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Viewpoints: Insuring medical treatments are well researched; GOP Govs reluctance on exchanges may backfire

By 1990, many doctors were recommending hormone replacement therapy to healthy middle-aged women and P.S.A. screening for prostate cancer to older men. Both interventions had become standard medical practice. But in 2002, a randomized trial showed that preventive hormone replacement caused more problems (more heart disease and breast cancer) than it solved. ... Then, in 2009, trials showed that P.S.A. screening led to many unnecessary surgeries and had a dubious effect on prostate cancer deaths.

21 Aug 2012

Links between disruptive life events, poverty and contraceptive use

The researchers, from the Guttmacher Institute in New York, base their findings on feedback data from almost 9,500 women who had an abortion in 2008 (Abortion Patient Survey), in the light of 11 "disruptive" events, and the links between these, poverty, and contraceptive use.

21 Aug 2012

National approach can help manage drug shortages in Canada

Canada needs a national approach to managing its supply of pharmaceutical drugs, starting with a mandatory reporting system for drug shortages, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) and CPJ (Canadian Pharmacists Journal).

21 Aug 2012

Majority of Californians support health reform, Poll says; Gov. Brown plans special legislative session on health law

Californians support health reform, a new polls says, even as Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown seeks a special session from state lawmakers to deal with health reform issues, which he says can go no further without more federal guidance.

21 Aug 2012

Roundup: Abortion cases against Kan. Planned Parenthood dropped; Maine Readies session on money owed hospitals; Calif. suing doc over billing practices

The first criminal prosecution of Planned Parenthood came to an abrupt end Friday when Kansas prosecutors dropped all charges against a local affiliate accused of failing to determine the viability of fetuses before abortions were performed. ... They said that state law did not prohibit Planned Parenthood from using the gestational age of fetuses to determine whether they were viable or could survive outside of the womb.

21 Aug 2012

How's Medicare playing in the Florida Senate race

News outlets report on how Medicare is shaping the much-watched Florida Senate race as well as how this year's House candidates that are physicians also tend to be Democrats.

20 Aug 2012

Mo. Senate candidate blasted for comments on rape

Republican Rep. Todd Akin, who is challenging Sen. Claire McCaskill, suggested in a TV interview that some rapes are "legitimate" and women can shut down a pregnancy from such an attack.

20 Aug 2012

Appeals court dismisses challenge to doctor-owned hospital expansion limit in health law

An appeals court has dismissed a challenge to a part of the health law that limits expansion of doctor-owned hospitals on grounds that a lower court that issued an earlier ruling didn't have jurisdiction in the case.

20 Aug 2012

Political cartoon: 'A Little Extra Slice?'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "A Little Extra Slice?" by Jerry King.

20 Aug 2012

'Not enough exercise' cited as top children's health concern

Adults across the U.S. rate not getting enough exercise as the top health concern for children in 2012, according to a new University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

20 Aug 2012

Ryan's positions on women's issues becomes campaign target

Politico reports on how Rep. Paul Ryan's record on reproductive issues -- including co-sponosring a "personhood amendment" that would declare a fertilized egg to be a person, and voting to defund Planned Parenthood -- could widen President Barack Obama's lead among women. Meanwhile, a controversial comment about rape by a GOP candidate running for Senate in Missouri has stirred anger and angst.

20 Aug 2012

Happtique introduces mRx solution for electronically prescribing medical apps

Happtique, a mobile health application store and total app management solution, today announced the commencement of its pilot program of mRx, Happtique's patent-pending solution that enables physicians and other health practitioners to electronically prescribe medical, health, and fitness apps to their patients.

20 Aug 2012

Aetna to buy Coventry Health for $5.7B

Aetna is joining the post-health law insurer purchasing fray and buying Coventry Health for a proposed $5.7 billion to increase its Medicaid business.

20 Aug 2012

Clash over Medicaid opt-in

The three governors, whose states have among the highest uninsured populations and some of the most limited Medicaid programs in the country, say their states can't afford Medicaid expansion and don't want the federal government interfering with their programs.

20 Aug 2012

Presidential campaign keeps focus on Medicare

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and his running-mate pick Paul Ryan are taking their Medicare message to New Hampshire today. Meanwhile, President Obama blasts the Republican ticket on its Medicare plan.

20 Aug 2012

Emergency communications system automatically piggybacks on domestic wireless routers

An emergency communications system that could automatically piggyback on domestic wireless routers connected in urban locations could help first responders stay in touch even if cell phone towers and networks are down. Details are published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Mobile Network Design and Innovation.

20 Aug 2012

First Edition: August 20, 2012

Today's headlines focus on how the Medicare story is continuing to unfold on the presidential campaign trail.

20 Aug 2012

Binge drinkers happier with their college social experience

Why do some colleges have persistently high levels of binge drinking? It may be because, at these schools, binge drinking is associated with high status and binge drinkers are happier with their college social experience than their non-binge drinking peers, suggests new research to be presented at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association.

20 Aug 2012

Obama, Ryan make pitches for Medicare plans

After several days in which he mentioned only generalities on the campaign trail, Representative Paul D. Ryan sought on Saturday to play offense on Medicare, attacking in detail President Obama's health care plan, seizing an issue that has the potential to be one of Mr. Ryan's biggest liabilities in joining the Republican presidential ticket.

20 Aug 2012

CDC: Baby boomers should be tested for Hep C

Americans born between 1945 and 1965 are at particularly high risk for Hepatitis C and should be tested, according to new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

18 Aug 2012