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Foreign aid for health services not significantly displaced, analysis says

In an article published in the May 8 edition of PLoS Medicine, Rajaie Batniji, an affiliate of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and Eran Bendavid of FSI's Stanford Health Policy, found that a 2010 Lancet study by researchers at the University of Washington that "concluded that about half the money given to international governments for providing health care services isn't used as intended" is "flawed" and "should not be used to guide decisions about how much money to give and who should get it," according to a Stanford University news story.

11 May 2012

Republican govs like free-market insurance exchanges but skewer 'Obamacare'

Many governors find themselves in an awkward spot since opposing the health care law is GOP orthodoxy. In the meantime, Iowa lawmakers approved a bill requiring licensure of advisers who help people navigate health insurance options.

11 May 2012

House passes cuts to health care, other programs to protect Pentagon funding

The Republican-led House has agreed to replace deep budget cuts scheduled to hit the Pentagon in January with a series of reductions in funding for food stamps, Medicaid and regulation of the financial sector. The House approved the package that would save $242.8 billion over 10 years on a party-line 218 to 199 vote. No Democrats supported the package; sixteen Republicans opposed it.

11 May 2012

Nepalese government launches 'ambitious' plan to end malaria, IRIN reports

"The Nepalese government has launched an ambitious plan to curb the spread of malaria in high-risk parts of the country, where some 3,000 people were infected last year," IRIN reports. Through the program, which began on May 1 and "is the first nationwide push to end malaria," the "health ministry will distribute [anti-malarial] drugs at their local offices, and through their representatives in rural areas," IRIN writes.

11 May 2012

Viewpoints: Can Medicare taxes really fund student loans?; Daschle on diabetes and kids

In the case of the student loans, the Democrats' bill would require certain Americans -- high-income partners in small businesses that provide professional services, such as engineering or lobbying -- to pay payroll taxes on their share of the firm's profits. That's a long way of saying the bill would eliminate a tax-avoidance strategy that some small firms use to reduce their contributions to Social Security and Medicare.

11 May 2012

Capsules: Study: Privately insured kids get more care in ED

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Jenny Gold writes: "Insurance coverage may play a major role in the kind of care a patient receives, according to a study published in the most recent edition of The Journal of Pediatrics."

11 May 2012

Government investigators pinpoint $5.6 billion in 'suspect' Medicare billings from pharmacies

This report from the Health and Human Services inspector general concluded that corner drugstores are vulnerable to fraud.

11 May 2012

Iowa legislature approves revamping state mental health system; Texas officials spotlight gaps

The Iowa plan had been held up by funding concerns. In other news on mental health issues, North Carolina is also weighing major changes in its system.

11 May 2012

Female Presidents of Liberia, Malawi pledge to address gender equality, improve women's health

"The only two female heads of state in Africa, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Malawian President Joyce Banda, have just committed to using their positions to improve the lives of women across the continent," Inter Press Service reports.

11 May 2012

Education the most important factor in reducing maternal deaths

A scientific analysis of 50 years of maternal mortality data from Chile has found that the most important factor in reducing maternal mortality is the educational level of women. "

11 May 2012

EO2 Concepts added to Marathon Medical's FSS contract

Electrochemical Oxygen Concepts, the developer of a unique and innovative chronic wound treatment device, announced it has been added to Marathon Medical's existing Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract, administered by The Department of Veterans Affairs.

11 May 2012

Efforts to stem childhood mortality in Ghana will not be enough to reach MDG, UNICEF official says

Anirban Chatterjee, chief of health and nutrition for UNICEF in Ghana, said the country "is doing a lot" to fight child mortality -- referring to a recently launched vaccination campaign and an initiative to educate mothers about nutrition -- but "I don't think it's enough" to reach the fourth U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds by 2015, Inter Press Service reports.

11 May 2012

Review finds 74% decline in annual ICU admissions for asthma

A review of 30 years of life-threatening asthma cases in a San Antonio intensive care unit found that annual ICU admissions for the condition have dropped 74 percent. The study, by UT Medicine San Antonio physicians who reviewed cases at University Hospital between 1980 and 2010, also showed intubation in the emergency department to help patients breathe did not result in longer hospital stays.

