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It's the health law's birthday and not everyone is celebrating

The health overhaul's first anniversary — just about a week away — is already being marked on Capitol Hill with a number of hearings and other events related to exploring, complimenting and criticizing the law's implementation.

16 Mar 2011

GOP rebellion takes shape around short-term spending bill

Although the measure must be passed in order to avert a government shutdown, some Republicans are frustrated because they say the bill does not go far enough in terms of spending cuts, and because it does not include controversial riders to defund the health law and Planned Parenthood.

16 Mar 2011

Obama administration wants to slow down on health law challenges

In court papers filed with the justices Monday, the federal government says there is no reason to take the extremely rare step of "short-circuiting" review by appellate judges, which already has been accelerated.

16 Mar 2011

Older adults in public housing suffer fatigue and chronic related conditions

Location really does matter to older adults' health, according to a new study that found those living in public housing fare poorly and suffer more from fatigue and chronic, related conditions than those in other community dwellings.

16 Mar 2011

APAPO honors House Democratic Leader with Outstanding Leadership Award

Representative Nancy Pelosi was honored last night by the American Psychological Association Practice Organization for her advocacy work and legislative accomplishments on mental health issues.

16 Mar 2011

U.S. aid has been reaching Libya, U.S. officials say

Though safety concerns have prevented U.S. disaster experts from entering Libya and seeing the situation first-hand, State Department officials said Monday that U.S. partners have been dispensing aid, CNN reports.

16 Mar 2011

UCI receives two-year grants to continue innovative work in elder abuse prevention

UC Irvine's Center of Excellence on Elder Abuse & Neglect has received a pair of two-year grants that will allow the university to continue its innovative work in elder abuse prevention.

16 Mar 2011

Ambry, LABS partner to offer new donor and patient screening options

LABS, Inc., the recognized leader in microbiology, infectious disease screening, cell/molecular biology and immunological testing for the transplant and biomedical sciences communities, today announced an agreement with Ambry Genetics, a global leader in molecular diagnostics and genomic services to the healthcare and life sciences industries, that will allow the organizations to provide superior testing services to a broader base of clients in the reproductive health industry.

16 Mar 2011

Older adults on cell phones may put themselves at risk while street-crossing

Older adults may put themselves at risk by talking on cell phones while crossing the street, researchers report in a new study. The researchers found that adults aged 59 to 81 took significantly longer than college students to cross a simulated street while talking on a mobile phone, and their heightened cautiousness in initiating crossing did nothing to improve their safety.

16 Mar 2011

Florida Legislature must modernize state's 14-year-old tobacco policies: Citizens For Fairness

The Florida Legislature must modernize the state's 14-year-old tobacco policies said Citizens for Fairness in Florida, a coalition of individuals, retailers, manufacturers, health care advocates, and statewide organizations.

16 Mar 2011

Efforts take shape to simplify end-of-life wishes, improve care

The programs are known as Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, or Polst. They are meant to complement advance directives, sometimes known as living wills, in which people state in broad terms how much medical intervention they will want when their condition no longer allows them to communicate.

16 Mar 2011

Updated NCCN Guidelines for Ovarian Cancer outline new treatment options for women

Although finding effective screening tools remains a priority, new treatment options for women with ovarian cancer, such as the ones outlined in the updated NCCN Guidelines for Ovarian Cancer, are vital to making steady progress against the disease according to Robert J. Morgan, MD, of City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center and chair of the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Ovarian Cancer.

16 Mar 2011

$10 million in CDC grants awarded to combat hospital-acquired infections

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday awarded $10 million to five medical centers to develop and test new approaches to combating infections acquired in hospitals and other care settings.

16 Mar 2011

AFGE: Proposed cost saving strategy may diminish both access, quality of health care for veterans

On Wednesday, March 2, the American Federation of Government Employees provided testimony before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee on the proposed budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs for Fiscal Year 2012.

16 Mar 2011

New study examines mortality rates among patients treated for AMI in hospitals

A new Yale University study looks at why there is such a big difference in the mortality rates among patients treated for heart attacks in hospitals across the country. The study appears in the March issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

16 Mar 2011

Improving care for Medicaid's sickest 5% could help reduce funding gap

Politico reports that the Obama administration is targeting this very needy population, many of whom are known as dual eligibles, for better care because — although their numbers are actually quite small — the amount of program money they use is quite large.

16 Mar 2011

Hospitals with higher diagnosis frequency for chronic conditions have lower case-fatality rate

An examination of data for more than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries finds that hospital regions that have a greater frequency of diagnoses have a lower case-fatality rate for chronic conditions such as coronary artery disease and kidney failure, according to a study in the March 16 issue of JAMA.

16 Mar 2011

New review finds no link between pacifiers and breastfeeding problems

Although mothers often use pacifiers to comfort cranky babies, many experts fear that they can interfere with successful breastfeeding. However, a new review finds no association between the devices and early cessation of nursing.

16 Mar 2011

NAFC honors Florida's Cleveland Clinic physician with Continence Care Champion Award

The National Association For Continence awarded Gamal Ghoniem, MD, with the Rodney Appell Continence Care Champion Award at the Society for Urodynamics and Female Urology Awards Reception on March 4, held during the 2011 SUFU Winter Meeting in Phoenix, AZ.

16 Mar 2011

State roundup: Fla. seeks MLR waiver; hospitals struggle

Alabama's Robert Bentley is one of two current governors to have "doctor" on his résumé. In an interview with Stateline last week, Bentley elaborated on his health care agenda. His plan emphasizes individual health savings accounts, which he says will lower costs by letting patients decide how they want to spend their health care dollars. He wants to give state tax breaks to businesses that purchase insurance for their employees and state-based incentives to attract more insurance carriers.

16 Mar 2011