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Government funding crisis in Swaziland disrupts supply of HIV/AIDS supplies

"An acute government funding crisis in Swaziland, Africa's last absolute monarchy, is disrupting supplies of HIV/AIDS drugs and hampering the fight against the virus in the country with the world's highest infection rate, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Friday," Reuters reports.

12 Sep 2011

Risks of infectious disease outbreak portrayed in the film 'Contagion' are 'very real'

In this New York Times opinion piece, W. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology and a professor of neurology and pathology at Columbia University and a paid technical consultant on the film "Contagion," which opened this weekend, writes about the risks of an infectious disease outbreak as portrayed in the film, stating, "Those risks are very real -- and are increasing drastically."

12 Sep 2011

CHRISTUS Health renews Spend and Clinical Resource Management relationship with MedAssets

MedAssets today announced that long-time customer CHRISTUS Health, a Catholic, faith-based, not-for-profit health system headquartered in Irving, Texas, recently elected to renew its Spend and Clinical Resource Management relationship with the company.

12 Sep 2011

Pressure on 'super committee' to 'go big' mounts as usual budget-cutting options are explored

Health care advocates are getting nervous as they hone their pitches and prepare for this week's stepped up level of action.

12 Sep 2011

CO-OPs, ACOs in the news

Meanwhile, a survey by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions finds that Americans still don't believe the health law is working and have questions about the federal government's priorities.

12 Sep 2011

Researchers investigate impact of physician financial incentives

Health systems haven't figured out how best to structure financial incentives to encourage primary care doctors to do their jobs better, suggests a new paper.

12 Sep 2011

Transcendental Meditation practice reduces health care costs

According to a study published this week in the September/October 2011 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, people with consistently high health care costs experienced a 28 percent cumulative decrease in physician fees after an average of five years practicing the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique compared with their baseline.

12 Sep 2011

Exposure to 'white' LED light suppresses melatonin production

Exposure to the light of white LED bulbs, it turns out, suppresses melatonin 5 times more than exposure to the light of High Pressure Sodium bulbs that give off an orange-yellow light. "Just as there are regulations and standards for 'classic' pollutants, there should also be regulations and rules for the pollution stemming from artificial light at night," says Prof. Abraham Haim of the University of Haifa.

12 Sep 2011

Will Obama jobs plan undercut health sector's jobs growth?

Health care providers are warning that President Barack Obama's new jobs plan could actually siphon jobs from one of the few industries still hiring - because the only way to pay for it would be to make deeper cuts in the health care entitlement programs (Dobias, 9/11).

12 Sep 2011

Capsules: Private Medicare plans grow despite health law cuts

Now on Capsules, KHN's news blog, Christopher Weaver writes, "The industry of private Medicare health plans is continuing to grow, despite steep cuts enacted in the 2010 federal health law, according to a report released Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

12 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 12, 2011

Today's health policy headlines include reports about the pressures faced by the 'super committee' as well as the latest on how states are doing with the implementation of the health law.

12 Sep 2011

CEO Roundtable on Cancer bestows Gold Standard accreditation to Memorial Sloan-Kettering

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has received CEO Cancer Gold Standard accreditation, recognizing the center's commitment to reducing cancer risk by promoting healthy lifestyle choices, encouraging early detection through cancer screenings, and ensuring access to quality treatment for their own employees and their covered family members, as well as the patients whom they serve.

12 Sep 2011

North Clinic to implement eClinicalWorks EHR solution

eClinicalWorks, a market leader in ambulatory clinical systems, today announced that Minnesota's North Clinic has chosen the eClinicalWorks comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) solution for its 84 employed providers. The multi-specialty group will integrate eClinicalWorks with a neighboring Hospital System's Epic in-patient system for labs, radiology and Continuity of Care Document (CCD) to further enhance care coordination.

12 Sep 2011

Rug Doctor launches new Anti-Allergen Carpet Cleaner

Just in time for indoor allergy season, Rug Doctor, the manufacturer of the most convenient do-it-yourself hot water extraction carpet cleaning machines and products, has introduced a new Anti-Allergen Carpet Cleaner.

12 Sep 2011

ARC chooses Elsevier's SciVerse Scopus database for ERA 2012

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, is proud to announce the Australian Research Council has selected SciVerse Scopus, the world's largest abstract and citation database, for the third time as the sole citation provider for the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment for 2012.

12 Sep 2011

Tenet Healthcare refines 2011 Outlook for Adjusted EBITDA

In advance of scheduled investor meetings and the Company's participation at an industry conference, Tenet Healthcare Corporation today refined its 2011 Outlook for Adjusted EBITDA.

12 Sep 2011

Study indicates need for antivenoms and better health-care services in Africa

One and a half million people per year are poisoned by snake venom in Sub-Saharan Africa. An IRD researcher recently analysed around 100 surveys and medical reports published over the past 40 years. No large-scale study of the situation had hitherto been conducted and public health authorities had underestimated the size of the problem.

12 Sep 2011

Decision Innovations to improve quality, patient satisfaction and financial outcomes of hospitals

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Wouldn't it be nice to have a computer program that could help you make work-related decisions? That's exactly what Drs. Faye Anderson, Karen Frith, Fan Tseng, Mikel Petty and Gregory Reed have done.

12 Sep 2011

ASTMH annual meeting to explore latest research on infectious diseases

The 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) -- the largest of its kind in the world -- will bring together in one place global experts who are battling a wide range of bacteria, viruses, parasites and other pathogens that each year kill or sicken hundreds of millions of people.

12 Sep 2011

JHUSON nursing research news

In a six-month, randomized controlled study of asthmatic children living with smokers reported in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, August 2011, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) professor and School of Medicine faculty member Arlene Butz, MSN, CPNP, ScD, and others found that regular use of indoor air cleaners can greatly reduce household air pollution and lower rates of children's daytime asthma symptoms.

12 Sep 2011