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Political cartoon: 'Doctor's Orders'

Kaiser Health News provides a fresh take on health policy developments with "Doctor's Orders" by Ann Telnaes.

3 Aug 2012

Obama Administration promises new money to help Vets become physician assistants

The Obama administration has announced $2.3 million in grants to help veterans become physician assistants -- helping ease their transition back into civilian life.

3 Aug 2012

IRS faces GOP criticism on health care tax credits

During a Capitol Hill hearing Thursday, House Republican lawmakers grilled the director of the Internal Revenue Service on his agency's ruling allowing qualified individuals to get tax credits to buy health insurance in federal health insurance exchanges.

3 Aug 2012

Bipartisan group of House lawmakers to push lame-duck passage of 'Simpson-Bowles' debt plan

A bipartisan group of lawmakers will make a lame-duck push at passing a previously released deficit reduction plan.

3 Aug 2012

Another Senate vote to repeal the health law? Harry Reid says no

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this evening rejected a plan offered by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to set up a vote on repealing the 2010 health care law before the end of September.

3 Aug 2012

Some small businesses brace for health law hardships

The Wall Street Journal reports on the impact the health law could have on restaurants and retailers, while other news outlets explore reverberations of the Supreme Court decision making the expansion of Medicaid effectively optional.

3 Aug 2012

State roundup: N.Y. law requires coverage for partial mastectomy

New York's newest laws include one that will require health insurance to cover reconstructive surgery after partial mastectomies. Health insurers in New York must already cover the cost of reconstructive surgery after a full mastectomy (8/2).

3 Aug 2012

Missouri Supreme Court strikes down cap on medical malpractice damages

Missouri's Supreme Court has ruled that a 20-year-old, $350,000 cap on noneconomic medical malpractice damages -- pain and suffering -- takes away a citizen's right to trial by jury and is unconstitutional.

3 Aug 2012

Study investigates standard practices for insertion and management of urinary catheters

A major international study led by University of Adelaide researchers aims to prevent death and serious illness caused by one of the most common infections contracted by patients in hospitals.

3 Aug 2012

Group Health, Providence Health Care team up in Pacific Northwest

The Group Health Cooperative and Providence Health Care are joining forces in a new limited liability corporation with the goal of providing more efficient health services.

3 Aug 2012

Experts offer disparate views on controlling health care costs

Dueling articles in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday propose sharply different ways to curb medical spending. The proposals offer a glimpse of the rival approaches that could emerge in 2013, when Congress will have to tackle the budget deficit and the future of the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled.

3 Aug 2012

Romney's record on health care examined

News outlets look at presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's style and positions on health care before and after he was governor of Massachusetts.

3 Aug 2012

Longer looks: Mississippi learns from Iran's health care system

Sabrina Seeling seemed too young to die. ... One night she stayed up all night translating a Latin text into English for a college paper. ... During the all-nighter, Ms. Seelig took Ephedra, a stimulant diet drug that had been banned by the Food and Drug Administration three years earlier, and had a few beers. ... When she felt sick, she called Poison Control for help, and spoke very clearly, a recording of the call shows.

3 Aug 2012

Clinicians need to discuss disorders of consciousness with ethical sensitivity

New tools have confirmed high rates of misdiagnosis of patients with chronic disorders of consciousness, such as the vegetative state. An increasing number of patients' families wish to use these novel techniques for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.

3 Aug 2012

Nigerian nursing, midwifery college seeks to train local health care workers

BBC News reports on a $15 million college in northern Nigeria's Jigawa state that is working to train nurses and midwives.

3 Aug 2012

Goals of curtailing sales of tobacco to underage youth continue to be met

A new report on the Synar Amendment program - a federal and state partnership aimed at ending illegal tobacco sales to minors—shows that all the states and the District of Columbia have continued to meet their goals of curtailing sales of tobacco to underage youth (those under 18). The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which sponsors the Synar program, shows that the average national retailer violation rate of tobacco sales is down to 8.5 percent, the lowest level in the history of the program.

3 Aug 2012

Investment in health systems 'a critical prerequisite' in beginning to end AIDS

The XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) that took place last week in Washington, D.C., "ignited momentum to shift from 'fighting AIDS' to 'ending AIDS,'" Mohga Kamal-Yanni, senior health adviser at Oxfam International, and Urvarshi Rajcoomer, policy and advocacy adviser at Oxfam in South Africa, write in a Mail & Guardian opinion piece.

3 Aug 2012

U.S. appeals court blocks Arizona's 20-week abortion ban

A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked an Arizona law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy as it considers the case. The law was upheld by a trial judge Monday and was set to take effect Thursday.

3 Aug 2012

Super-bug technology draws high-tech attention

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has said 2012 will be the year that hospitals should start paying to treat infections contracted on their premises. Many investors have the issue pegged as a janitorial concern, and not necessarily the purview of high-tech gadgets.

3 Aug 2012

Advice to stay active promotes recovery in patients with low back pain

For workers on medical leave because of low back pain, giving advice to stay active increases the chances of returning to work, reports a study in the August 1 issue of Spine.

3 Aug 2012