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Use of rapid male circumcision tool will help Africa reach HIV prevention goals

In order for Rwanda to reach its HIV prevention goals, the country "need[s] to reach two million men in two years to benefit from the protective effect of [voluntary medical male circumcision] in order to achieve this as part of a comprehensive, combination HIV prevention strategy," Agnes Binagwahois, Rwanda's minister of health, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece.

14 Dec 2011

Bill that forces prompt payments from Medicaid advances in House; Grassley challenges CMS on hedge funds

Modern Healthcare reports that Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., have introduced legislation to require Medicaid to pay its bills promptly. Also in the news, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday that he believes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may have given special treatment to information requests from hedge funds and political intelligence brokers.

14 Dec 2011

House vote scheduled on payroll tax reduction package

The bill, which also would extend a number of other expiring measures and includes "must-pass" provisions such as the Medicare "doc fix," has drawn opposition. Hospitals groups have blasted it because it includes billions of dollars in cuts to hospital payments.

14 Dec 2011

Health policy issues draw headlines for Romney and Gingrich

News outlets fact check the policy question behind GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's $10,000 bet. Meanwhile, other stories focus on Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's support for the Medicare Part D drug program.

14 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 14, 2011

In today's headlines, reports about progress -- or lack thereof -- as the House and Senate work to come to terms on the year's must-pass legislation.

14 Dec 2011

ICFH to implement EHRs for behavioral health services

Institute for Child and Family Health (ICFH) has received a $100,000 grant from Health Foundation of South Florida to implement electronic health records for the organization's behavioral health services.

14 Dec 2011

Study: High cancer screening rates seen among elderly adults

Adults older than 75 years continue to have regular screenings for colorectal, breast, cervical, and prostate cancer despite guidelines that recommend against such routine screenings in this population, according to a study by Keith M. Bellizzi, MD, MPH, from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, and colleagues.

14 Dec 2011

TJU receives SAMHSA grant for suicide prevention project

Through a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that was given to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University was awarded a subcontract, averaging about $70,000 per year for three years, to serve as the training center for a suicide prevention project. Pennsylvania is one of 42 states to receive a portion of grant awards funded under the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act.

14 Dec 2011

Capsules: Hospitals clash with House Republicans on Medicare cuts

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Mary Agnes Carey reports: "Hospitals have come out swinging against payment cuts to their industry included in the House Republican plan to stop a scheduled Medicare physician payment cut next January. And the House GOP is swinging right back."

14 Dec 2011

Calif. revamping mental health services

California has begun transitioning its mental health services program to concentrate care on the most serious patients residing in state mental hospitals and prisons, but the cost-cutting move is raising concerns about patient care from state workers. The state announced last week it will hand off more responsibility for public mental health programs to counties as part of Gov. Jerry Brown's ongoing push to move services to California's local governments.

14 Dec 2011

USAID infographic on how to save 5M children by 2015

USAID provides an infographic describing how, "under President Obama's Global Health Initiative, USAID will work with other global leaders in child health to help save five million children between 2010 and 2015" through targeted interventions for the leading causes of preventable death among children.

14 Dec 2011

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell's 525 E. 68th Street building earns EPA ENERGY STAR award

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded its ENERGY STAR certification to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center's flagship building at 525 East 68th Street -- the only hospital facility certified in New York City in 2011.

14 Dec 2011

TV cameras and the Supreme Court: Health law adds pressure to the mix

Now that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a dispute over the federal health care law, the justices are facing the strongest challenge to their ban on televised hearings. Members of Congress and news industry leaders have asked the court to allow the televising of oral arguments, to be held over five and a half hours during two days in March.

14 Dec 2011

Kansas finds prison clinics help control costs

The Kansas Health Institute News offers a series of stories about caring for the health needs of state prisoners.

14 Dec 2011

Lobbying reports highlight focus on health care rules, calorie-count laws

The world's biggest burger chain lobbied Congress, the White House, the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services on the sweeping health care changes that were signed into law in March 2010. In general the new health care rules will require more companies to offer health care insurance to employees. McDonald's also homed in on a part in the law that would require more restaurants to add calorie information to their menus.

14 Dec 2011

RHUL researchers call for more unified lower back pain guidelines

Researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London are calling for more unified guidelines about returning back pain patients to work as currently the advice can be contradictory and confusing.

14 Dec 2011

U.S. investments in HIV treatment internationally, domestically 'should pay off'

"We welcome the Obama administration's announcement of a farsighted effort to treat millions more people living with HIV abroad, especially in sub-Saharan Africa," a New York Times editorial writes.

14 Dec 2011

ASM launches clinical microbiology web portal

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) has launched a clinical microbiology web portal, that focuses all of ASM's clinical and external relevant content into one user-friendly site.

14 Dec 2011

People in Swaziland protesting shortages of ARVs amid government financial crisis

In Swaziland, where a "deepening financial crisis is taking a toll on service delivery, and the country is experiencing an unprecedented number of protests over issues such as school closures and a lack of HIV treatment," "a new wave of HIV activism is rising ... as people living with HIV take to the streets in protest, many for the first time in their lives, over continued shortages of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment," PlusNews reports.

14 Dec 2011

ACS revises guideline formation process for cancer screening

The American Cancer Society has revised its guideline formation process to achieve greater transparency, consistency, and rigor in creating guidance about cancer screening.

14 Dec 2011