Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare costs grew at their slowest pace in six years, according to Standard & Poor’s Healthcare Economic Indices.
Research Roundup: Majority Of Docs Face Malpractice Claims
This week’s studies and reports come from the Government Accountability Office, the Journal Of General Internal Medicine, New England Journal Of Medicine, Harvard Medical School’s Department Of Health Care Policy, Health Affairs, the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
White House Budget Chief Orders Agencies To Find Savings
The signal indicates a need for real cuts from discretionary appropriations without budget gimmicks.
First Edition: August 19, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a range of reports looking ahead to the work of the deficit ‘super committee’ and other budget news.
Isolation of HIV Antibodies Advances Search For AIDS Vaccine
A team of researchers has “identified 17 potent antibodies whose discovery opened up valuable pathways in the search for an AIDS vaccine,” Agence France-Presse reports (8/17). The researchers “at and associated with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the Scripps Research Institute, the biotechnology company Theraclone Sciences and Monogram Biosciences Inc., a LabCorp company, report in the current issue of Nature” that the antibodies are “capable of neutralizing a broad spectrum of variants of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,” according to a joint press release (8/17).
The Perry Record On Reform, Medicaid And HPV Vaccinations
Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s high-profile launch of his campaign for the GOP nomination for president means fresh scrutiny on his record and platform regarding health issues.
U.K., Islamic Countries Pledge Additional Funds For Famine Aid In Somalia
During a visit to the Somali capital of Mogadishu, U.K. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell on Wednesday pledged an additional $41.5 million in aid to Somalia, to be distributed through UNICEF, BBC News reports. The funding will enable UNICEF “to provide supplementary rations for up to 192,000 people
New Quick Malaria Diagnostic Test May Help Reduce Overtreatment
“Health workers often treat patients for malaria even when a test indicates a different cause of the illness,” a behavior seen across sub-Saharan Africa “that worries many health experts,” PRI’s The World reports. “Prescribing malaria medication to patients who don’t need it wastes precious resources in a country already dealing with drug shortages
“We were deeply perturbed to learn that the negotiations for the Outcomes Document of the U.N. High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), a mere month or so away, had stalled because member states failed to reach consensus,” Nalini Saligram, CEO of Arogya World, and Sandeep Kishore, an MD/PhD candidate at the Cornell/ Rockefeller/ Sloan-Kettering Institute, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece.
New Rules Would Help Consumers Comparison Shop For Health Plans
The proposed regulations, issued Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services, are designed to make sure insurers and employers provide consumers with “plain English” information about health insurance coverage to empower them to make informed choices.
IOM May Miss Deadline For Essential Benefits Report
In other news related to the health law’s implementation, policy analysts offer their views of the challenges ahead for the creation of accountable care organizations.
NCD Alliance Says U.S., Canada, E.U. Stalling Efforts To Fight NCDs
The NCD Alliance, which represents about 2,000 health organizations from around the world focused on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), “on Thursday accused the United States, Canada and Europe of harming efforts to fight cancer, diabetes, heart and other diseases because they will not agree to set United Nations targets,” Reuters reports (Kelland, 8/18). The first-ever U.N. High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of NCDs is scheduled for September 19-20 in New York.
Actress Mandy Moore Leads Bipartisan Congressional Group To Cameroon To Highlight Disease Prevention
“Actress, singer and humanitarian Mandy Moore recently led a bipartisan delegation of congressional staffers on a trip to Cameroon to promote foreign aid and disease prevention there,” Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” reports.
VOA News Examines Ethics Of Clinical Drug Testing In African Nations
VOA News examines the ethics of conducting clinical drug trials in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Several international ethical frameworks outline guidelines for clinical trials, “including the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki and the WHO’s Good Clinical Practice Guidelines,” but they are not mandatory, the news service writes.
Japan To Fund Polio Vaccination Efforts In Pakistan
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing approximately $65 million to Pakistan’s government to provide polio vaccination campaigns in the country, “one of the most difficult fronts against the disease as global health organizations risk missing their goal of stopping polio globally the end of 2012,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “If Pakistan achieves certain goals with the money, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will repay the loan to Japan, according to officials briefed on the plan,” according to the newspaper (Guth, 8/18).
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
Use Of Insecticide-Treated Bednets Linked To Local Resurgence Of Malaria, Study Says
“Insecticide-treated bednets, whose use is being widely promoted in Africa to combat malaria, may paradoxically be linked to local resurgence of the disease,” according to a study published in the Lancet on Thursday, the Independent reports. “Growing resistance to a common insecticide used against mosquitoes, combined with falling immunity among the population as transmission declined, appears to have triggered a rebound in the disease,” the news agency writes (Laurance, 8/18).
State Roundup: Opposition To Calif. Health Insurance Regulation Bill
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
Study: Medical Malpractice Cases Common, Payouts Are Not
The findings of new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that only one in five malpractice lawsuits results in a payout. The authors conclude that the truth behind these numbers is complicated.
