Latest KFF Health News Stories
Food Crises Jeopardizing Efforts To Meet MDG Of Halving Global Malnutrition, Report Says
“Food crises are jeopardizing efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015, United Nations (U.N.) food experts warned” on Monday, according to the Guardian. “In an annual report on world hunger, U.N. food agencies said food price volatility is likely to continue and possibly increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity,” the news service writes.
Spain’s Queen Sofia Tours Haiti Reconstruction Projects Amid Ongoing Cholera Epidemic
Spain’s Queen Sofia spent two days in Haiti “touring reconstruction projects that the Spanish government and her own foundation hope will improve housing, education, sanitation and health in Haiti,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. Her tour included a water sanitation plant that Haitian president Michel Martelly called “a key way for us to solve the cholera” epidempic, which “has killed more than 6,200 people and sickened almost 440,000 others since it surfaced last year, according to Haitian health officials,” AP writes (10/7). “[C]holera is still rife in Haiti and far from under control,” Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reports, adding, “Since the first cases were confirmed in October 2010, MSF has treated almost 160,000 patients” and has seen the number of patients admitted jump from 300 to more than 850 in the past month (10/7).
Rwandan Government, UNFPA Step Up Campaign To End Obstetric Fistula
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Food Program and Engender Health have partnered with Rwanda’s Ministry of Health in “a campaign to treat and end obstetric fistula in women in Rwanda,” the New Times/AllAfrica.com reports. Through the campaign, “at least 50 women are expected to be treated by Issa Labou, a urologist from Senegal, assisted by a team of Rwandan physicians during an exercise to be held at Kibogora Hospital, Nyamasheke District, Western Province from 10-21 October 2011,” according to Anicet Nzabonimpa, the family planning and HIV integration coordinator in Rwanda’s Ministry of Health, the newspaper writes. “We commit to supporting government’s efforts to fully integrate services that are permanent for on-going, continuous and holistic care of obstetric fistula cases until we entirely end this preventable and treatable condition,’ she said,” according to the New Times (10/9).
WHO Facing Shortage Of Funds As It Works To Scale Up Humanitarian Response To Pakistan Flooding
WHO representative Guido Sabatinelli has assured Pakistan health officials that the organization “will be scaling [up] its humanitarian response in all the flood-affected areas of Sindh to resolve health issues faced by the displaced people,” News International reports. WHO officials say Norway, the U.S., the U.K. and Spain are “the only donor countries which have pledged funds
Themes, Deadlocks Take Shape In Deficit Panel Developments
USA Today reports on the strategies interest groups are employing to reach the “super committee’s” members. Also, Reuters reports the Medigap plans are one of the items being considered by the panel for cuts.
The Health Law’s Future: Prose On Politics And Policies
Politico reports on how the elections of 2012 will dictate the future of the health law. Also, other news outlets report on states’ efforts to figure out what to do if the individual mandate is struck down, the essential benefits package, the development of health exchanges and where things stand with accountable care organizations.
State Roundup: Calif. Autism Bill, Kids’ Tanning Bed Ban Become Law
In other state news, Wisconsin last month began scrutinizing health insurance rate increases, Los Angeles County steps in ahead of health law’s mandated coverage expansions and a Georgia report notes the state’s progress in providing services for people with mental illness and developmental disabilities.
Georgia Hospitals Present Varying Financial Pictures
One hospital run by Children’s Healthcare Of Atlanta had its best financial results of the decade in 2010, but many of the state’s independent hospitals are facing hard times. Medical staff issues and attempted aquisitions are also in the news.
Feds Approve Parts Of Arizona’s Plan To Reduce State’s Medicaid Burden
In Florida, a class-action lawsuit alleges that state officials did not adequately market its Medicaid program.
Viewpoints: Obama Fighting Back; Putting A Price On Compassion; Questions For GOP Candidates
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
For Hospitals Attempting To Cut Costs, What Measures Matter Most?
Modern Healthcare reports on what it has termed to be health care’s “Moneyball.”
Health Insurance Mandate Haunts Romney
The parallels between the federal health law and the Massachusetts health overhaul that GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney signed into law when governor continue to cause some Republicans to doubt him as a their primary pick.
Governments Target Contract Workers; Eye Millions Lost In Payroll Taxes, Health Benefits
The Washington Post reports the federal government and states are targeting employers who treat workers as contractors are causing significant financial losses.
Issues That Can Drive Physicians To Quit
One news article details the reasons that drove a primary care physician to quit. Meanwhile, the American Medical Association is launching a media campaign to permanently fix the formula that is used to calculate Medicare payments to doctors.
Arrangements Between Doctors, Medical Device Makers Raise Questions
The Wall Street Journal reports on how such arrangments sometimes create an incentive for surgeons to do more operations, which raises quality issues and health care costs.
First Edition: October 10, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the ‘super committee’s’ moving parts and how the fate of the health law may be determined by what happens in 2012.
Advocates Prepare For Battle On PSA Testing; Insurers Review Options
A government panel’s recommendation that healthy men not get a blood test that screens for prostate cancer raises concerns and questions for patients, doctors and insurers.
Budgeting Makes It Hard To Revamp Health Law’s Long-Term-Care Act
AP calls the CLASS Act “zombie” because though the program hasn’t begun, “premiums the government may never collect count” as reducing the deficit. And, the Philadelphia Inquirer looks at a program to train health care professionals to deliver better care.
IOM: Cost Key To Formulating Essential Benefits Package
In its 297-page report, the Institute of Medicine recommended that cost should be a factor in deciding what benefits will be included in plans sold on the health law’s new insurance exchanges.
