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Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet comment examines an Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria (AMFm) program to help countries procure subsidized artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs).

9 Oct 2009

The 'Turbocharged' health IT industry

Allscripts, the Chicago-based electronic medical records company, has more than doubled its profits since last year, Forbes reports in a special report. Its stock doubled, too, and it attracted nearly 50 percent more business. It's been a "sweet year" for Glen Tullman, the company's chief. That's due in part to a $19 billion infusion into the health information technology industry from the federal stimulus package.

9 Oct 2009

PFCD releases the updated comparison of chronic care provisions contained within health reform bill

The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) today released an updated comparison of chronic care provisions contained within health reform legislation to reflect the amended Senate Finance Committee proposal. The amended "Chairman's Mark" includes numerous provisions to prevent and manage chronic disease, the top cost driver in health care, as do the two other major pieces of health reform legislation under consideration in Congress.

9 Oct 2009

Scidev.Net examines African Network for Drugs and Diagnosis Innovation

SciDev.Net examines a recent conference in Cape Town, South Africa, where almost "300 researchers and health policymakers from across the continent" came together and approved a 2010-2015 business plan for the the African Network for Drugs and Diagnosis Innovation (ANDI).

9 Oct 2009

Senate Finance Committee plans Tuesday vote as lawmakers crunch numbers

The New York Times reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that the Finance Committee will vote on a proposed health care reform bill.

9 Oct 2009

VOA News examines U.S. global health funding

VOA News examines how the recession will be a factor in U.S. funding decisions about PEPFAR and other global health initiatives. According to VOA, the Obama administration's proposed funding for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in 2010 is "higher than the current fiscal year. However, the proposed increase is lower than in some years past."

9 Oct 2009

Agriculture investment in developing countries must increase by 50% to feed 9.1B people by 2050, FAO report says

Developing countries need agriculture investments of $83 billion per year to meet the food needs of a projected

9 Oct 2009

Controlled trial comparing Bevacizumab to Ranibizumab finds no difference in efficacy

Investigators from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the VA Boston Healthcare System have shown, at 6 months in a small group of patients, that there is no difference in efficacy between Bevacizumab (Avastin) and Ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

9 Oct 2009

U.S. bishops urge Congress to improve current health care reform legislation

Three chairmen of the bishops' committees working on health care reform urged the U.S. Congress to improve current health care reform legislation, expressing their "disappointment that progress has not been made on the three priority criteria for health care reform" cited in their previous letters.

9 Oct 2009

House leaders discuss taxing insurers to help finance health care

House Democrats have nearly completed drafting a health reform bill that consolidates versions created by three committees, Bloomberg reports. One detail remains undecided, however: How, exactly, Democrats will pay for the overhaul.

9 Oct 2009

Today's editorials and opinions

After years of struggling with costs that were eating into his bottom line, David White, a small business owner in Maine, recently dropped health insurance for himself and his employees. It was a nerve-wracking decision (Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., 10/8).

9 Oct 2009

Riley Hospital for Children commences patient enrollment in clinical trial of cystic fibrosis drug

The Riley Hospital for Children Cystic Fibrosis Center is the first site in the nation to enroll patients ages 6-11 for the first part of a 48-week clinical trial of a promising investigational treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF).

9 Oct 2009

Health Discovery retains Dilenschneider Group to manage its investor and media relations work

Health Discovery Corporation, is pleased to announce that it has retained The Dilenschneider Group, headquartered in New York City, to manage the Company’s investor and media relations work. With offices in New York, Washington, DC and Chicago, the Dilenschneider Group provides its clients with some of the finest and most seasoned communications professionals in the world.

9 Oct 2009

Health policy research roundup

Urban Institute: Variation in Insurance Coverage Across Congressional Districts New Estimates from 2008 -- Drawing from data from the American Community Survey, the authors of this brief explore the variation in rates of uninsurance, public and private coverage across congressional districts.

9 Oct 2009

First-quarter fiscal 2010 results announced by Biomet

Biomet, Inc. announced today financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended August 31, 2009.

9 Oct 2009

Hospital-insurer tug of war leaves patients in middle

The Washington Post reports on a health care battle between a hospital and insurers that is leaving patients caught in the middle. At Bayonne Medical Center in New Jersey, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield delivered letters to patients at the hospital "warning that the patient would face a huge hospital bill if he did not leave right away."

9 Oct 2009

Arizona clinic stops accepting Medicare, some Penn. Medicare Advantage plans cancelled

The Arizona Republic reports: "One of the Mayo Clinic's two family-medicine practices in Arizona soon will stop accepting Medicare, leaving thousands of patients to pay out of pocket for routine doctor's visits or find a new physician." The changes go in effect on Jan. 1 and apply to primary-care services at the Mayo Clinic Family Medicine-Arrowhead.

9 Oct 2009

Health industries: Changes could kill health reform bill

Insurers and pharmaceutical manufacturers are concerned that changes in a Senate bill could derail efforts — and their agreement — to overhaul the nation's health care system.

9 Oct 2009

Aperio's new digital slide sharing service for pathology incorporated as part of CAP’s Diagnostic Work Station

Aperio Technologies, Inc., a global leader in digital pathology for the healthcare and life sciences industry is pleased to announce that SecondSlide™, its newly launched digital slide sharing service for pathology, has been incorporated as one of the vendor solutions in the College of American Pathologists (CAP) prototype of the Diagnostic Work Station (DWS), a collaborative and heterogeneous vendor-neutral environment.

9 Oct 2009

Learning new tasks causes changes in spontaneous brain activity patterns: Study

Spontaneous brain activity formerly thought to be "white noise" measurably changes after a person learns a new task, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Chieti, Italy, have shown.

9 Oct 2009