Healthcare News

RSS

Ryan says House GOP will again seek to revamp Medicare

Republicans in the House of Representatives will put forward a budget plan this year that will seek substantial reforms to health benefits for the elderly and make aggressive strides toward reducing deficits, a senior lawmaker said on Friday. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said he wanted his budget plan to offer voters an alternative vision to the "cradle-to-grave welfare state" that he says Democratic President Barack Obama is promoting.

23 Jan 2012

Labor union to launch ad seeking to link Romney to Medicare fraud

Voters in South Carolina go to the polls today, but meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times reports that AFSCME has purchased airtime for an ad that raises questions about the Republican presidential contender's work as a member of the board of directors of a medical testing company that paid a fine to Medicare.

23 Jan 2012

Planned NHS reforms face opposition

According to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg the NHS reforms that have been chalked out must go ahead, despite fresh criticism from MPs. The Commons health select committee is expected to say that plans to scrap primary care trusts and other changes are hampering efforts to save billions.

23 Jan 2012

President to push Congress to revisit ambitious effort to cut the deficit

And, House and Senate negotiators will hold a rare public meeting Tuesday about the payroll tax cut and the Medicare reimbursement rate for physicians.

21 Jan 2012

Kodak's Chapter 11 filing: Retiree benefit costs a big part of the problem

Here's one way of understanding Eastman Kodak Co.'s problems: The company has twice as many retirees drawing benefits in the U.S. as it has active employees world-wide. … Kodak has been whittling away at those benefits for years and says it wants to accelerate the process in Chapter 11 proceedings. … The company said in a filing Thursday that it is liable for $1.3 billion in U.S. retirement benefits such as health care.

21 Jan 2012

IMB announces new International Summer School in the Life Sciences

The Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) has announced a new International Summer School (ISS) in the Life Sciences. The ISS will take place from 16th July to 24th August 2012 and will provide outstanding and enthusiastic undergraduate, Master's and PhD students the opportunity to undertake exciting research projects.

21 Jan 2012

UNAIDS officials say progress being made against HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia

Speaking at a media briefing in Geneva on Thursday, Sheila Tlou, UNAIDS director of the regional support team for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the region is making progress in scaling up access to prevention and treatment services, including behavior change and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs, the U.N. News Centre reports.

21 Jan 2012

Health law, abortion among hot topics in S.C. Republican primary debate

The GOP presidential hopefuls clashed on a range of issues related to the health law, its individual mandate and efforts to repeal it. Candidates' positions on abortion were also flashpoints.

21 Jan 2012

Federal judge renews her order blocking Calif. cuts to in-home care

A federal judge will continue blocking millions of dollars in cuts to in-home care for the elderly and the disabled, parties to a lawsuit over the services said Thursday. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken had temporarily halted the cuts in December. The $100 million in reductions to home aid, built into the state budget in case revenue did not match projections, were to have kicked in this month.

21 Jan 2012

Doctors can use tactile imaging sensor for early detection of cancerous tumors

A key part of a medical patient's physical examination is performed through touch, but the doctor can only glean so much information from what he feels. That's why Temple University researchers have created a prototype device that will not only emulate human tactile sensation, but quantify it as well.

21 Jan 2012

Keeping global health relevant as part of sustainable development agenda

"In 2012 there will be a major strategic shift in global health, away from development and towards sustainability," a Lancet editorial states.

21 Jan 2012

New tool to improve ease of oral fluid collection

Researchers are constantly finding new ways to figure out what makes us human beings tick, and one of the newer methods makes you want to spit—literally. Saliva is full of analytes and biomarkers that create a biological journal of exposure to chemicals and disease, and genetic variability. However, the collection of oral fluid has always proved cumbersome, with researchers depending on swabs or collection cups.

21 Jan 2012

India's Ministry of Health dismisses claims of 'totally drug-resistant' TB

In a January 17 statement, India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare "dismissed reports that a form of incurable tuberculosis [TB] has arrived in the country," saying "that a team of doctors sent by the ministry found that seven of the patients are responding to treatment" and the cases would be classified and managed as extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), Nature News Blog reports.

21 Jan 2012

IMHE researchers present update on global development assistance

At a presentation hosted by the Global Health Council on Thursday at the University of Washington, Christopher Murray and Michael Hanlon from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation provided an update on global development assistance for health, the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog reports.

21 Jan 2012

Risperdal lawsuit settlement: Largest Medicaid fraud case in Texas

Texas and Janssen Pharmaceuticals reach a $158 million settlement on a suit claiming that the company lied about the efficacy of the anti-psychotic medicine.

21 Jan 2012

Health law policy topics: ACO deadline, hospital pay fix

Modern Healthcare reports that today's the last day to sign up for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' ACO program, which starts in April. Politico Pro, meanwhile, reports that a coalition of state hospitals is pushing the White House to address what they see as a "gaming of Medicare payments" that allows Massachusetts hospitals to collect higher Medicare reimbursements than other states.

21 Jan 2012

UHCMC now offers HITEC for women with gynecologic cancers

Patients with gynecologic cancer have new hope in a novel technology now offered at the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center. A team of cancer specialists, led by Robert DeBernardo, MD, is among the first in the nation to launch a dedicated program using Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) to treat ovarian, endometrial and select other cancers.

21 Jan 2012

HHS gives some religious employers an extra year to comply with birth control rule

Press reports indicate that the Obama administration will not significantly change the requirement that most employers cover FDA-approved contraceptives as part of a health plan. The health law includes a requirement that most workplaces cover preventive services for free.

21 Jan 2012

Blog covers experts' comments at country ownership roundtable

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

21 Jan 2012

Exploring how Peru is addressing drug-resistant TB

Discussing the recent reports of so-called "totally drug-resistant" tuberculosis (TDR-TB) in India, journalist John Donnelly in this GlobalPost "Global Voices" blog entry writes, "Overall, the world is treating drug-resistant TB extraordinarily poorly, and that creates more and more cases of resistant TB that aren't being cured."

21 Jan 2012