Healthcare News

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First Edition: July 27, 2011

Today's headlines include the latest developments related to efforts to raise the debt ceiling, as well as reports about health policy news from the states.

27 Jul 2011

Hoag signs license and implementation agreement for Unibased ForSite2020 RMS software

Unibased Systems Architecture, Inc. announced today that Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian (Hoag) has signed an agreement for the license and implementation of the Unibased ForSite2020 Resource Management System (RMS) software application suite, including the POCET and CASH physician and consumer portals.

27 Jul 2011

BrainTrust Canada to launch national online contest, 'Sponsor My Head'

BrainTrust Canada, a community rehabilitation organization dedicated to being a leader in brain injury prevention, is launching a national online contest for youth 13 and older in Canada called Sponsor My Head.

27 Jul 2011

TMS rolls out MUNI for law enforcement and other government agencies

Total Medical Solutions (TMS), specializing in complex care for workers' compensation, has rolled out MUNI for municipalities, law enforcement and other government agencies.

27 Jul 2011

OR models verify cost effectiveness of hepatitis B interventions

With hepatitis B infecting as many as 10% of people of Asian descent, operations researchers collaborated with a liver transplant surgeon to develop mathematical models that verified the cost effectiveness of hepatitis B interventions.

27 Jul 2011

South Korean group delivers food aid to North Korea

The Korean Sharing Movement, a South Korean relief group, "crossed into North Korea Tuesday with 12 trucks full of flour, marking the first food aid of its kind since a North Korean attack last year," VOA's "Breaking News" blog reports.

27 Jul 2011

U.N. says Libyan capital 'urgently' needs humanitarian aid

U.N. humanitarian agencies on Monday said areas of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, "urgently need humanitarian assistance, including medical treatment for injuries caused by the ongoing conflict in the North African country," the U.N. News Centre reports.

27 Jul 2011

GlobalPost interviews PAI official regarding global gag rule

Following a House Foreign Affairs Committee vote last week to reinstate the global gag rule in the FY12 Foreign Relations Authorization Act, GlobalPost's "Global Pulse" blog features an interview with "Craig Lasher, the director of U.S. government relations at Population Action International, about the global gag rule, its history, and what making it a legislative policy will mean."

27 Jul 2011

New series of hospital-based adventure books for children

Hospitals can be scary and overwhelming for kids, and Hospital Critterz, a new series of hospital-based adventure books, helps children see the medical world differently.

27 Jul 2011

Voters offer split reactions on state abortion measures

In related news, the Washington Post reports on one doctor's experiences as a physician who provides late-pregnancy abortions.

27 Jul 2011

Russia aiming to cut number of smokers by 15% by 2050

Russia is aiming to cut the number of smokers in the country by up to 15 percent by 2050, "huge ambitions considering 40 percent of Russians light up," VOA News reports.

27 Jul 2011

Surge of generics will trigger drop in drug prices

In the next 14 months, seven of the world's 20 best-selling drugs are scheduled to go "off patent." As they do, the brand-name drugs will lose out to generic versions, cutting costs for patients and companies that provide health benefits.

27 Jul 2011

World Food Program plans to begin airlifts to Somalia this week

The World Food Program (WFP) has said it plans to begin food airlifts by Thursday "to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago," the Associated Press reports.

27 Jul 2011

Medicare and deal-making on the debt — voters fear result

According to a National Journal poll, voters worry that an agreement will result in cuts to Medicare and Social Security that are too deep. Meanwhile, McClatchy reports on how Medicare and the federal deficit are playing a role in this year's PAC donations. Also, iWatch News fact checks a left-leaning ad on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal.

27 Jul 2011

New HIV prevention findings delay release of WHO guidelines for discordant couples

"Upbeat new HIV prevention findings presented last week at an international AIDS conference held in Rome have complicated attempts by the World Health Organization (WHO) to draft much-anticipated guidelines for heterosexual couples in which one partner is infected," ScienceInsider reports.

27 Jul 2011

Calif. Governor vetoes adult day care bill

The legislation would provide new funding to help about half the seniors and disabled residents who had been covered under an older program that the state is discontinuing.

27 Jul 2011

AACN launches mobile-friendly access to the websites of AJCC, CCN

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) launches mobile-friendly access to the websites of its award-winning bimonthly journals, American Journal of Critical Care and Critical Care Nurse.

27 Jul 2011

As partisan debt-ceiling disputes continue, entitlement reform haunts discussion

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner each delivered prime time addresses Monday night, capping an extraordinary day of partisan debt-ceiling dueling. As the clock continues to tick toward the Aug. 2 deadline, specifics from the two very different plans emerged — one offered by House Republicans and the other by Senate Democrats.

27 Jul 2011

World leaders should either scale up commitment to polio eradication significantly or abandon goal

"There are few ideas as powerful as the eradication of a human disease. But the euphoria around the world's single success to date - that of smallpox - has led to ever more costly efforts to do the same for polio. World leaders need either to radically step up their commitment or have the courage to abandon the goal explicitly," a Financial Times editorial states

27 Jul 2011

South Africa could reduce HIV-associated costs, extend lives with earlier treatment, study says

If South Africa followed WHO recommendations for earlier therapy for people living with HIV, thousands of lives could be extended and the country would start saving money after 16 years, according to a study recently published online in PLoS One, United Press International reports.

27 Jul 2011