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Significant increase in use of CT, MRI and PET imaging over the last two decades

Among six large integrated health care systems between 1996 and 2010 there was a substantial increase in the use of advanced diagnostic imaging, including approximately a tripling of the use of computed tomography and nearly a quadrupling of the use of magnetic resonance imaging, as well as a substantial increase in estimated radiation exposure, according to a study in the June 13 issue of JAMA.

13 Jun 2012

Kansas plans next moves in Medicaid overhaul

Kansas officials set public hearings on Medicaid changes. In the meantime, the Kansas Health Institute news service examines difficulties Kentucky has experienced with a similar transition.

13 Jun 2012

First Edition: June 13, 2012

Today's headlines feature reports about new government projections for the nation's health care spending and the latest from the campaign trail.

13 Jun 2012

CMS predicts modest health spending growth, then acceleration

The nation's been enjoying a respite from rising health care costs, but government experts say don't look for it to last. Health care spending will grow faster than the economy for the foreseeable future, says a report Tuesday from Medicare's nonpartisan economic analysts. ... By 2021, health care spending will be growing roughly 2 percentage points faster than the overall economy, about the same rate as the last 30 years.

13 Jun 2012

Disparities in managing depression among HIV-positive pregnant women

It seems logical that programs to screen and manage depression in pregnant, HIV-positive Medicaid patients should already be in place, but they aren't. It's the kind of glaring oversight that Rajesh Balkrishnan, associate professor at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy, said he finds all the time in his research on health disparities.

13 Jun 2012

Sebelius touts health law for 'bolstering' Medicare

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' comments were made during a White House-sponsored town hall meeting for senior citizens. Meanwhile, new figures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services indicate that some Medicare beneficiaries are not taking advantage of some of the new benefits.

13 Jun 2012

Short-term intensive weight management program effective alternative to bariatric surgery

A study by a team of clinicians and researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston has shown for the first time that patients with diabetes who enrolled in a short-term intensive weight management program were able to lose weight and keep it off on their own for four years.

13 Jun 2012

Gender disparity in compensation continue to exist in academic medicine

A survey of mid-career academic physician researchers finds that gender differences in salary exist, even after adjustment for differences in specialty, institutional characteristics, academic productivity, academic rank, work hours, and other factors, according to a study in the June 13 issue of JAMA.

13 Jun 2012

If health continues to wane on G8 agenda, a serious void will be left

In this post in the Global Health Governance blog, Jenilee Guebert, director of research for the global health diplomacy program and G8 research group at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, writes that, "for the second year in a row, the amount of attention devoted to global health" at the annual G8 summit, which took place at Camp David in Maryland in May, has declined.

13 Jun 2012

Study shows increase in medical imaging in health maintenance organization systems

Concern about overexposure to radiation due to excessive use of medical imaging has come to the fore in recent years. Now, a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Group Health Research Institute, shows that medical imaging is increasing even in health maintenance organization systems (HMOs), which don't have a financial incentive to conduct them.

13 Jun 2012

The RUC and the cost of health care

An investigation into the hidden relationship between the American Medical Association and Medicare and how it determines the cost of health care.

13 Jun 2012

Ruling to strike health care law could hurt Romney campaign

Mitt Romney is saying that overturning the health law is the "right thing" to do, but Politico explores whether he might lose a key rallying point for conservative voters if that were to happen.

13 Jun 2012

Medicaid still taking toll on state budgets

Even as state revenues are showing signs of recovering, health costs remain a budget drain, according to a new report.

13 Jun 2012

Millions suffer chronic food shortages in North Korea, U.N. report says

"Millions of North Koreans suffer chronic food shortages and dire health care ..., and there are no immediate signs of reforms to spur economic growth, the United Nations says" in a report released Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports.

13 Jun 2012

Relief groups appeal for aid to tackle worsening food crisis in West Africa

"Relief groups are stepping up their appeals for aid to tackle the worsening food crisis in West Africa, where more than 18 million people face hunger," the Guardian reports. "Relief agencies have been sounding the alarm for months about the effects of drought on the Sahel -- a region stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea," the newspaper writes.

13 Jun 2012

Lawmakers push to protect health care programs in Calif. budget plan

Lawmakers set to move a budget through the California legislature are pushing back against a plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to cut health care benefits -- notably for in-home care, kids, the elderly and the disabled.

13 Jun 2012

Obama administration warns about what's at stake in health law decision

Federal officials and health policy experts forecast what the future might hold if the Supreme Court overturns, or upholds the health law. Also, surveys highlight how employers plan to react to the decision, and how the law might help stabilize certain aspects of the insurance market.

13 Jun 2012

Save the Children releases pioneering report on newborn survival

Save the Children has released a pioneering report on newborn survival over the last decade that shows the world has greatly overlooked a key area for reducing child deaths-newborn care.

13 Jun 2012

Telephone intervention improves medication adherence in patients with glaucoma

A telephone intervention trial was associated with improvement in glaucoma medication adherence in both the treatment group and the control group but, when the two groups were compared, interactive telephone calls and tailored print materials did not significantly improve adherence, according to a report of a randomized controlled clinical trial published Online First by Archives of Ophthalmology, a JAMA Network publication.

13 Jun 2012

Report makes recommendations for improving allocation of scarce health funding

In this episode of the Center for Global Development's (CGD) "Global Prosperity Wonkcast," Lawrence MacDonald, vice president for communications and policy outreach at the CGD, interviews Amanda Glassman, a research fellow and director of CGD's global health program, about her recent report, Priority Setting in Health: Building Institutions for Smarter Public Spending, which "draws on the expertise of a CGD working group to offer recommendations for improving the allocation of scarce health funding, despite political and bureaucratic constraints."

13 Jun 2012