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CMS releases delayed final rule on payments to physicians

Under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, financial relationships that drug and device makers have with doctors must be disclosed.

3 Feb 2013

Ark., Ga. latest to ponder Medicaid budget shortfalls, solutions

Arkansas and Georgia are the latest to debate the cost of Medicaid to their budget bottom lines -- and possible solutions.

3 Feb 2013

Facing a 'transition year,' Aetna's fourth-quarter profits are halved

The insurer's net income dropped 49 percent as higher medical costs squeezed the profit margin for the insurer.

3 Feb 2013

New survey outlines funding deficiency in brain and eye disease research

BrightFocus Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds research worldwide to save sight and mind, today released the results of a survey of more than 170 leading biomedical scientists that explores the most significant barriers to progress in ending brain and eye diseases.

2 Feb 2013

Global Health Corps training global health leaders of the future

"At the Global Health Corps, we recruit, connect and train ... the global health leaders of the future," Barbara Bush and Dave Ryan, co-founder and founding director of the Global Health Corps, respectively, write in a Devex guest commentary.

2 Feb 2013

Experts contemplate whether Medicare should pay for Alzheimer's test

Also in the news, Astra Zeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb step up their diabetes-drug partnership.

2 Feb 2013

Overbilling and out-of-network care contribute to marketplace tension

Though he was living on $18,000 a year as a graduate student, [Angel] Gonzalez had good insurance and the hospital, St. Charles in Port Jefferson, N.Y., was in his network. But the surgeon who came in to remove Mr. Gonzalez's gallbladder that Sunday night was not.

2 Feb 2013

Alleviation of global hunger an urgent agenda for world leaders in 2013

"The fact that an inexpensive and readily treatable condition that affects 868 million people, kills 2.3 million children per year, and was targeted as a Millennium Development Goal, should remain uncontrolled year after year is as shocking as it is shameful," a Lancet editorial writes about global hunger.

2 Feb 2013

Guardian reports on HIV-related employment discrimination case in China

"An aspiring teacher in south-east China has become the country's first person to win compensation for an HIV-related employment discrimination, according to state media reports," the Guardian writes.

2 Feb 2013

Debate about health law's Medicaid expansion is hot topic in state Capitols

Lawmakers, officials and health advocates continue to press their policy positions on the pros and cons of expanding the Medicaid program.

2 Feb 2013

'Impatient Optimists' blog reflects on recent Global Maternal Health Conference

In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Mariam Claeson, deputy director of maternal, newborn, and child health at the foundation; France Donnay, senior program officer for maternal, neonatal and child health at the foundation; and Melanie Walker, deputy director of global development special initiatives at the foundation, reflect on the Global Maternal Health Conference 2013, which took place recently in Arusha, Tanzania.

2 Feb 2013

Survey finds few states have laws to enforce new consumer health protections

A report by the Commonwealth Fund finds that 39 states do not have measures to allow officials to enforce some key insurance regulations from the federal health law.

2 Feb 2013

Kaiser Family Foundation releases primer on U.S. engagement in global health issues

A new Kaiser Family Foundation primer "provides a comprehensive overview of the U.S. government's engagement in global health issues, including a look at the federal programs that support these efforts," according to an email alert from the foundation.

2 Feb 2013

Medicare expands competitive bidding program

The new prices will kick in July 1 and are expected to save on average 45 percent for products such as walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen equipment and other medical products.

2 Feb 2013

Secretary Clinton announces new partnerships at event celebrating power of collaboration

"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday hosted over 200 representatives from business, non-governmental organizations, and civil society groups to celebrate the power of collaboration," Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, and Kris Balderston, the special representative for global partnerships, write in the State Department's "Dipnote" blog.

2 Feb 2013

Administration issues proposed rule on contraception coverage mandate and nonprofit religious organizations

The Department of Health and Human Services today announced a proposed rule that, according to an agency press release, lays out "how nonprofit religious organizations, such as nonprofit religious hospitals or institutions of higher education, that object to contraception on religious grounds can receive an accommodation that provides their enrollees separate contraceptive coverage, and with no co-pays, but at no cost to the religious organization."

2 Feb 2013

Study offers new evidence of natural emission of influenza

A new study suggests that patients with influenza can emit small virus-containing particles into the surrounding air during routine patient care, potentially exposing health care providers to influenza. Published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, the findings raise the possibility that current influenza infection control recommendations may not always be adequate to protect providers from influenza during routine patient care in hospitals.

2 Feb 2013

Research roundup: Concerns about ambulance diversions; The health law's impact on nursing homes; Mental health parity

Hospitals across the United States routinely turn away ambulances to relieve overcrowding, but the practice remains controversial. Researchers in this study aimed to identify the impact of Massachusetts' 2009 ambulance diversion ban.

2 Feb 2013

CBT and graded exercise therapy increase likelihood of recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome

Research led by Queen Mary, University of London, has shown that recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is possible for some patients, and has identified two treatments most likely to lead to recovery.

2 Feb 2013

SFU, Fraser Health poised to become medical technology leaders

Research endowment links SFU, Fraser Health as medical technology leaders Simon Fraser University and Fraser Health Authority are poised to become leaders in medical research and technology innovation with the launch of a $5.25 million Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation B.C. Leadership Chair in Multimodal Technology for Healthcare Innovation.

2 Feb 2013