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HIV infections, deaths declining in Caribbean, senior official says

Ahead of the regional Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) meeting, a senior official announced that the number of new HIV infections in the region has fallen since last year, Agence France-Presse reports.

27 Oct 2009

Reid's end game? Senate bill will have public option with 'opt out'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced yesterday that he will include a public insurance plan in the final Senate health overhaul legislation.

27 Oct 2009

House Democrats continue courting, counting votes for 'robust' public option

The New York Times reports that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to discuss the public option and health costs with other Democratic leaders. "Ms. Pelosi has been working hard to build support for the most liberal version of a government-run insurance plan, the so-called robust public option, which would generally tie payments to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to Medicare rates. But so far Ms. Pelosi has been coming up short."

27 Oct 2009

Gateses to appeal for ongoing U.S. funding of global health

Bill and Melinda Gates are expected to ask Washington officials on Tuesday to "continue funding global health initiatives despite the recession and to commit to nearly halve the number of child deaths worldwide by 2025," the Washington Post reports.

27 Oct 2009

H1N1 overwhelms hospitals; Sebelius addresses flu vaccine shortage

Hospitals across the country are overwhelmed "as waves of flu patients arrive at their doors, doubling their emergency room volume," USA Today reports. "Just as significant is the effect on intensive care units: A relatively small number of flu patients are requiring intensive care, but some are so ill they will need round-the-clock care for weeks.

27 Oct 2009

BIOTRONIK launches its new, unified platform pacemaker series in Europe

BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, the pioneer of wireless remote monitoring technologies and leading manufacturer of implantable cardiac devices, today announced the European launch of its new, unified platform pacemaker series, Evia, and several new products to further strengthen its bradycardia portfolio.

27 Oct 2009

Consumer health informatics applications help patients to better manage their health care

Electronic tools and technology applications for consumers can help improve health care processes, such as adherence to medication and clinical outcomes like smoking cessation, according to a report by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

27 Oct 2009

More people rely on alternative medicine

As consumers look to save money in a tough economy, many turn to alternative health care options. CBS 4 reports: "Health care costs are soaring. Thousands of people are without jobs and without the benefits afforded them. Now, those people are turning to preventative or alternative measures. ... The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) shows 38 percent of adults and 12 percent of kids are now using alternative therapies to treat pain. In fact, Americans are now reportedly spending $34 billion a year on alternative therapies" (Demos, 10/26).

27 Oct 2009

Senators draw lines around a handful of swing voters

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Maine Republicans, have been in the spotlight this year because of their ability to cross party lines with political impunity, Politico reports. Collins took the lead in negotiating a stimulus bill in February that drew three GOP votes, including Snowe's. Snowe is now at the center of the health reform debate.

27 Oct 2009

Discovery of AVM can relieve pain due to chronic back pain and neurologic deficits

The discovery of a multi-level arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the thoracic epidural space can now bring relief to potentially thousands of suffers of chronic thoracic pain and progressive myelopothy. Identified as thoracic epidural arteriovenous malformation (T.E.A.M.), this particular AMV primarily affects younger women ages 20 to 40.

27 Oct 2009

GE’s AgileTrac Asset Manager and Enterprise Capacity Management Solution adopted by Virtua Healthcare

Virtua and GE Healthcare announced today that they are collaborating to implement new solutions to help increase efficiencies, lower healthcare costs and improve patient care throughout the health system. Virtua is adopting GE’s AgileTracTM Asset Manager and Enterprise Capacity Management Solution, an automated workflow solution that allows healthcare staff to better track a patient’s inpatient experience, as well as manage the hospital’s assets, ultimately reducing costs and increasing patient satisfaction.

27 Oct 2009

Allied Healthcare International implements a three-year contract with the London Borough of Islington Council

Allied Healthcare International Inc., a leading provider of flexible healthcare staffing services in the United Kingdom, has implemented a three-year contract with the London Borough of Islington Council in the United Kingdom.

27 Oct 2009

GI Dynamics’ EndoBarrier Gastrointestinal Liner for pre-surgical weight loss treatment demonstrates safety

GI Dynamics, a leader in non-surgical treatments for type 2 diabetes and obesity, today announced data which support the safety and efficacy of the EndoBarrier™ Gastrointestinal Liner for pre-surgical weight loss treatment, along with a positive effect on glucose homeostasis in morbidly obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

27 Oct 2009

Combination of treatments for breast cancer

At the end of a 10-year, coast-to-coast study of women with an unusual form of breast cancer, Richard J. Barth Jr., M.D., and three fellow researchers are making the case for a particular combination of treatments to stop the tumors in their tracks.

27 Oct 2009

Federal study would test all adults in a community for AIDS

The New York Times reports that "Federal health officials are preparing a plan to study a bold new strategy to stop the spread of the AIDS virus: routinely testing virtually every adult in a community, and promptly treating those found to be infected.

27 Oct 2009

Six innovations that could prove critical to reforming health care system

The Wall Street Journal offers a collection of stories that looks at changes in health care that could yield big responses: "Health-care innovations come in many shapes and sizes ... [including] the kind that can help reach the goal that continues to elude our policy makers: getting good care to the greatest number of people in the most cost-effective way."

27 Oct 2009

Bending the 'cost curve': Lawmakers, White House consider a bipartisan route

Kaiser Health News staff writer Eric Pianin reports on the idea of a bipartisan idea to establish a commission to control future federal program spending.

27 Oct 2009

Young people speak out regarding efforts to overhaul the health care system

"As the health care debate winds its way through Congress, everyone can agree on at least this much: Bringing more young adults into the health care system would balance out the costs for everyone else because the young use the least amount of care," The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

27 Oct 2009

AARP dual role in health reform: Advocate and insurance business

The Washington Post reports on questions raised about AARP's dual role in health reform. It profits from sales of health insurance policies to seniors and is strongly supporting reform legislation. "The nation's preeminent seniors group, AARP, has put the weight of its 40 million members behind health-care reform, saying many of the proposals will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans," according to the Post.

27 Oct 2009

Today's opinions and editorials

Health Reform Will Increase Medicaid Costs The Philadelphia Inquirer The financial stakes are high for the states, nearly all of which are struggling just to discharge their current Medicaid commitments (Laura Katz Olson, 10/27).

27 Oct 2009