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More wealthy families in India choosing to abort female fetuses, study shows

India's 2011 census data show that "wealthier, better-educated families," who have a first-born daughter "are choosing more and more often to abort subsequent pregnancies if the child is female," despite fetal sex determination and sex-selective abortion being illegal in the country, according to a study published on Tuesday in the Lancet, National Journal reports.

26 May 2011

Health Media Syndicate releases LiVe 2.0 for teens to stay healthy

Health Media Syndicate announced the release of LiVe 2.0, the newest addition to the nation's largest teen fitness public service campaign that is being deployed by healthcare organizations.

26 May 2011

State Legislatures struggling with efforts to fund health programs

A second measure designed to streamline state government advanced late Tuesday as the Senate voted to merge several agencies for the disabled and a rehab program for injured workers into a new social services bureau.

26 May 2011

Budget talks: Medicare costs on table as Biden aims for $1 trillion in cuts

Politics continue to surround talks regarding the budget and congressional efforts to reach an agreement on raising the debt limit. Vice President Joe Biden, who is leading an effort to strike a compromise, has acknowledged that Medicare must be part of the debate. He also maintains that new revenue sources have to be in the mix.

26 May 2011

U-M develops new tool that helps physicians better evaluate patient's depression outcomes

Primary care doctors have long been on the front lines of depression treatment. Depression is listed as a diagnosis for 1 in 10 office visits and primary care doctors prescribe more than half of all antidepressants.

26 May 2011

Researchers propose 'advance directives' for driving

Researchers studying driving habits and accident rates among the elderly found a majority surveyed supported mandatory retesting of drivers based on age while saying they would hand over the keys if a doctor or loved one said they were no longer fit to drive.

26 May 2011

New Hypertension Management Program study results revealed at ASH scientific meeting

High blood pressure - the silent killer - is taking a hit from a new, ground-breaking treatment program from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

26 May 2011

Texas considers performance-based payments; Calif. docs oppose mammography bill

As crafted, SB 8 gives the Health and Human Services Commission permission to test various performance-based payment programs to increase efficiency and find ways to link payments to improved patient outcomes. Despite a few clarifying amendments, lawmakers' efforts to tack on controversial measures like abortion and end-of-life reporting, Medical Board reform and scope-of-practice expansions were knocked down.

26 May 2011

Nurses can play vital role in increasing patients' adherence to cancer-fighting medication

As the use of oral chemotherapy continues to rise, researchers from Michigan State University have discovered many patients fail to properly take the cancer-fighting medication, a significant clinical problem that can result in complications and premature death.

26 May 2011

CDC reports 118 measles cases in 23 states, issues travel alert highlighting vaccination recommendations

CDC officials on Tuesday released a report stating that 118 measles cases in 23 states have been identified in the U.S. so far this year, more than double the average number of cases reported annually, the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. While no one has died so far, 40 percent of cases required hospitalization, USA Today notes.

26 May 2011

Miami Herald explores pilot program for medical homes

House calls, once thought to be too time-consuming and not very cost-effective, are making a comeback as health care providers recognize that they're actually the answer to good care for patients who can't make it to a doctor's office. Medicare-paid house calls have been steadily increasing, according to government figures, and doctors report the same for non-Medicare patients, according to the American Academy for Home Care Physicians.

26 May 2011

USC engineers to develop robot vision-based mobility aid for visually impaired people

For the visually impaired, navigating city streets or neighborhoods has constant challenges. And most such people still must rely on a very rudimentary technology-a simple cane-to help them make their way through a complex world.

26 May 2011

Editorial: G8 should tell the truth on aid targets

"The final communiques haven't been written. But the word on the street is that when leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized countries meet in France this week, they will claim that wealthy countries have come close to fulfilling their 2005 promise to boost annual development aid by $50 billion by 2010. They are not even in the ballpark," a New York Times editorial states, before noting data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showing that aid fell $19 billion short of that goal.

26 May 2011

Poll finds popularity for Medicaid program

A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that most Americans oppose the GOP plan to cut Medicaid, throwing into question the conventional wisdom that this health insurance program for the poor lacks the widespread public support generally attached to Medicare.

26 May 2011

Viewpoints: Sebelius, Orszag on Medicare costs; has the Minnesota GOP lost its way?

The right way is to strengthen it, closing coverage gaps while also bringing down costs by improving care and reducing waste and fraud. Medicare's trustees estimate that the new health care law has already added eight years to the life of the Medicare trust fund by doing just that. The president's fiscal framework would put the program on even more solid ground in the future.

26 May 2011

NIST releases suite of green tea reference materials for manufacturers

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a suite of green tea reference materials to help manufacturers evaluate the composition of their products and assure researchers of the accuracy of analytical methods for studying the human health effects of this popular beverage and dietary supplement.

26 May 2011

FDA warns online retailers for illegal tobacco product marketing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it issued 11 warning letters last week to online retailers for illegally marketing tobacco products with misleading or unsubstantiated claims or descriptors indicating that they can be used to reduce harm or the risk of tobacco-related disease.

26 May 2011

Roundup: N.Y.C. hospitals face new cuts; Vt. health bill signing expected Thursday; difficulties for Conn. insurance chief

Vermont is moving one step closer to a goal of its Democratic governor: a state-run health plan that would insure most of its 625,000 residents. The bill Gov. Peter Shumlin plans to sign on Thursday would create a panel whose goal would be to figure out how to pay for a new system intended to reduce the rate of overall health-cost increases.

26 May 2011

MAXIMUS offers eHealth Literacy Services for state and community programs

MAXIMUS, Inc., a leading provider of government services worldwide, announced today that it is now offering eHealth Literacy Services to help state and community programs meet the communication and engagement challenges facing consumers and providers using the new health information technology infrastructure.

25 May 2011

First Edition: May 25, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports: "Most Americans oppose the House Republicans' plan to overhaul and slash funding of Medicaid, the state-federal program that covers 56 million low-income people, according to a poll being released today".

25 May 2011