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New rule ensuring equal access for ESRD patients receives DPC praise

Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC), the nation's largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, applauded the Administration for taking steps to solidify a key provision that will ensure end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients have equal access to private coverage as Affordable Care Act reforms are implemented.

14 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Sandra fluke on slurs; Shifting the cost of uncompensated care

(D)espite the misinformation being spread, the regulation under discussion has absolutely nothing to do with government funding: It is all about the insurance policies provided by private employers and universities that are financed by individual workers, students and their families -- not taxpayers.

14 Mar 2012

Highlights from Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

The Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT) is the first comprehensive study to look at the effectiveness of different treatments for low back and leg pain. It was designed to provide data and outcomes to guide doctors and their patients in their treatment choices for three common spinal disorders: intervertebral disk herniation (IDH), degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS), and lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).

14 Mar 2012

Various State Legislatures consider insurance exchanges, HMO audits, mental health care

A selection of health policy news from Iowa, Oregon, California, Oregon, Maryland, Connecticut, Kansas and Texas.

14 Mar 2012

Higher spending on effective procedures and services leads to better patient outcomes

Among hospitals in Ontario, Canada, those with higher levels of spending, which included higher intensity nursing and greater use of specialists and procedures, had an associated lower rate of deaths, hospital readmissions, and better quality of care for severely ill hospitalized patients, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA.

14 Mar 2012

Democrats launch efforts to educate voters about health law's benefits

The Democratic National Committee will do targeted mailings to improve the law's image. In addition, the Obama campaign posted an interactive website to spell out the measure's benefits.

14 Mar 2012

Endoscopic transgastric necrosectomy associated with lower risk of major complications

In a small, preliminary trial, patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis who received a less-invasive procedure, endoscopic transgastric necrosectomy, had an associated lower risk of major complications and death compared to patients who had surgical necrosectomy, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA.

14 Mar 2012

USAID's Shah provides 'critical leadership' in global health

Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) Communications Officer Kim Lufkin discusses USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah's second annual letter in this GHTC "Breakthroughs" blog post, writing, "Shah rightly emphasizes the role of science, technology, and innovation in meeting USAID's international health goals."

14 Mar 2012

Mutated ATRX gene associated with advanced-stage neuroblastoma

Certain mutations of the gene ATRX were associated with age at diagnosis in children and young adults with advanced-stage neuroblastoma, a cancer that grows in parts of the nervous system, according to a study in the March 14 issue of JAMA.

14 Mar 2012

Obama administration releases rules for health exchanges, emphasizes flexibility for states

The regulations outline minimum standards that states must meet to set up and run these health insurance marketplaces by a Jan. 1, 2014, deadline.

14 Mar 2012

Hospital Charitable Service Awards names Jefferson ARCHES Project as Program of Excellence

The ARCHES Project, a program of Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, was one of 10 programs from across the country named a Program of Excellence by the Hospital Charitable Service Awards, a national program sponsored by Jackson Healthcare.

14 Mar 2012

First Edition: March 14, 2012

Today's headlines feature coverage of the Congressional Budget Office's latest estimates regarding the health law's costs and the nation's deficit.

14 Mar 2012

Scientists grow rudimentary retina structure from blood cells

For the first time, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made early retina structures containing proliferating neuroretinal progenitor cells using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from human blood.

14 Mar 2012

Haitian cholera vaccination pilot project temporarily postponed, NPR reports

"A long-planned project to find out whether vaccination is feasible in the midst of an ongoing cholera outbreak in Haiti has been stymied -- temporarily, its proponents insist --" after "a Port-au-Prince radio station reported that the impending vaccination effort was actually a 'medical experiment on the Haitian people' -- a potentially incendiary charge," NPR's "Morning Edition" reports.

14 Mar 2012

New national effort to accelerate development of therapies for neurological diseases

The National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has selected Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medical College to participate in a new national effort to accelerate the development of therapies for people with neurological diseases.

14 Mar 2012

CME conference on deep brain stimulation for movement disorders

CME Conference for physicians and health care professionals on deep brain stimulation for movement disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression

14 Mar 2012

AACN awards $50,000 Impact Research Grant to Duke nursing professor

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) recently awarded a $50,000 AACN Impact Research Grant to Brigit Carter, RN, PhD, MSN, CCRN, assistant clinical professor at Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, N.C., to study feeding intolerance in preterm infants.

14 Mar 2012

State budget burdens, cost-cutting efforts focus on health programs

Burdened by budget deficits, states are cutting health programs to the chagrin of some. But others say the economic downturn has allowed states to take up long-term economic problems they wouldn't have addressed otherwise.

14 Mar 2012

Planned elective repeat cesarean lowers risk of serious complications

A major study led by the University of Adelaide has found that women who have had one prior cesarean can lower the risk of death and serious complications for their next baby - and themselves - by electing to have another cesarean.

14 Mar 2012

NCKU demonstrates home robot for senior companionship

Jhing-Fa Wang, a pioneer of orange technology, professor of Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan, has demonstrated 2 innovative designs featured at Gross National Happiness (GNH) and humanity-centered social caring arousing great attention at a recent press conference.

14 Mar 2012