Latest KFF Health News Stories
The ‘Doc Fix’ Is High On Congressional To-Do List
As Congress returns to work, it will face a full plate of difficult items — including efforts to address the Medicare physician payment formula. Meanwhile, some observers are worried President Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will lead to trouble for the confirmation of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
IRIN Examines Risk Of Waterborne Diseases In Zimbabwe
IRIN examines how a lack of sanitation facilities and access to clean water, as well as the onset of the rainy season, are increasing the risk of waterborne diseases in rural areas of Zimbabwe. A 2009 survey, “compiled by the government and U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), listed diarrhea as one of the major causes of infant mortality resulting in around 4,000 deaths in Zimbabwe annually” and “showed a 20 percent increase in under-five mortality since 1990,” IRIN writes.
New HIV Vaccine Candidates Show Promise In Monkeys
“The quest for a vaccine against AIDS is gaining momentum, with research published Wednesday identifying promising new candidates that protected monkeys against a powerful strain of the virus and that soon could be tested in humans,” the Wall Street Journal reports (McKay, 1/5). Researchers treated different groups of rhesus monkeys with several different two-stage vaccine combinations and then exposed them to a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) that was different than the one used to make the vaccines, according to Nature (Callaway, 1/4).
Bringing Health Solutions To Women, Children
In this Huffington Post “Impact” blog post, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, writes that she will be visiting Bangladesh to “lear[n] even more about two of the biggest killers of children — pneumonia and diarrhea,” and says “Bangladesh has made incredible progress in recent years, reducing the number of childhood deaths by 65 percent since 1990.” She writes, “As I reflect back on what I learned this year about the progress and the challenges in women’s and children’s health, I’m struck by the fact that we don’t need to wait for the solutions,” including “[t]hings like life-saving vaccines, contraceptives, healthy practices for mothers and newborns and good nutrition.”
CSIS’s Morrison Discusses ‘End of AIDS’
SmartGlobalHealth.org features the latest episode of “Small Screen Sessions,” in which J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Global Health Policy Center, discusses the policy changes that enabled the International AIDS Conference to return to the U.S. in 2012 after a 22-year hiatus, and the beginning of the “end of AIDS” (1/4).
UNC HIV Researcher Cohen Discusses His Work, HPTN 052
PSI’s “Healthy Lives” blog features a video from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Medical Center News Office in which Myron Cohen, a professor of medicine, microbiology, immunology and public health at UNC-Chapel Hill and the director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, discusses his research into HIV/AIDS prevention, including his lead role in HPTN 052. That study, which found “that the sexual transmission [of HIV] can be virtually stopped when the infected person is treated with ARVs, this year was heralded as the ‘Breakthrough of the Year’ by Science magazine,” according to the blog (1/4).
First Edition: January 5, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report that health law opponents want to add plaintiffs to their lawsuit as well as dispatches from the GOP primary election compaign trail.
Bachmann’s Parting Shot: Repeal Health Law
As she announced she was leaving the presidential race, Rep. Bachmann referred to “Obamacare” 11 times.
Study: Drug Research Often Suppressed
A British Medical Journal study found that drug research, including federal government-sponsored clinical trials, is often suppressed, which lead to higher drug costs and harm for patients.
School Nurses Are Among The Casualties Of Tough Fiscal Times
In a pair of stories, NPR reports on how tight budgets are playing out with staff reductions for full-time school nurses and how hospitals and medical schools are marketing themselves.
Health Insurance Fee Draws GOP Attacks
Republicans step up attacks on a new fee on private health plans — created in the health law and set to take effect this week — to private insurance plans to fund comparative effectiveness research.
State Roundup: Mass. Insurance Co-Ops To Launch; Fla. Hospital Commission Ponders Nonprofits
A selection of stories from Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Iowa and Georgia.
Hospital Stocks Fall After Analyst Prediction Of Tough Times
A new report from Citigroup Global Markets forecasts difficult times ahead for hospitals and other related businesses that rely on government spending.
Industry Report Finds Nursing Homes Losing Money As States Cut Medicaid
Also, California officials prepare to appeal federal court decision striking down cuts to some providers, and Wisconsin announces that its shortfall is less than expected.
Congress Returns To ‘Same Old Health Fights’ In 2012
Congress starts 2012 facing the same old health policy fights, including the GOP push to pay for a more permanent Medicare “doc fix” with cuts to health law programs or Medicare. Meanwhile, Politico Pro reports on how House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp, R-Mich., has been pivotal in Republican efforts to undermine the health overhaul law.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
HHS Issues Initial Set Of 26 Medicaid Quality Measures
The measures cover areas such as prevention, care coordination and chronic disease management and will be used for quality reporting.
Romney Wins GOP Iowa Caucus By Eight Votes
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney edged out rival Rick Santorum by a margin so slim it is viewed by many as a tie. News outlets review the political dynamics behind the vote tally, and highlight how the outcome reflects the ongoing GOP ideological divide as well as what might happen next.
Michigan Opts Not To Appeal Feds’ MLR Rule
The state was one of 13 seeking an exemption from the health law’s medical-loss ratio requirement that insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care. Others, however, get a 30-day extension. Also in the news, the Department of Health and Human Services named 73 advisers to work with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. And, the American Hospital Association registered concern about some antitrust policies regarding accountable care organizations. Meanwhile, Politico lists some of the key health policy dates to watch in 2012.
Child Malnutrition Rates ‘Alarming’ In Somali Refugee Camps, AFP Reports
“Aid workers say malnutrition rates among children under five at the Dolo Ado camp [in Ethiopia] are alarming,” with “[o]ver 50 percent of children in Dolo Ado’s Hilaweyn camp and nearly half of all children in Kobe camp
