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Supporting innovation through public-private partnerships

"Given the increasingly aligned incentives" between the private sector and global health and development practitioners, "the time is right for more effective and consistent collaboration between these two groups," Dheeraj Batra, head of business design at IDEO Mumbai, and David Milestone, senior adviser at USAID's Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact, write in a USAID "IMPACTblog" post originally published in the "Stanford Social Innovation Review."

13 Feb 2013

Final word on essential health benefits expected soon

CQ Healthbeat reports the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing several health law implementation rules including this one, which will determine the types of coverage available to consumers. Meanwhile, a study examines how the health law's caps on out-of-pocket costs will affect consumers next year.

13 Feb 2013

Children's pre-operative anxiety could be reduced by flexible approaches

A survey of nurses anaesthetists in Sweden identified difficulties in preparing children for surgery but also found that when the hospital and the staff were flexible in their approaches, the children's anxiety could be reduced. These approaches included varying the operation schedule, provided it do not create risk to the child, and pre-surgical visits with operating staff.

13 Feb 2013

Government recovers billions in health fraud crackdown

The Obama administration announced Monday that it recovered a record $4.2 billion last year from medical providers who cheated Medicare and other government health programs.

13 Feb 2013

Global gender equality critical for successful development programs

"Many steps have been taken during the Obama administration to elevate the issues of global gender equality," but "perhaps the most critical thus far occurred on January 30, 2013, when President Obama signed a presidential memorandum focusing on these issues," contributor Juliana Thong writes in the "Global Washington" blog.

13 Feb 2013

VA adding mental health staff - including doctors, nurses and counselors

The Veterans Affairs Department said Monday it has added more than 1,000 mental health professionals and 200 support staff over the past eight months to meet the needs of returning veterans, but still has more to do to meet the requirements of an executive order issued by President Barack Obama.

13 Feb 2013

Obama opposes raising Medicare's eligibility age to reduce spending

According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, the president does not believe this is the right policy to take, although he is open to discussing other entitlement program changes.

13 Feb 2013

Setting the scene: Economy, sequestration at heart of Obama's address

His State Of The Union comments will likely highlight the different partisan views on how these automatic spending cuts, set to kick in March 1, could be minimized. Republicans continue to press for changes in entitlement programs, such as Medicare.

13 Feb 2013

Less than 1 in 4 young people with ASD receive transition services

Health care transition (HCT) services help young people with special health care needs such as asthma or diabetes move from pediatric to adult health care. However, youths with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have less access to these services, which are designed to prevent gaps in care and insurance coverage.

13 Feb 2013

State roundup: Ga. officials end Medicaid electronic eligibility system talks

A federal judge has overturned an Arizona law that sought to block funding through the state for Planned Parenthood's health care clinics because the group also performs abortions.

13 Feb 2013

CA-MRSA on the rise in nursing homes

While most infection control measures are focused on hospitals, a new study points to the need for more targeted interventions to prevent the spread of drug-resistant bugs in nursing homes as community-associated strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) are on the rise in these facilities. The study is published in the March issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

13 Feb 2013

LSR grades for medical device manufacturers and fabricators debuted by Dow Corning at MD&M West

Dow Corning, a global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation for the healthcare industry, is showcasing at MD&M West (Hall D, Booth# 1751) Dow Corning® QP1 liquid silicone rubber (LSR) grades that give medical device manufacturers and fabricators broader material choices for intricate devices and components.

13 Feb 2013

U.N. Secretary General condemns violence against health workers in Nigeria

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday "strongly condemned the killing in north-eastern Nigeria of three doctors from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, calling the attack and other recent incidents of violence against health workers 'unacceptable,'" the U.N. News Centre reports.

13 Feb 2013

Bedside baths and bloodstream infections in children: an interview with Aaron Milstone

Bedside baths in the hospital are nothing new. They are typically done for patient comfort and to maintain basic personal hygiene.

13 Feb 2013

State Medicaid drug selection panels' conflict-of-interest policies vary widely

State policies to ensure drug selection in Medicaid programs is free from outside influence vary widely, according to a new study.

13 Feb 2013

AACN recognizes 98 Beacon-designated units from 78 hospitals

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recognizes 98 units from 78 hospitals nationwide that earned the Beacon Award for Excellence between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2012.

13 Feb 2013

Hospitals reluctant to provide estimates of hip replacement costs, study finds

Researchers called 20 top orthopedic hospitals and two hospitals from every state and DC. Of the orthopedic centers, nine provided an estimate of hospital costs and doctor fees. Only 10 of the other 102 hospitals offered that information.

13 Feb 2013

Blog examines potential issues for President Obama's State of the Union Address

"President Obama will deliver his 2013 State of the Union Address on Tuesday, February 12," Jenny Ottenhoff, policy outreach associate at the Center for Global Development (CGD), and Beth Schwanke, senior associate for policy outreach at CGD, write in the center's "Global Development: Views from the Center" blog.

13 Feb 2013

Introduced in SOTU by President George W. Bush, PEPFAR has saved millions of lives

"The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) exists entirely because of a willing leader, a creative policy team, a smattering of activists and a vast, bleeding need," columnist Michael Gerson writes in a Washington Post opinion piece

13 Feb 2013

New centre to boost development of drugs against TB, malaria and African sleeping sickness

A major new centre to boost the development of drugs to tackle the foremost diseases of the developing world is to be created at the University of Dundee.

13 Feb 2013