Healthcare News

RSS

Consumers' perceptions of medical prices can be faulty

Despite advocates' push for more transparency in medical pricing, consumers may draw the wrong message when they know what a health service or good costs.

4 Jan 2013

NEJM begins series of review articles on global health

The January 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine "includes the first article in a series of review articles on global health," Harvey Fineberg of the Institute of Medicine and David Hunter of the Harvard School of Public Health write in an NEJM editorial.

4 Jan 2013

Sen. Kirk's stroke offers him new Medicaid perspective

Sen. Mark Kirk's stroke has awakened him to what people on Medicaid experience in their rehabilitation efforts, he said.

4 Jan 2013

New issue of Global Health Governance available online

A new issue of Global Health Governance is available online and features articles focused on human security and health.

4 Jan 2013

Some health law funding becomes 'fiscal cliff' casualty

The agreement approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama would kill new funding for health insurance co-operatives. The fiscal deal also officially repealed the health law's CLASS Act, but establishes a new bipartisan commission to develop a plan for long-term care services for elderly and disabled people.

4 Jan 2013

Despite uncertainty, 2012 was good year for hospital stocks

Hospital stocks ended 2012 posting big gains despite a year that was filled with uncertainty regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. When the closing bell rang Dec. 31, HCA, Nashville, the largest investor-owned chain, was trading 37% higher than it was on the last trading day of 2011.

4 Jan 2013

Confusion surrounds regulation of various types of drug makers

Far from triggering a quick fix, the deaths or illnesses of 620 people in 19 states that have been linked to a Massachusetts pharmacy have only underscored confusion over how to regulate the various types of drug-makers in the United States.

4 Jan 2013

Pushing 14 years for Philippines reproductive health bill took 'courage'

Jose "Oying" Rimon, deputy director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Ben de Leon, president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development, Inc., write in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog that the many people who worked for 14 years to pass a reproductive health bill in the Philippines are "profiles in courage."

4 Jan 2013

State restrictions on abortions slow in 2012, but still second most ever

A new Guttmacher Institute report finds that the number of new abortion restrictions passed by states in 2012 was down from 2011, but that the year still saw the second most new rules on the procedure ever.

4 Jan 2013

Brazil to require reporting of HIV cases to improve treatment coverage

In "an effort to advance highly lauded efforts to combat AIDS," Brazil will require physicians to report cases of HIV, not just AIDS, to state and federal authorities, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

4 Jan 2013

States consider licensing dental therapists to fill cavities -- and care gap

A shortage of dentists spurred Minnesota to license dental therapists, and several other states may follow suit, USA Today reports. Meanwhile, a health plan in rural South Dakota and Minnesota is hiring Native American healers as consultants.

4 Jan 2013

New York Times examines grassroots HIV efforts aimed at gay men in China

The New York Times examines grassroots HIV/AIDS outreach and testing efforts aimed at gay men in China. The newspaper highlights "Lingnan Health Center, an organization run largely by gay volunteers," and recounts the story of Le, "a gay man who would give only his first name."

4 Jan 2013

Killing of polio workers in Pakistan is major setback for global elimination drive

"The brutal assassination of nine grassroots level health workers in Pakistan, who were involved in a door-to-door immunization campaign in an attempt to secure children from crippling polio, adds an unprecedentedly grave dimension to the ongoing carnage in Pakistan," Sania Nishtar, founder of Heartfile, Heartfile Health Financing, and the recently launched Sania Nishtar Health Fund, writes in an opinion piece in the Huffington Post U.K.'s "Impact" blog.

4 Jan 2013

Journalists may now apply for press credentials for ACS's 245th National Meeting & Exposition

Journalists may now apply for press credentials for the American Chemical Society's 245th National Meeting & Exposition. One of the largest scientific conferences of the New Year will be held April 7-11, 2013, in New Orleans, La.

4 Jan 2013

Pakistan records 306 measles cases in 2012, compared with 64 in 2011, WHO reports

"Measles cases surged in Pakistan in 2012, and hundreds of children died from the disease, an international health body said Tuesday," the Associated Press/CBS News reports. "A spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, Maryam Yunus, said that 306 children died in Pakistan of measles in 2012, compared to 64 the year before," the news agency writes.

4 Jan 2013

Fiscal deal political fallout will likely shape future Medicare, entitlement spending battles

News outlets continue to analyze how the fiscal deal will set the table for future deficit debates and when some of the difficult spending issues could again take center stage.

4 Jan 2013

Thai health advocates work to protect special provisions on medicines under E.U. free trade agreement

Thailand and the European Union (E.U.) are expected to begin talks on a free trade agreement early this year, and Thai public health advocates have sent a letter to Joao Aguiar Machado, deputy director general for trade at the European Commission, "calling for the bloc to respect global trade rules' special provisions for developing countries," Inter Press Service reports.

4 Jan 2013

Viewpoints: McConnell says spending cuts are coming; Plea to Kan. governor to rethink insurance exchange

Predictably, the President is already claiming that his tax hike on the "rich" isn't enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes.

4 Jan 2013

Hobby Lobby won't offer contraception coverage, defying health law and rulings; States face implementation battles

After losing a last-minute appeal to the Supreme Court, craft stores chain Hobby Lobby said it would defy a federal health care mandate requiring employers to provide their workers with insurance that covers emergency contraceptives.

4 Jan 2013

Algorithms designed to find patients with recurrent cancer within databases do not work

In order to study the effectiveness or cost effectiveness of treatments for recurrent cancer, you first have to discover the patients in medical databases who have recurrent cancer. Generally studies do this with billing or treatment codes - certain codes should identify who does and does not have recurrent cancer. A recent study published in the journal Medical Care shows that the commonly used data determinants of recurrent cancer may be misidentifying patients and potentially leading researchers astray.

4 Jan 2013

Healthcare News

Consumers' perceptions of medical prices can be faulty

NEJM begins series of review articles on global health

Sen. Kirk's stroke offers him new Medicaid perspective

New issue of Global Health Governance available online

Some health law funding becomes 'fiscal cliff' casualty

Despite uncertainty, 2012 was good year for hospital stocks

Confusion surrounds regulation of various types of drug makers

Pushing 14 years for Philippines reproductive health bill took 'courage'

State restrictions on abortions slow in 2012, but still second most ever

Brazil to require reporting of HIV cases to improve treatment coverage

States consider licensing dental therapists to fill cavities -- and care gap

New York Times examines grassroots HIV efforts aimed at gay men in China

Killing of polio workers in Pakistan is major setback for global elimination drive

Journalists may now apply for press credentials for ACS's 245th National Meeting & Exposition

Pakistan records 306 measles cases in 2012, compared with 64 in 2011, WHO reports

Fiscal deal political fallout will likely shape future Medicare, entitlement spending battles

Thai health advocates work to protect special provisions on medicines under E.U. free trade agreement

Viewpoints: McConnell says spending cuts are coming; Plea to Kan. governor to rethink insurance exchange

Hobby Lobby won't offer contraception coverage, defying health law and rulings; States face implementation battles

Algorithms designed to find patients with recurrent cancer within databases do not work

Building quality into drug development for safer, faster medicines

How Pulp Fixin Is Turning Paper into High-Performance Sustainable Labware

A new method to measure intracellular water in biological systems

Latest News