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Image sharing aims to reduce need for repeat scans

Several state and regional health-information exchanges have begun sharing images electronically, and a number of companies sell image-sharing technology directly to hospitals and radiology clinics in a development that could slow health care spending.

3 Apr 2013

Free online sleep disorders guide for all professionals in primary care

The National Sleep Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of a comprehensive free online sleep disorders resource for all professionals in primary care. The "Sleep Disorders" guide is the updated web version of Dr. Peter Hauri's book, The Sleep Disorders, first published in 1977.

3 Apr 2013

Feds boost rather than cut payments to Medicare Advantage plans

The insurance industry won a major lobbying victory Monday after the Obama administration backtracked on an earlier plan to cut Medicare Advantage payments to insurers by 2.2 percent in 2014 and instead decided to give them a 3.3 percent increase.

3 Apr 2013

Administration delays health law provision for small business insurance market

The Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, would have provided a variety of insurance options for small firms. When the law takes effect next year in states with federally run exchanges, these businesses will be able to offer workers a single plan instead.

3 Apr 2013

New support program for single fathers

Men who have dependent children and whose spouses or partners died from cancer are an overlooked population. These fathers face unique challenges not addressed by traditional grief support groups that often attract an older, female population.

2 Apr 2013

Supporters of Medicaid expansion fight to be heard in some statehouses

Mississippi House Democrats blocked passage of the state's Medicaid budget Sunday to force a vote on expanding the program, while supporters and critics do battle in Missouri, Montana and Arkansas.

2 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 2, 2013

Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers readers' questions about the new marketplaces where consumers can buy 2014 health policies as part of the federal health law. (Andrews, 4/2).

2 Apr 2013

Eight new grant recipients to receive funding to conduct health impact assessments

The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, today announced eight new grant recipients that will receive funding to conduct health impact assessments, or HIAs.

2 Apr 2013

ShopSmart magazine's April issue features answers to common questions about Vitamin D

Vitamin D has been touted as the answer to all kinds of health problems, but many of these claims are overblown. The April 2013 issue of ShopSmart magazine, from Consumer Reports, features answers to some of the most common questions about Vitamin D and names the best from its tests of 32 products.

2 Apr 2013

Post-2015 framework will fail in tackling inequality without inclusion of disability

"The communiqué released at the end of the U.N. high-level panel meeting on the post-2015 development agenda failed to mention disability, repeating in Bali the same omission notable in last month's official communiqué from the Monrovia meeting," Dominic Haslam, director of policy and strategic program support at Sightsavers, and Virginia Kamowa, global advocacy coordinator for the organization, write in The Guardian's "Poverty Matters" blog.

2 Apr 2013

Louisiana health secretary submits resignation

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's health secretary -- Bruce Greenstein -- is resigning amid a probe into a Medicaid contract he awarded to a former employer.

2 Apr 2013

Security concerns hindering polio immunizations in Pakistan, WHO official says

"Some 240,000 children have missed U.N.-backed vaccinations against polio because of security concerns in Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, a top official with the World Health Organization said Friday," the Associated Press/Huffington Post reports.

2 Apr 2013

Cornell University study examines organic health halo effect

The word "organic" can mean many things to consumers. Even so, the power of an organic label can be very strong: studies have shown that this simple label can lead us to think that a food is healthier, through what is known as the 'health halo effect'.

2 Apr 2013

White House condemns assaults against women in Egypt demonstrations

"The White House on Friday condemned the rape and assault of women at recent demonstrations in Egypt and called on the Cairo government to prevent sexual violence and prosecute those responsible," Reuters reports (Mason/Holland, 3/29).

2 Apr 2013

Report highlights ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste

Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality.

2 Apr 2013

Podcast examines recent global health news, interviews UW Department of Global Health chair

In a "Humanocast" podcast, Humanosphere "look[s] at recent news in global health, aid and development as well as [conducts] a guest interview" with King Holmes, chair of the University of Washington's Department of Global Health.

2 Apr 2013

UAB School of Nursing awarded HRSA grant to improve quality of care for underserved

The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing has received a three-year, $1.4-million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration to develop and implement an innovative interprofessional collaborative health-care practice model that improves quality of care and outcomes for underserved patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions.

2 Apr 2013

New strain of avian flu kills two Chinese men, officials say

"Two people in China have died and another remains critical after falling ill with a strain of bird flu not detected before in humans, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported," CNN reports (Mullen, 4/1).

2 Apr 2013

Research on sports-related concussion, sudden cardiac death to be presented at 2013 AMSSM Annual Meeting

The latest research for sports-related concussion and sudden cardiac death in athletes, in addition to a record number of sports medicine research submissions, will be presented by members of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine at the 2013 AMSSM Annual Meeting.

2 Apr 2013