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SAMHSA awards $12.2M in grants to train behavioral health care providers

Five minority fellowship program grants are being awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for a total of up to $12.2 million. These three-year grants will be used to train a new wave of behavioral health care providers. The program focuses on increasing the number of culturally competent behavioral health professionals available in underserved racially and ethnically diverse communities.

2 Sep 2011

Increasing trust in neighbors associated with better self-reported health

Here's an easy way to improve your health: trust your neighbors. A new study from the University of Missouri shows that increasing trust in neighbors is associated with better self-reported health.

2 Sep 2011

Cardin is 'optimistic' that 'super committee' will fix SGR

Sen. Ben Cardin said Wednesday he is optimistic that the super committee will fix the Sustainable Growth Rate formula. "We have to start with a realistic budget baseline," the Maryland Democrat told about 500 National Institutes of Health employees at a town hall meeting on the agency's main campus in Bethesda, Md. Repealing the SGR is estimated to cost about $350 billion over the next decade, but wouldn't have to be offset to meet the super committee's goal of $1.2 trillion if the Bowles-Simpson baseline is used, Cardin said.

2 Sep 2011

Hospitals with higher surgical volumes less likely to cause unintentional serious injuries

Are you scheduled for heart bypass surgery or weight loss surgery? You might want to find out just how frequently different hospitals in your area are performing those procedures before deciding where to go. A new study finds that hospitals with higher surgical volumes for certain procedures are less likely to cause unintentional serious injuries to hospitalized patients when compared to those hospitals that perform the procedures less often.

2 Sep 2011

New IDSA/PIDS guidelines can thwart pneumonia in children

Immunizations, including a yearly flu vaccine, are the best way to protect children from life-threatening pneumonia, according to new guidelines from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

2 Sep 2011

Medicaid changes plaguing some recipients

State Medicaid program cutbacks are having an effect on care for low-income Americans.

2 Sep 2011

Health politics: Huntsman supports Ryan plan; Perry's thoughts on health law

I spoke with Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman on Tuesday evening, just as he was putting the finishing touches on his economic plan, which he announced Wednesday. Some excerpts from our conversation: "I embrace the Ryan plan. The content there is basically going to drive me forward in terms of debt and spending and how we get this country to 19 percent of GDP in health care spending as opposed to 23 percent. That is the model I would work from. I like what it advocates for Medicaid. I like what it talks about in terms of Medicare.

2 Sep 2011

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center receives ACCF's GWTG Gold award

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is one of only 167 hospitals nationwide to receive the American College of Cardiology Foundation's NCDR ACTION Registry-GWTG (Get with the Guidelines) Gold Performance Achievement Award for 2011.

2 Sep 2011

Calif. bill to regulate health insurance rates dies

Heavy lobbying in the state Senate helped kill the bill, which would have strengthened the state's ability to review insurance premium increases.

2 Sep 2011

ACS' Commission on Cancer releases new standards to directly address patient concerns

A patient-centered approach is at the forefront of new accreditation standards for hospital cancer programs released today by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons.

2 Sep 2011

Medi-Cal investigation of inflated bills yields settlement from Lab Corp.

Laboratory Corp. of America has agreed to pay $49.5 million to resolve a whistle-blower's allegations that the Burlington, N.C.-based company paid kickbacks to doctors and hospitals for referring California Medicaid patients, whose bills were then allegedly inflated.

2 Sep 2011

ACOEM to sponsor Fall Course Cluster in Denver, Colorado

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) will sponsor a Fall Course Cluster, November 11-13, 2011, in Denver, Colorado.

2 Sep 2011

Obama gets tough on abortion protesters; state abortion laws challenged in courts

The Obama Justice Department has been taking a more aggressive approach against people who block access to abortion clinics, using a 1994 law to bring cases in greater numbers than its predecessor. The numbers are most stark when it comes to civil lawsuits, which seek to create buffer zones around clinic entrances for people who have blocked access in the past.

2 Sep 2011

AAN calls all high school coaches, athletes and parents to learn signs of sports concussion

The American Academy of Neurology, the leading group of neurologists dedicated to managing sports concussion, is issuing a call to all youth and high school coaches, athletes and parents to learn the signs of sports concussion and to know when a player must leave the game.

2 Sep 2011

Libyan health system suffers following months of fighting

"Recent fighting in Libya, especially in the capital Tripoli, has taken a toll on medical services with overstretched personnel working under very difficult conditions, and seriously ill and injured patients unable to reach hospitals and clinics, health workers say," IRIN reports.

2 Sep 2011

Study: EHRs improve diabetes care, improve clinical quality

A Case Western Reserve University study has found electronic health records could help keep patients healthier - at least those with diabetes - and that clinical quality improvement is greater at practices that use EHRs.

2 Sep 2011

People living with HIV in Egypt feel health care sector is source of stigma, report says

According to a 2011 report on HIV-related stigma in Egypt from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, "the health care sector was consistently identified by people living with HIV as a major source of stigma and discrimination," PlusNews reports.

2 Sep 2011

Employee exercise program may lead to increased productivity

Taking time out of the work week for an employee exercise program may lead to increased productivity—despite the reduction in work hours, reports a study in the August Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

2 Sep 2011

HHS awards $40 million in public health grants

HHS handed out another $40 million in public health grants Wednesday - partly, but not completely, from ACA funds - to help beef up health departments and train the public health workforce.

2 Sep 2011

New Diabetes Care article helps to identify and treat Charcot foot

Robert Winkler says he limped around on his painful left foot for six months, suffering unnecessarily from a misdiagnosis by a physician who didn't know about the symptoms and treatments for Charcot foot, a form of localized osteoporosis linked to diabetes that causes the bones to soften and break, often resulting in amputation.

2 Sep 2011