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Role of email advice in patients with sexual problems

More than two-thirds of men who contacted an email advice service run by a leading sexual advice charity had erection problems, which were frequently linked to loss of sex drive, according to research in the October issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

23 Sep 2011

DOJ faces strategic decisions in next steps on health law challenges

The Obama administration has to decide by Monday whether it wants to directly ask the Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of its signature health reform legislation. Since the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the health law in August, the administration can either ask the full court to take another look at the case or ask the Supreme Court to review it and issue a final decision.

23 Sep 2011

Study: Torontonians want non-profit organizations to provide programs and services

Torontonians want non-profit organizations to provide programs and services in their neighbourhoods that are relevant to their needs, held at convenient times and locations and have stable funding, a research study has found.

23 Sep 2011

Senate committee approves FY12 foreign operations appropriations bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a $53 billion FY12 foreign operations appropriations bill, the Associated Press reports. "Reflecting the economic pressure, the bill is $6.2 billion less than President Barack Obama requested," the news agency notes.

23 Sep 2011

University of Chicago to create Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence

The Matthew and Carolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation is giving $42 million to the University of Chicago to create the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence, a unique initiative that will focus on how to improve doctor-patient interaction.

23 Sep 2011

Cutting foreign assistance funding might mean death for world's poor

In this opinion piece in The Hill's "Congress Blog," Rep. Barbara Lee D-Calif. writes that cutting "funding of vital programs that focus on global food security, health, climate adaptation, and disaster relief, which make up less than one percent of the U.S. federal budget, will not get us far in terms of plugging the budget gap but they could literally make the difference between life and death for many of the world's poor."

23 Sep 2011

First Annual ACR Imaging Informatics Summit and Dose Monitoring Forum to be held from Nov. 3-4

Top radiology and policy experts will offer solutions to critical imaging informatics and radiation dose challenges at the First Annual ACR Imaging Informatics Summit and Dose Monitoring Forum.

23 Sep 2011

Commercial interests confound fight against NCDs, some experts say

The Washington Post examines the influence of commercial interests on the "political declaration" that emerged from this week's U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York. NCDs "are the globe's biggest health problem, responsible for 63 percent of all deaths each year, with incidence growing steeply in the low-income, rapidly urbanizing nations of the world," but they "are deeply entangled with important global industries, not only tobacco but also food, pharmaceuticals, advertising, transportation and construction," the newspaper writes.

23 Sep 2011

AARP launches ad campaign urging debt panel to steer clear of Medicare

According to the national ad campaign's script, which urges the deficit panel to take Medicare cuts off the table, Social Security payments have been earned by a lifetime of work and Medicare, the health insurance plan for seniors, is paid for by participants.

23 Sep 2011

Wiley-Blackwell signs open access agreements with 3 European research organizations

Wiley-Blackwell, the scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc, has signed open access funding agreements with three European research organizations: the Max Planck Society in Germany, the FWF Austrian Science Fund, and Telethon, one of the largest biomedical non-profit organizations in Italy.

23 Sep 2011

Global partnership accelerates progress in maternal, child health

In a post in the State Department's "DipNote" blog, Scott Radloff, director of the Office of Population and Reproductive Health at USAID, examines how, for the past year, the Alliance for Reproductive, Maternal, and Newborn Health, a partnership between USAID, the U.K. Department for International Development, the Australian Agency for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched at last year's U.N. General Assembly Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, has "accelerated progress in improving maternal and child health" worldwide.

23 Sep 2011

IFRC releases 2011 World Disaster Report

The world's most vulnerable populations remain at significant risk to the effects of food shortages and malnutrition according to the 2011 World Disaster Report (WDR) released today by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

23 Sep 2011

Panel members at reproductive health forum discuss issue in development context

GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog summarizes a recent forum on reproductive health issues during which panel members of the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health of Aspen Global Health and Development discussed how "reproductive health was intimately connected to the world's population boom, climate change, water and sanitation crises, economic downturns, educational rates, and development overall." The article continues, "And yet, reproductive health and family planning is generally not a focus on the world stage.

23 Sep 2011

National HIV/AIDS Strategy meeting to be held at UAB

The White House Office of National AIDS Policy is holding a series of National HIV/AIDS Strategy Implementation Dialogues across the country to examine critical issues and encourage action and collaboration at the state and local levels. The first meeting, focusing on incorporating prevention and care research into HIV programs, is being held at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011.

23 Sep 2011

U.S. entities announce global smoke-free workplace challenge

"The Mayo Clinic, Johnson & Johnson and others are joining forces to try to snuff out smoking in the workplace throughout the world," the Wall Street Journal's "Health Blog" writes, adding, "Their global smoke-free worksite challenge, announced today at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, calls on employers to ban smoking at offices and facilities worldwide."

23 Sep 2011

Young adults take advantage of health law, make gains in health coverage

New data indicate as many as a million young adults have signed up for health insurance in the last year, offering evidence that this 2010 health law benefit is proving to be popular.

23 Sep 2011

NYT: Ethics probe involves kidney transplant center, Rep. Berkley

In 2008 Ms. Berkley helped lead an effort to block a move by federal regulators to close Nevada's only kidney transplant center, which her husband's medical practice helps run under a $738,000-a-year contract. She also successfully pushed regulators, as recently as March, to reverse a plan to cut Medicare reimbursement to dialysis centers, including the dozen her husband's medical practice owns.

23 Sep 2011

UHC honors University of Mississippi Health Care with Supplier Diversity Leadership Award

For the first time, UHC has honored a member organization for the development and implementation of an outstanding supplier diversity program. Roberta Graham, UHC executive vice president, and Jake Groenewold, UHC senior vice president, Supply Chain, presented the Supplier Diversity Leadership Award to University of Mississippi Health Care at the UHC Annual Conference 2011 in Chicago on September 22.

23 Sep 2011

Poll finds health industry 'not adequately prepared' to protect patients' digital records

Reuters reports on a new poll of health executives that indicates that the industry is not adequately prepared to protect patients' digital health records. Still, according to the Boston Globe, Dr. David Blumenthal, offered a positive view of medical technology in a Wednesday night speech, saying that electronic medical records made him a better doctor.

23 Sep 2011

Lawmakers explore savings potential of Medicare extenders

During a Wednesday House Ways and Means Committee hearing, health industry witnesses defended the Medicare "extenders," which, in many cases, are payment policies enacted to address specific problems faced by specific types of health care providers. Ending some of them would save less than $100 million a year. One economist said, however, that when added up, they can tally an estimated $2.5 billion in savings.

23 Sep 2011