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Online program helps people to manage chronic pain

There is good news for the 76 million Americans who experience chronic pain including migraine, back pain, fibromyalgia and arthritis. A new study reveals that an online, self-paced chronic pain management program reduces the physical and psychological burdens of this debilitating condition.

19 May 2011

Caring Online offers comprehensive and informative website on adult eating disorders

Are you aware that eating disorders affect more than 10 million people in this country, and that bulimia, anorexia, binge eating and other destructive food behaviors are not exclusive to the youth? These serious and often deadly afflictions have become a growing problem with midlife adults and older, often more difficult to detect as adults are expected to have it "all together."

19 May 2011

Center for Companies That Care names UHC as 2011 Honor Roll

Center for Companies That Care has announced that University HealthSystem Consortium was named to its Honor Roll, a national list recognizing employers for outstanding workplace practices and active community involvement, for the eighth consecutive year.

19 May 2011

Latest development in Gingrich-Ryan Medicare dust-up: An apology

Newt Gingrich's presidential candidacy is only days old, and more than a decade after he last campaigned for public office, he's clearly shaking off some rust. On Tuesday, the former House speaker stepped up outreach to conservatives in an attempt to backtrack from comments he made Sunday calling Rep. Paul Ryan's proposed changes to Medicare "right-wing social engineering," as Democrats sought to use his remarks to attack the GOP.

19 May 2011

'Gang of six' budget talks hit wall as Sen. Coburn withdraws

The already weak prospects for a bipartisan debt-reduction deal this year dimmed further on Tuesday when a Republican member of the Senate's "Gang of Six," Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, withdrew after months of private negotiations amid differences over changes to Medicare.

19 May 2011

Health law faces legal challenges and political battles

Senate Republicans target the law's Independent Payment Advisory Board and issue a top-10 list of its biggest problems. Meanwhile, CQ HealthBeat reports on the merits of the "imminent injury" argument that is in play in at least one legal challenge to the law.

19 May 2011

Dementia experts call for new approach to support patients and carers

Dementia experts call for a new approach to supporting dementia patients and their carers, after identifying gaps in current health and social care provision. The findings are highlighted in a new report, written by a panel of some of England's leading experts in dementia care, launched in the House of Lords today.

19 May 2011

ECRI Institute to conduct '10 Key Readiness Indicators for Exchange of Health Information' survey

Whether it is related to electronic health records, accountable care, medical homes, meaningful use, or other initiatives to improve patient safety and quality, a healthcare organization's ability to succeed—or fend off competition—depends on its ability to effectively exchange health information within the organization, with outside groups such as physician offices and payers, and with Health Information Exchanges.

19 May 2011

Free NYU Physician iPad app now available in iTunes store

NYU Langone Medical Center, one of the nation's premier academic medical centers, announced today the magazine of NYU School of Medicine, NYU Physician, is now available as a free iPad app in the iTunes App Store.

19 May 2011

People living with HIV/AIDS in China face discrimination when accessing health care, report says

HIV-positive people living in China "are routinely being denied medical treatment in mainstream hospitals due to fear and ignorance about the disease," according to a study based on interviews with 103 people living with HIV/AIDS and 23 health care workers that was conducted by the International Labor Organization and China's National Center for STD and AIDS Prevention and Control, Reuters reports.

19 May 2011

HHS offers new initiatives to add momentum to ACOs

The Obama administration on Tuesday announced three new initiatives to encourage physicians and hospitals to better coordinate care after a key regulation came under intense criticism over the past week.

19 May 2011

IRIN examines high risk of TB infection among health workers in Kenya

IRIN examines tuberculosis among health care workers in Kenya, where "safety equipment - including protective masks and proper waste disposal facilities - are rarely available in rural centres, something health workers say must be addressed urgently."

19 May 2011

Hospital websites use industry-provided content and overestimate claims of surgical robots

An estimated four in 10 hospital websites in the United States publicize the use of robotic surgery, with the lion's share touting its clinical superiority despite a lack of scientific evidence that robotic surgery is any better than conventional operations, a new Johns Hopkins study finds.

19 May 2011

Afghan Acting Health Minister says country wants to boost immunization access

Reuters featured an interview with Afghanistan's Acting Health Minister Suraya Dalil on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. "Afghanistan, whose government is fighting a worsening insurgency that has dragged on for nearly a decade since the U.S.-backed overthrow of the Taliban, is also plagued by poverty, malnutrition and corruption," Reuters writes, adding that the government and donors together spend "barely" $10 per person on health annually.

19 May 2011

Study: 10% of cancer patients fail to fill initial oral oncolytic prescriptions

Ten percent of cancer patients failed to fill their initial prescriptions for oral anti-cancer drugs, according to a new study published jointly today in the Journal of Oncology Practice and American Journal of Managed Care.

19 May 2011

Government study finds 12 women died giving birth per month in 2010 at hospital in Sierra Leone

A study has shown that during 2010, 12 women died every month while giving birth at the Princess Christian maternity hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, "a country with one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates," Agence France-Presse reports.

19 May 2011

Thirty endoscopy units earn ASGE recognition for safety and quality

The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy has recognized 30 endoscopy units as part of its program specifically dedicated to promoting quality in endoscopy, in all settings where it is practiced in the United States.

19 May 2011

XTRAC Excimer Laser treatment offers new hope for patients with psoriasis

With XTRAC® Excimer Laser treatments, psoriasis patients can say goodbye to the red, dry patches of scaly, thickened skin they have been covering up all winter. Developed by PhotoMedex, Inc., an innovator of medical devices, the XTRAC laser offers new hope to the 7.5 million Americans suffering from this embarrassing and socially isolating disease.

19 May 2011

Decline in donations, weak U.S. dollar causing WHO to cut budget, staff, Director-General Chan says

A decline in contributions from the WHO's leading 30 "traditional" donor nations and the exchange rate for the weaker U.S. dollar are causing the agency to cut its budget and staff, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told reporters in a news conference at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

19 May 2011

Health video games motivate vigorous exercise

Can't find anyone to exercise with? Don't despair: New research from Michigan State University reveals working out with a virtual partner improves motivation during exercise.

19 May 2011