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Some fear industry interests are stalling negotiations on U.N. NCD summit, BMJ reports

"In the run up to the U.N. summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), there are fears that industry interests might be trumping evidence-based public health interventions," BMJ reports.

25 Aug 2011

Implementation of maternal and child health innovations important

In a Huffington Post opinion piece, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah writes about the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge in Development competition, which "called for groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant mothers and newborns around the time of birth in rural settings."

25 Aug 2011

Medicare tests bundled payment structure in hopes of saving money

Ultimately, Medicare officials hope that bundling payments to hospitals, doctors and even post-hospital caregivers will lead to increases in cost-effective care.

25 Aug 2011

HHS selects Mayo Clinic physician to chair advisory council on Alzheimer's

Ronald Petersen, M.D., Cadieux Director of the Mayo Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, was selected to chair the Advisory Council on Alzheimer's Research, Care, and Services. The group was announced by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

25 Aug 2011

Commonwealth study: Unemployed skipping important medical services, highlighting importance of COBRA coverage

The Commonwealth Fund is out Wednesday with a report that shows the unemployed are skipping out on important medical services and recommends Congress extend COBRA subsidies through 2014. The study found that 72 percent of people who have lost their employer health insurance didn't fill prescriptions, get recommended tests or see a doctor because of the high cost barrier.

25 Aug 2011

NNU Director named one of the '100 Most Influential People in Healthcare'

For the tenth straight year, National Nurses United Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro has won national recognition from a major healthcare industry publication as one of the "100 Most Influential People in Healthcare" which was announced this week.

25 Aug 2011

IRIN reports on HIV-positive Kenyans' struggle to reach food aid

IRIN reports on the difficulties some people living with HIV in Kenya face in accessing food. "Partly because of a prolonged dry spell, some 3.6 million Kenyans need emergency food assistance," and, while there is food aid available in Kenya, poor roads prevent the aid from reaching some villages, according to IRIN.

25 Aug 2011

Insurer continues challenge to its exclusion from La. Medicaid program

A major insurance firm is continuing to protest its exclusion from the state's planned $2.2 billion privatization of coverage for more than 800,000 of the state 1.2 million Medicaid enrollees.

25 Aug 2011

ADA's 2011 food and nutrition conference to be held in San Diego

The world's largest annual meeting of food and nutrition professionals, the American Dietetic Association's 2011 Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo, will be held September 24 to 27 in San Diego, Calif.

25 Aug 2011

Health law legal challenges: Date set for oral arguments in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals

Missouri's health reform lawsuit is heading for oral arguments in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 8th Circuit on Tuesday said oral arguments in the lawsuit, which challenges the individual mandate and the Medicaid expansion, will take place in St. Paul, Minn., during the week of Oct. 17.

25 Aug 2011

BESLER Consulting expands Care Coordination and Compliance practice

BESLER Consulting, a leading financial and operational consultancy to healthcare providers, is pleased to announce the expansion of their Care Coordination and Compliance practice, with the integration of Dr. Frank L. Urbano's expertise and experience.

25 Aug 2011

Northwestern Mutual Foundation donates $47,110 to Easter Seals' kids initiative

Easter Seals, the nation's leading non-profit provider of services for individuals with autism, developmental disabilities, physical disabilities and other special needs, today announced that it received a grant totaling $47,110 through the Northwestern Mutual Foundation's Click for Kids program, a Facebook-driven campaign that launched earlier this summer.

25 Aug 2011

Medicare may begin covering STD screenings for beneficiaries

Medicare may soon be paying for sexually transmitted disease screening for the elderly. Though the final decision won't be made until November, the federal health care agency that covers about 40 million seniors will announce a draft recommendation Wednesday.

25 Aug 2011

Free Alzheimer's disease conference to take place on Sept. 17

University of Louisville faculty researchers and clinicians with expertise in polypharmacy, caregiving and more will join with a Washington-based geriatric researcher at a free conference examining Alzheimer's disease.

25 Aug 2011

South African Health Minister promotes exclusive breastfeeding to fight rising infant mortality rate

Speaking at a breastfeeding conference on Tuesday in Johannesburg, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that "reducing child mortality is one of the most important priorities in our country and central to this is breastfeeding as a child survival strategy," Agence France-Presse reports.

25 Aug 2011

Viewpoints: Perry's health record, Medicare spending slows, postal service's health plan controversy

And now for some good news: Medicare spending growth has been slowing noticeably. ... some evidence suggests it may be a shift toward value in the health-care sector. Various hospital executives have told me they have already begun to prepare for less generous reimbursement from Medicare as the new federal health-care-reform law takes effect.

25 Aug 2011

ICU patients with MRSA infection may face 50% increased risk of death

Does the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, cause more deaths in hospitals than the bacteria that are sensitive to common antibiotics? Opinions have been varied, but now a worldwide study at, among others, Linköping University in Sweden, indicates that the mortality rate can be 50 % higher for intensive care patients infected with MRSA.

25 Aug 2011

Successful aging, quality of life linked with sexual satisfaction in older women

A study by researchers at the Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego finds that successful aging and positive quality of life indicators correlate with sexual satisfaction in older women.

25 Aug 2011

Global Fund to resume suspended grants to China

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which "froze disbursements of its AIDS grant to China in November and all other grants in May over suspected misuse of the money and the government's reluctance to involve community groups, ... said Tuesday that it was lifting the freeze on financing to ensure that AIDS work in China continued while it worked with government officials, representatives from United Nations agencies and private groups to resolve the dispute," the Associated Press reports.

25 Aug 2011

Patients with liver disease may now access UCSD's new Nevada clinic

Patients in Nevada seeking care for liver disease may now access the university-level expertise of UC San Diego Health System's Center for Hepatobiliary Disease and Abdominal Transplantation.

25 Aug 2011