11 May 2012

Longer looks: More 20-30 somethings are taking care of elderly, dissecting solutions to obesity problem

At 30, Suzette Armijo cares for her widowed 86-year-old grandmother, a retired National Park Service ranger in the final stages of Alzheimer's disease, while holding down a fulltime job, a part-time job and raising a 4-year-old son. "This was nothing that I had planned for," says Armijo, who moved her grandmother Elizabeth Armijo into a nearby six-bed assisted living home because veterans' benefits "wouldn't pay for her to live with me."

11 May 2012

Young adults increase their risk of skin cancer with sunburns

Young adults are increasing their risk for developing skin cancer, according to two studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute.

11 May 2012

Children with private, public and no insurance may receive differing levels of treatment in ED

In 2009, children with public insurance were three times more likely and children with no insurance were eleven time more likely not to have a primary care physician, compared with children with private insurance. Without a primary care physician, the Emergency Department (ED) often becomes the primary point of contact for treatments and diagnoses. A new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics reports that children with private, public, and no insurance may receive differing levels of treatment in EDs.

11 May 2012

Government, development sector leaders should turn to Bangladesh program for solutions to avoidable childhood death

For solutions to help end avoidable child deaths, "government and development sector leaders should heed the lessons of a massive-yet-innovative program" in Bangladesh, called SHOUHARDO, a Bangla word for "friendship," "that is not only helping children ... reach their fifth birthdays but also ensuring they grow healthier, and in many cases, taller," Faheem Khan of CARE Bangladesh, who heads the SHOUHARDO program, writes in this Christian Science Monitor opinion piece.

11 May 2012

ACS editorial calls for systematic approach to increase cancer screening participation

An editorial by Marcus Plescia, MD, MPH, director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calls for a more organized and comprehensive approach to increase cancer screening participation among those who are insured or are likely to become insured through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

10 May 2012

Mass. Senate to release plan to revamp health payments

The proposal, which will be formally unveiled today, follows suggested blueprints from the governor and the House on cutting the growth rate of health care costs.

10 May 2012

Senate embroiled in partisan struggle over student loan rates

At issue is how to pay for an extension of the current interest rate. Democrats propose increasing the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes on high-earning stockholders of some privately owned corporations. Republicans would like to take funds from the health law's prevention fund.

10 May 2012

Healthcare News

Foreign aid for health services not significantly displaced, analysis says

Republican govs like free-market insurance exchanges but skewer 'Obamacare'

House passes cuts to health care, other programs to protect Pentagon funding

Nepalese government launches 'ambitious' plan to end malaria, IRIN reports

Viewpoints: Can Medicare taxes really fund student loans?; Daschle on diabetes and kids

Capsules: Study: Privately insured kids get more care in ED

Government investigators pinpoint $5.6 billion in 'suspect' Medicare billings from pharmacies

Iowa legislature approves revamping state mental health system; Texas officials spotlight gaps

Female Presidents of Liberia, Malawi pledge to address gender equality, improve women's health

Education the most important factor in reducing maternal deaths

EO2 Concepts added to Marathon Medical's FSS contract

Efforts to stem childhood mortality in Ghana will not be enough to reach MDG, UNICEF official says

Review finds 74% decline in annual ICU admissions for asthma

Longer looks: More 20-30 somethings are taking care of elderly, dissecting solutions to obesity problem

Young adults increase their risk of skin cancer with sunburns

Children with private, public and no insurance may receive differing levels of treatment in ED

Government, development sector leaders should turn to Bangladesh program for solutions to avoidable childhood death

ACS editorial calls for systematic approach to increase cancer screening participation

Mass. Senate to release plan to revamp health payments

Senate embroiled in partisan struggle over student loan rates

Advancing brain microphysiological systems (bMPS)

PhD researcher at LifeArc

Unveiling Hidden Potential: Organoids for Disease Modeling in Neuroscience Research

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