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Health worker training program cuts stillbirths by 30% in 6 developing countries, study says

The rate of stillbirths was cut by more than 30 percent after health workers in rural parts of six developing countries were trained "in how to help a newborn start breathing and to keep it warm and clean," according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Reuters reports. The trainees - who included midwives, nurses, traditional birth attendants and physicians - were given "hand-held pumps and masks to fill babies' lungs with air if they were not breathing at birth, clean-delivery kits to prevent infection and scales to measure their weight," the news service writes.

20 Feb 2010

Loyola University Medical Center ranked among top hospitals in research competition for pathologists

Loyola University Medical Center ranked among the top hospitals in the world in a recent research competition for pathologists in training.

20 Feb 2010

Health groups call for cigarette manufacturers to pay for anti-smoking education campaigns and quit-smoking programs

Six public health groups today asked the U. S. Supreme Court to authorize a trial court to require major cigarette manufacturers to pay for a broad public education campaign against smoking, as well as programs to help smokers quit. The groups also asked that the trial court be empowered to require the tobacco companies to forfeit profits they made during decades of illegal activity.

20 Feb 2010

Opinion: Violence against women, rebuilding Haiti, food security

"Violence against women is a global epidemic, threatening the lives and safety of women and girls around the world," Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, writes in a Baltimore Sun opinion piece in which he asserts his support of the International Violence Against Women Act. In the piece, Cardin describes how violence against women increases risks of health problems - such as dying in pregnancy and contracting HIV - and poverty (2/19).

20 Feb 2010

Private health insurance around the world may be making health care problems worse

The Economist offers an analysis of private insurance around the world. "Governments are increasingly turning to private insurance in order to widen access to health care and make it more efficient. Are they expecting too much?"

20 Feb 2010

Money in Chicago health savings accounts company disappears

Federal investigators are looking into complaints that money put aside by consumers in health savings accounts has disappeared.

20 Feb 2010

WSNA holds informational picket to highlight issues critical to public health and safety

Washington State Nurses Association, representing more than 300 registered nurses at Public Health - Seattle & King County, is holding an informational picket today to highlight issues critical to public health and safety. During stalled contract negotiations, public health nurses are deeply concerned that the administration's new limitations on work schedules will reduce the ability to meet the needs of patients and clients.

20 Feb 2010

Rockefeller Foundation to support implementation global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa

The Rockefeller Foundation has awarded a $630,100 project support grant to the American Medical Informatics Association to support the initial implementation this year of a global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa designed for primary care providers, technical staff and health policy-makers.

20 Feb 2010

Workforce issues: Health care jobs boom in Nevada; Florida nurses lobby for safer hospital staffing

News outlets report on the health care workforce, including the thriving job market in Nevada and an effort to institute mandatory staffing ratios for nurses in Florida hospitals.

20 Feb 2010

Health care fraud: Massachusetts hospital to pay $2.79M for settling False Claims Act allegations

Mercy Hospital Inc. (d/b/a Mercy Medical Center) of Springfield, Mass., has agreed to pay the United States $2,799,462 to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act between 2005 and 2006 by failing to provide, or failing to document that it provided, the minimum number of hours of rehabilitation therapy required under Medicare guidelines, the Justice Department announced today.

20 Feb 2010

Researchers show how extracts from seeds of Moringa oleifera tree can be used for water purification

Pure water is a key requirement for good health and alternative cheap, safe methods are required in many countries. In a paper that has just been published in the leading American Chemical Society journal on interfaces, Langmuir, researchers from Uppsala University in co-operation with The University of Botswana describe how extracts from seeds of the Moringa oleifera tree can be used for water purification.

20 Feb 2010

Obama plans to offer own health bill before summit as parties stake claims

President Obama will offer "comprehensive" health reform legislation in advance of next week's planned summit with Republicans, The New York Times reports. "Democratic officials said the president's proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority."

20 Feb 2010

Stalled health bills could lead to increase in hospital mergers

Some analysts expect an increase in hospital mergers if health care overhaul remains stalled and the head of the Cleveland Clinic discusses why he thinks an overhaul won't lower health costs.

20 Feb 2010

State lawmakers address 'troubling trends' in insurance market

Des Moines (Iowa) Register: "State lawmakers want to press Iowa health insurers to release more details to help lawmakers decide whether rate increases are justified. This week, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer, said it would raise rates an average of 18 percent for about 80,000 Iowans who buy their own health insurance" (Jacobs, 2/19).

20 Feb 2010

P4P programs may be effective in incentivizing low performing physicians: Study

Pay-for-performance (P4P) programs are payment models that reward workers for meeting certain performance measures for quality and efficiency. In the healthcare setting, P4P programs use a variety of methods to reward physicians financially for achieving targets, including fee differentials and bonuses.

20 Feb 2010

Obama Administration releases details of over $400M Healthy Food Financing Initiative

The Obama Administration today released details of an over $400 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which will bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved urban and rural communities across America. The initiative was announced today in Philadelphia by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

20 Feb 2010

Sebelius issues sharp rebuke against health insurance premium hikes across U.S.

News outlets paid close attention to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' release of a new report detailing double-digit insurance premium hikes for individual plans in six states across the country.

20 Feb 2010

Florida faces fight over Medicaid reform expansion; In Kansas, cuts hurt a mental health clinic

Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration may broaden that state's Medicaid-reform pilot program to include 19 more counties to save more than $58 million by requiring Medicaid beneficiaries enroll in managed-care plans, Health News Florida reports.

19 Feb 2010

HIT Roundup: The push for electronic records continues

The Patriot-News: "A statewide partnership has been awarded a $100 million grant in federal economic stimulus funds to expand access to broadband Internet in 39 counties across south and central Pennsylvania, U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Robert P. Casey said Thursday." One purpose of the network is to link medical facilities (Miller, 2/18).

19 Feb 2010

MHCC receives $500,000 grant to operate research project on mental health and homelessness

The Mental Health Commission of Canada has received a $500,000 grant from the City of Vancouver. The funds will help operate part of a research demonstration project on mental health and homelessness at a downtown hotel.

19 Feb 2010

Healthcare News

Health worker training program cuts stillbirths by 30% in 6 developing countries, study says

Loyola University Medical Center ranked among top hospitals in research competition for pathologists

Health groups call for cigarette manufacturers to pay for anti-smoking education campaigns and quit-smoking programs

Opinion: Violence against women, rebuilding Haiti, food security

Private health insurance around the world may be making health care problems worse

Money in Chicago health savings accounts company disappears

WSNA holds informational picket to highlight issues critical to public health and safety

Rockefeller Foundation to support implementation global e-Health training program in sub-Saharan Africa

Workforce issues: Health care jobs boom in Nevada; Florida nurses lobby for safer hospital staffing

Health care fraud: Massachusetts hospital to pay $2.79M for settling False Claims Act allegations

Researchers show how extracts from seeds of Moringa oleifera tree can be used for water purification

Obama plans to offer own health bill before summit as parties stake claims

Stalled health bills could lead to increase in hospital mergers

State lawmakers address 'troubling trends' in insurance market

P4P programs may be effective in incentivizing low performing physicians: Study

Obama Administration releases details of over $400M Healthy Food Financing Initiative

Sebelius issues sharp rebuke against health insurance premium hikes across U.S.

Florida faces fight over Medicaid reform expansion; In Kansas, cuts hurt a mental health clinic

HIT Roundup: The push for electronic records continues

MHCC receives $500,000 grant to operate research project on mental health and homelessness

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