Healthcare News

RSS

Study finds global abortion rate 'virtually unchanged' from 2003 to 2008

"After a period of substantial decline, the global abortion rate has stalled, according to new research from the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization (WHO)" published in the Lancet on Wednesday, a Guttmacher press release reports.

20 Jan 2012

Making Cancer History seminar to take place on Feb. 11

Cancer experts from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center return to West Palm Beach Feb. 11 for the institution's annual Making Cancer History seminar. The event, in the Cohen Pavilion of the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., begins at 8:30 a.m. with a breakfast buffet.

20 Jan 2012

House panel gives nod to CLASS Act repeal legislation

The House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation that would eliminate the health law's Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act. Though the Obama administration stopped the program's implementation last year, many Republicans still want to remove it from the books.

20 Jan 2012

Blog interviews UCLA professor about highly drug-resistant TB

The Los Angeles Times' "Booster Shots" blog features an interview with Otto Yang, a professor at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, who speaks about drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and the implications of a highly drug-resistant strain found in India.

20 Jan 2012

Study finds older women can wait up to 15 years to repeat bone scans

Bone loss and osteoporosis develop so slowly in most women whose bones test normal at age 65 that many can safely wait as long as 15 years before having a second bone density test, researchers report in a new study. … Medicare pays for a bone density test every two years and many doctors have assumed that is the ideal interval, although national guidelines recommend them only at "regular intervals."

20 Jan 2012

States streamline, add efficiency to Medicaid, survey finds

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 29 states have streamlined their programs, with most taking advantage of federal incentives to use new technology.

20 Jan 2012

In states, questions swirl about Medicaid contracts, costs, waiting lists

Florida's unfolding plan to keep elderly and disabled Medicaid patients out of nursing homes through the use of HMOs faces a huge obstacle: The state already has a long waiting list for the kinds of home- and community-based services those patients need. And there is no state money on the table to address it.

20 Jan 2012

Cote d'Ivoire continues to need humanitarian assistance, U.N. official says

"Cote d'Ivoire remains in great need of humanitarian assistance nine months after the end of the bloody post-election violence that displaced tens of thousands of people, a senior United Nations relief official said today, urging donors to continue their generosity to the West African country throughout this year," the U.N. News Centre reports.

20 Jan 2012

E.U. doubles humanitarian aid to Sahel in response to impending food crisis

"Kristalina Georgieva, the European commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis response, arrived in Niger on Wednesday to see at first hand the extent of food shortages" in the country and announced the European Union (E.U.) "is doubling its humanitarian aid to the Sahel to nearly €95 million ($122 million) in response to the slow onset emergency in the region, where an estimated 300,000 children are affected by malnutrition annually," the Guardian reports.

20 Jan 2012

White House: Health exchanges on track in many states

A report Wednesday by the Obama administration said that many states, including some with GOP governors, are proceeding with state-based exchanges. Still, a federal exchange is in the works for those that can't or won't meet the health law's requirements and timeline.

20 Jan 2012

Shortages of anti-infective drugs can put patients at risk and alter clinical care

Shortages of key drugs used to fight infections represent a public health emergency and can put patients at risk, according to a review published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online.

20 Jan 2012

First lady praises academic institutions for dedication to America's warriors

As part of a White House effort to ensure that America's military heroes receive care worthy of their service, the UCLA Health System and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have pledged to mobilize their uniquely integrated missions in education, research and clinical care to help train physicians to meet the special needs of veterans, active service members and their families.

20 Jan 2012

Lung association criticizes state tobacco policies

Anti-tobacco efforts by U.S. states were "abysmal" last year as their collective spending on anti-smoking programs declined 11 percent and only two raised cigarette taxes, the American Lung Association said. While more than half the states already ban the use of cigarettes in restaurants, bars and workplaces, no additional states passed comprehensive anti-smoking laws last year, the Washington-based health advocacy group said today in a report.

20 Jan 2012

About half of eligible and due services are missed during PHEs

More than 20 percent of U.S. adults receive periodic health examinations (PHE) each year, yet new research shows that patients who have an annual routine visit to their doctor may not receive recommended preventive screening tests and counseling services that could benefit their health.

20 Jan 2012

Longer looks: Explaining Medicare's 'premium support'

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration convened a committee of medical experts to weigh new evidence concerning the potential dangers of drospirenone, a synthetic hormone contained in popular birth control pills including Bayer AG's Yaz and Yasmin. ... the committee concluded by a four-vote margin that the benefits of drugs with drospirenone outweigh the risks.

20 Jan 2012

Blog covers Ethiopia Minister of Health's comments at country ownership roundtable

This post in the Ministerial Leadership Initiative's (MLI) "Leading Global Health" blog is "the second of a series of perspective pieces on country ownership from the 'Advancing Country Ownership for Greater Results' roundtable organized last week by" MLI.

20 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Health care and the federal deficit; Doctors reassessing health law

We don't have a generalized overspending problem. We have a humongous health-care problem. … Try to ignore the current shallowness in American politics, if you can, and assume that the federal budget deficit will be among the major issues of the 2012 campaign. It certainly should be, for while everyone wants a lower deficit, the two parties have starkly different visions of how to get there.

20 Jan 2012

Roundup: State lawmakers urge deficit reduction

On Wednesday, the National Conference of State Legislatures, which represents lawmakers from across the country, sent President Barack Obama, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a letter urging them to "examine all possible avenues for deficit reduction, including discretionary spending, entitlement reform and revenue-related options."

20 Jan 2012

Study shows 50% reduction in blindness and severe visual loss in Denmark

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness in the Western World. A report from the University of Copenhagen and Glostrup Hospital in Denmark published today shows the number of new cases of blindness and severe visual loss in Denmark has been halved during the last ten years.

20 Jan 2012

Decisive role of grandmothers on maternal and infant nutrition, health

Grandmothers and other senior female family members should play a key role in nutrition and health programmes for children and women in non-Western societies. However, they are often overlooked by health organisations that don't understand the importance of their role or see them as an obstacle to promoting good nutrition and health practices.

20 Jan 2012