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SAMHSA selects 11 organizations to receive 2011 Science and Service Awards

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has selected 11 organizations to receive the agency's 2011 Science and Service Awards. These awards recognize exemplary implementation of evidence-based interventions shown to prevent and/or treat mental illnesses and substance abuse.

22 Sep 2011

Obama's deficit plan focuses on cutting health programs but not benefits; experts wonder how patients will fare

President Obama and some members of Congress assert that, in cutting Medicare and Medicaid, they can whack health care providers while protecting beneficiaries. But experts say it is not so simple.

22 Sep 2011

U.N. calls for advancement on goal to save women and children; poorest countries, drug company contribute to fight

Speaking at a high-level meeting at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, while lauding the progress made under the Every Woman Every Child initiative since its launch one year ago, noted that millions of women and children "are still dying needless deaths and called for advancing the goal of saving 16 million lives by 2015," the U.N. News Centre reports.

22 Sep 2011

New initiative for effective two-way communication between patients and clinicians

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) today launched an initiative with the Ad Council to encourage clinicians and patients to engage in effective two-way communication to ensure safer care and better health outcomes.

22 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Progressives relish fight for 'shared sacrifice;' Desmond Tutu seeks to renew battle against HIV

To get our books in order, Obama would raise taxes on the rich while gaining savings by ending the wars abroad and reducing Medicare and Medicaid's unnecessarily high payments to drug companies. Republicans rise in defense of tax cuts for the wealthy and insist that deficit reduction come solely from cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and other "entitlements." The president stands for shared sacrifice; the Republicans for sheltering the privileged few. Progressives will have no problem standing with the president in this fight.

22 Sep 2011

U.N. set to announce expansion of 'Every Woman Every Child' program

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday is expected "to announce a significant expansion of the organization's ambitious global program to tackle infant and maternal mortality and boost access to reproductive health over coming years," the Financial Times reports.

21 Sep 2011

'Science Speaks' interviews director of multilateral diplomacy at OGAC

In the second in a series of interviews with staff members of the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC), which is responsible for PEPFAR, the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog speaks with Winnie Roberts, director of multilateral diplomacy at OGAC.

21 Sep 2011

HHS publishes guidance for health exchange state partnership model

Meanwhile, Arizona's efforts to create an exchange are morphing into a political hot potato. Also in the news, WellPoint has purchased its own private exchange to compete with the state-run versions envisioned in the health law.

21 Sep 2011

Big monthly premium hikes likely next year for Medicare Rx plans

Although monthly premiums will go down next year for Medicare prescription drug coverage on average, seniors in the most popular plans will see sizable jumps - notably a 14 percent hike for the 4.7 million in United Healthcare's plans, a new study says.

21 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 21, 2011

For Kaiser Health News, Jackie Judd talks with PBS NewsHour's David Chalian about the GOP presidential candidates' health law repeal rhetoric, the varying level of nuance among their viewpoints and how each is attacking the President's – and each other's – stances.

21 Sep 2011

Influential leaders hold high-level discussions on biomedical S&T initiatives

Influential leaders from the medical and research communities held high-level discussions on biomedical science and technology (S&T) initiatives at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Sept. 16.

21 Sep 2011

Free public lecture to reveal new insights into brain cells linked with stroke, cerebral palsy

A free public lecture at the University of Leicester is to discuss how the white matter of the brain could be the key to understanding and treating brain disorders - not grey matter as previously thought.

21 Sep 2011

Gothenburg researcher advises patients with acute low back pain to stay active

Move if you have back pain, this is the advice of a researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. Patients with acute low back pain who were advised to stay active despite the pain fared better than those who were told to adjust their activity in line with their pain.

21 Sep 2011

Foreign Affairs examines history of negotiations on NCD political declaration

Foreign Affairs on Tuesday published an analysis examining the history of negotiations behind the political declaration approved on Monday by leaders attending the U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases.

21 Sep 2011

MedPAC offers possible offsets for Medicare physician pay fix

Still, Obama's deficit-reduction plan, released yesterday, includes no funding for the doc fix. Some are eyeing a Medicaid adjustment that will garner $13 billion in savings as a possible cash cow - but competition is stiff for these funds.

21 Sep 2011

St. Jude Medical pledges $100,000 to support SIR Foundation's Discovery Campaign

The Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation's Discovery Campaign, which seeks to further the growth of minimally invasive medicine into new areas of discovery, announced a major corporate pledge to that initiative. St. Jude Medical Foundation, the philanthropic arm of St. Jude Medical, has pledged $100,000 and is a "Pioneer" level supporter.

21 Sep 2011

GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry's record on women's health scrutinized

As the GOP presidential primary campaign continues to heat up, news outlets focus on Texas Gov. Rick Perry's state policy record: An NPR report today examines his funding for women's health. Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann offers her take on employer-sponsored health insurance.

21 Sep 2011

U.S., WHO sign MOU to help nations support International Health Regulations

The U.S. and the WHO on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) "to help developing nations strengthen their capabilities to support the International Health Regulations (IHR)," which is "an international agreement that requires WHO Member States to prevent and respond to acute public health risks that have the potential to cross borders and threaten people worldwide," according to a State Department press release.

21 Sep 2011

Three reports evaluate global progress to meet MDGs 4 and 5

Three recent reports -- a one-year assessment released by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health of the WHO on Tuesday, an analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington published on Tuesday in the Lancet, and a Save the Children report released on Monday entitled "No Child out of Reach" -- examine the progress of the global campaign to save mothers and children under five in developing nations and evaluate whether Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, reducing child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015 and maternal deaths by three-quarters over the same period, can be met.

21 Sep 2011

World leaders should commit to closing health care worker gap

Recent U.N. statistics showing a drop in child mortality are both good and bad, because the number of child deaths continues to drop, but "progress isn't reaching all families around the world, and it isn't reaching newborn babies as often as older children," Joy Lawn, director of Global Evidence and Policy for Save the Children's Saving Newborn Lives program, writes in a GlobalPost opinion piece.

21 Sep 2011