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Study examines community-based HIV testing programs in Africa, Southeast Asia

If you want to improve HIV testing rates in remote rural areas, get the community involved, says UCLA's Thomas Coates, who has directed a new study examining HIV testing programs in communities in Africa and Southeast Asia.

6 May 2011

Colo. legislature close to final consideration of health exchange bill

Colorado's health insurance exchange bill is sailing toward final approval with backers hailing the measure as the only successful bipartisan exchange legislation in the country.

6 May 2011

Savings projected from 'emerging' generic drugs

But the Federal Trade Commission found an "unprecedented" increase in drug industry deals to delay the availability of these cheaper drugs.

6 May 2011

Viewpoints: Gov. Daniels's reversal?; IPAB's Medicare fix; Texas Medicaid cuts

Centrist Republicans loved it when began urging the party to keep its eye on the deficit-reduction prize and stop obsessing about social issues. ... He then went home and announced that he would sign a bill to strip Planned Parenthood of Medicaid financing. ... Daniels's moderate fans thought abortion was precisely the issue he was calling on Republicans to set aside. Right now, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives can barely talk about anything else.

6 May 2011

Roundup: Vt. House vote on universal health care could come today; Calif. group warns of rising costs of retiree health care and pensions

The House is slated Thursday to take up a conference committee report on a bill designed to put the state on the path to universal health care by 2017 if not sooner. The bill sets up a new Green Mountain Care Board to design a system to provide health insurance to every Vermont resident.

6 May 2011

Researchers find increasing the number of family physicians reduces hospital re-admissions

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center have found that by adding one family physician per 1,000, or 100 per 100,000, could reduce hospital readmission costs by $579 million per year, or 83 percent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) target. These findings currently appear on the website of the "Robert Graham Center," a primary care think tank.

5 May 2011

A new round of deficit talks begins amidst roadblocks, debt-ceiling concerns

How to handle entitlement spending issues including Medicare will be central to the discourse. Meanwhile, AARP launches a campaign to protect Medicare in the midst of it all.

5 May 2011

Easy way to lower blood pressure

"HOW TO RECOVER YOUR NATIVE BLOOD PRESSURE - An Easy Way to Lower Your Blood Pressure in 10 Minutes" was published online today by Brahm of San Diego, California.

5 May 2011

NHI acquires four assisted living and memory care communities for $15 million

National Health Investors, Inc. announced today it has closed a $15 million purchase of four assisted living and memory care communities totaling 183 units in Louisiana and has leased those communities to Selah SeniorCare III and managed by Selah Management Group. The purchase price was funded from NHI's revolving credit facility.

5 May 2011

Boston Business Journal honors Tufts Health Plan for Worksite Wellness program

Tufts Health Plan recently received the prestigious honor of being recognized for its Worksite Wellness initiatives by the Boston Business Journal. As a finalist in the Boston Business Journal's listing of "HEALTHIEST EMPLOYERS," the non profit company was recognized as an organization that is deeply committed to improving the health of its employees and its workplace.

5 May 2011

First Edition: May 5, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jessica Marcy recently spoke with Dan Hawkins, the association's senior vice president, about the future and finances of community health centers and their evolving budgets.

5 May 2011

Researchers present evidence from first ever general population survey of autism in adulthood

Not a single person identified with autism or asperger's syndrome during a community survey in England actually knew they had the condition, research led by the University of Leicester reveals.

5 May 2011

FDA releases final guidance to firms that market OTC drug products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today released its final guidance to firms that manufacture, market, or distribute over-the-counter liquid drug products packaged with cups, droppers, syringes, and spoons to measure and dispense the doses of medication.

5 May 2011

IOM study calls for increased oral health awareness in the U.S.

This is the point of a new report by the Institute of Medicine, Advancing Oral Health in America, which underscores a public health crisis that has persisted more than a decade after the U.S. Surgeon General called for aggressively reversing the "silent epidemic" of America's oral health disparity. Many of the most pernicious oral health diseases are highly preventable and treatable.

5 May 2011

Conrad views $4T budget savings blueprint as counterpoint to House-passed GOP plan

The plan is said to contain "modest" Medicare savings. Meanwhile, Politico reports that the "window" of opportunity for the so-called "gang of six," which is working on a separate track to craft budget solutions and also includes Conrad, is getting smaller.

5 May 2011

Headache disorders prevalent but under-treated and cause financial burden, WHO report says

Approximately half to three quarters of adults ages 18 to 65 experienced headache last year, making headache disorders one of the most prevalent but under-treated health problems in the world, according to a report released Tuesday by the WHO, Xinhua reports.

5 May 2011

States are battlegrounds for Planned Parenthood funding, abortion issues

Speaker John Boehner has thus far refused to make social issues central in his agenda, focusing instead on spending and the debt. But the House today will briefly wade into the social wars of the 1990s, bringing up a controversial anti-abortion bill. The measure, which is expected to pass, would prohibit federal funding for abortions and create new controls on private companies that offer insurance plans that cover abortions.

5 May 2011

Congressional Republicans advance legislation to repeal Medicaid maintenance-of-effort provisions

The measure's supporters say it would lead to savings for the federal government of nearly $3 billion over the next five years.

5 May 2011

St. Vincent RNs sign agreement with management to withdraw strike for patient safety

After a 6 -hour negotiating session, the registered nurses of the St. Vincent Hospital have reached a tentative agreement with management tonight, averting a strike that was set to begin on Friday May 6.

5 May 2011

U.N. report forecasts global population increases through 2100

The world's population "is expected to grow from nearly 6.9 billion currently to 9.3 billion by 2050 and 10.1 billion by 2100," the U.N. said in a report on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports, noting that the U.N. uses the projections "to devise and fund programs for problems ranging from climate change to maternal mortality".

5 May 2011