaid: Texas docs lose money; Jindal adm. official has 'improper contact' with contractor

The first question many doctors ask when new patients call for appointments is how they intend to pay. If the answer is Medicaid, the doctor can expect to lose money. The Texas Legislature has been balancing the state's budget by intentionally paying doctors 40 to 75 percent less for Medicaid patients than what private insurers pay for the same treatment (4/27).

30 Apr 2013

Federal gov't. moves against Nevada hospital for alleged patient dumping

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services gave Nevada 10 days to correct problems at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital following reports it may have improperly discharged patients and bused them out of state.

30 Apr 2013

New research shows more than a third of stroke patients don't get to hospital by ambulance

More than a third of stroke patients don't get to the hospital by ambulance, even though that's the fastest way to get there, according to new research in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

30 Apr 2013

CMS plans to increase Medicare hospital payments by 0.8%

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the proposed increase Friday, which will raise payments for services that elderly and disabled patients receive after being admitted to hospitals.

30 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 29, 2013

Today's headlines include a report that hospitals are questioning Medicare's rules on readmissions.

29 Apr 2013

DaVita Hospital Services receives Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation

DaVita, a division of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. and a leading provider of kidney care services, today announced that DaVita Hospital Services, the company's inpatient kidney care services, has received Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation from The Joint Commission.

29 Apr 2013

SLU study reveals that access to dermatologists limited for Medicaid-insured children with eczema

A recent Saint Louis University study revealed that Medicaid-insured children with eczema, an inflammatory skin condition that affects 20 percent children in the United States, do not have easy access to dermatologists.

29 Apr 2013

Providing commodities not always best solution in food security crises

In a New York Times "Opinionator" piece, journalist Tina Rosenberg examines the Obama administration's proposed changes to the U.S. food aid program, which would provide more flexibility to allow for cash purchases of food locally or from U.S. farmers, as well as end monetization.

29 Apr 2013

Baby boomers need to get tested for hepatitis C

If you were born during 1945-1965, talk to your doctor about getting tested for hepatitis C. Baby boomers are five times more likely than other adults to be infected. In fact, 75 percent of adults with hepatitis C were born during these years.

29 Apr 2013

USAID report highlights need for better water management in agriculture

"With its recently released Water and Development Strategy, USAID highlights some practical and potentially powerful initiatives both to improve health by expanding access to clean water and sanitation and to improve food security through better water management in agriculture," Isobel Coleman, a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy and director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes in the council's "Democracy in Development" blog.

29 Apr 2013

Study examines health issues of residents living nearby drilling operations

Residents living in areas near natural gas operations, also known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are concerned their illnesses may be a result of nearby drilling operations.

29 Apr 2013

Proposed legislation in Congress would improve U.S. global health R&D

Writing in the Global Health Technologies Coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog, GHTC Policy Officer Ashley Bennett describes the recently introduced "21st Century Global Health Technology Act, which would make several important and welcome changes to global health research and development programs" at USAID.

29 Apr 2013

Opinion pieces address World Malaria Day

On Thursday, the international community recognized World Malaria Day, observed annually on April 25. This year's theme was "Invest in the future. Defeat malaria."

29 Apr 2013