Latest KFF Health News Stories
HHS Gives Some Religious Employers An Extra Year To Comply With Birth Control Rule
The extension applies to church-affiliated hospitals, universities and social service organizations. They will now have until August 1, 2013, to comply.
Cutting Military Medical Research Funding Would Jeopardize Health Of U.S. Troops, World’s Poorest
“In recent months, many politicians and presidential hopefuls have called for budget reductions, and many have specifically targeted military spending for cutbacks,” Peter Hotez and James Kazura, past president and president, respectively, of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, write in this Atlantic opinion piece. “[P]rograms such as the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) often find themselves low on the priority list despite their crucial role in saving the lives of our troops on the battlefield and here at home,” they write, adding, “Today, American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan still face formidable tropical disease threats. … For over 100 years, WRAIR has been the U.S. military’s premier institution for preventing these types of tropical infections.”
Blog Covers Experts’ Comments At Country Ownership Roundtable
This post in the Ministerial Leadership Initiative’s (MLI) “Leading Global Health” blog is “the third of a series of perspective pieces on country ownership from the ‘Advancing Country Ownership for Greater Results’ roundtable organized last week by” MLI, a program of Aspen Global Health and Development. “This third of four pieces covers the comments from several participants,” including Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and co-moderator of the session; Mark Dybul, former U.S. global AIDS ambassador, and current co-director at Georgetown’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law; Pape Gaye, president and CEO of IntraHealth; Paul O’Brien, vice president for Policy and Campaigns at Oxfam America; Salif Samake, director of Mali’s Health, Planning, and Statistics Unit in the ministries of Health, Social Development, and the Promotion of Women, Children and Family; and Francis Omaswa, MLI senior adviser, executive director of the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation, and co-moderator of the session (Donnelly, 1/19).
Health Law, Abortion Among Hot Topics In S.C. Republican Debate
The GOP presidential hopefuls clashed on a range of issues related to the health law, its individual mandate and efforts to repeal it. Candidates’ positions on abortion were also flashpoints.
President To Push Congress To Revisit Ambitious Effort To Cut The Deficit
And, just hours before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, House and Senate negotiators will hold a rare public meeting over pending efforts to extend the payroll tax cut and to fix the Medicare reimbursement rate for physicians.
IMHE Researchers Present Update On Global Development Assistance
At a presentation hosted by the Global Health Council on Thursday at the University of Washington, Christopher Murray and Michael Hanlon from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation provided an update on global development assistance for health, the Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog reports (Lubinski, 1/19). The data were based on a recently released report, titled “Financing Global Health 2011: Continued Growth as MDG Deadline Approaches,” which “offers a comprehensive view of trends in public and private financing of health assistance with preliminary estimates for health financing in the most recent years” and “shows that development assistance for health (DAH) continues to rise, albeit at a slower rate than before the recession,” according to an IMHE press release (December 2011).
Keeping Global Health Relevant As Part Of Sustainable Development Agenda
“In 2012 there will be a major strategic shift in global health, away from development and towards sustainability,” a Lancet editorial states. “Since 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), driven by a macroeconomic diagnosis of global poverty, have focused on investment in a small number of diseases as the most effective approach to decrease poverty, … [b]ut this approach is now delivering diminishing returns,” because of emerging challenges such as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), climate change, and financial security, as well as a heightened focus on integration and accountability, the editorial says.
Debate Over Publication Of Bird Flu Studies Continues In Journal Opinion Pieces
“An international debate over whether to censor new research on bird flu may soon prove academic, as other laboratories close in on similar findings showing how one of the most deadly viruses could mutate to be transmitted from one person to another,” Reuters reports. Last year, two teams of researchers reported study results “that showed how the H5N1 [bird flu] virus can be transmitted through airborne droplets between ferrets, a model for studying influenza in humans,” and the findings prompted the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in December to advise “two leading journals, Nature and Science, to withhold details of the research for fear it could be used by bioterrorists,” the news service writes.
Risperdal Lawsuit Settlement: Largest Medicaid Fraud Case In Texas
Texas and Janssen Pharmaceuticals reach a $158 million settlement on a suit claiming that the company lied about the efficacy of the anti-psychotic medicine.
India’s Ministry Of Health Dismisses Claims Of ‘Totally Drug-Resistant’ TB
In a January 17 statement, India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare “dismissed reports that a form of incurable tuberculosis [TB] has arrived in the country,” saying “that a team of doctors sent by the ministry found that seven of the patients are responding to treatment” and the cases would be classified and managed as extremely drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), Nature News Blog reports (Jayaraman, 1/19). “Earlier, doctors in Mumbai said 12 patients had a ‘totally drug resistant’ form of TB, and three had died,” according to BBC News. “A WHO official in India told the BBC that there is no recognized case of totally drug resistant TB anywhere in the world,” the news service writes (1/20).
UNAIDS Officials Say Progress Being Made Against HIV/AIDS In Africa, Asia
Speaking at a media briefing in Geneva on Thursday, Sheila Tlou, UNAIDS director of the regional support team for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the region is making progress in scaling up access to prevention and treatment services, including behavior change and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs, the U.N. News Centre reports. “We have to now focus on making sure that we scale up voluntary medical male circumcision, behavior change, and all those [interventions] to make sure that we reduce infections,” she said, adding that improving access to treatment also is critical, according to the news service (1/19). “‘There has been quite a lot of progress since 1997 with a 25 percent reduction in new infections in our region,’ said Tlou,” Agence France-Presse notes (1/19).
Federal Judge Renews Her Order Blocking Calif. Cuts To In-Home Care
The state had planned to cut $100 million from the program beginning this month.
Legislation Update: Fla. Lawmakers Advance Bill On Workers’ Comp Drugs
A Florida bill would keep doctors from dispensing “repackaged drugs” at higher prices, while the Kansas measure would bar a single agency from assessing a disabled person’s needs and then working as the case manager and providing services.
Kodak’s Chapter 11 Filing: Retiree Benefit Costs A Big Part Of The Problem
The Wall Street Journal reports on how the burden of retiree health-care benefits is among the financial issues driving the company to file for bankruptcy.
The company reported that its fourth-quarter profits rose 21 percent, driven by increases in health-insurance membership and continued light health care usage.
State News: N.Y. Insurers To Update Provider Directories
News outlets cover a variety of state health policy stories.
Texas Abortion Issue Back In Court Today
A Federal judge in Austin holds another hearing on Texas law requiring women seeking an abortion to have a sonogram. Also, NPR looks at the growing number of restrictions across the country.
Viewpoints: An Endorsement For Gingrich; Paula Deen And Diabetes
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
GAVI Says Ministries Of Health In Cameroon, Niger Cooperating To Reimburse Misused Funds
“Following separate investigations into the misuse of GAVI funding in Cameroon and Niger, both Ministries of Health have cooperated fully and confirmed their commitment to take all necessary measures, including the reimbursement of misused funds,” the GAVI Alliance said in a statement released on Thursday. According to the statement, “The findings suggest that up to US$4.2 million allocated for health systems strengthening (HSS) has been misused in Cameroon and up to US$2.5 million allocated for immunization services support (ISS) has been misused in Niger,” with approximately $1.8 million and $1.5 million of those funds under investigation for theft in the respective countries.
Health Law Policy Topics: ACO Deadline, Hospital Pay Fix
Modern Healthcare reports that today’s the last day to sign up for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ ACO program, which starts in April. Politico Pro, meanwhile, reports that a coalition of state hospitals is pushing the White House to address what they see as a “gaming of Medicare payments” that allows Massachusetts hospitals to collect higher Medicare reimbursements than other states.
