Latest KFF Health News Stories
More Young People In Nursing Homes; Home Health Care Agencies Face Medicare Rate Cuts
Nursing homes: Media outlets report on challenges faced both by nursing facilities and home health agencies.
Presidential Commission Pushes Feds To ‘Facilitate’ More Health IT
A report by a presidential advisory panel urges the federal government to be more aggressive in facilitating the adoption of universal standards for sharing electronic health information and maintaining patient privacy.
Insurers Develop New Products, Brace For Overhaul’s Impact
News outlets report on how insurers and brokers are devising strategies in response to the new health law.
New Jersey Judge Dismisses Another Health Reform Legal Challenge
A New Jersey federal district court judge issued the latest dismissal in the ongoing legal challenges to health reform. Still, all eyes continue to watch for a ruling from a Virginia court sometime this month.
A roundup of state news, especially focusing on Medicaid shortfalls.
First Edition: December 9, 2010
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that the Senate approved a one-year Medicare payment fix for physicians.
More than 2,000 people have died of cholera in Haiti since late October, Haitian officials said on Monday, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports (12/6). According to Haitian health ministry figured, a total of “2,013 people have died from the water-borne bacterial infection and 88,789 cases have been recorded,” Agence France-Presse writes (12/6).
Media Examines Efforts To Protect Patients In Africa From Counterfeit Medications
HP and the African social enterprise mPedigree on Monday announced a new service that will enable patients in Ghana and Nigeria to verify the authenticity of their medications, Fast Company reports. “Counterfeit drugs are estimated to be a $75-billion-per-year business, [and are] implicated in the deaths of something like 700,000 people around the world annually,” according to the article (Zax, 12/6).
Senators Announce Deal To ‘Fix’ Medicare Doctor Payments – For Now
Senate leaders agreed to stave off deep cuts to physicians’ Medicare payments for one year by repurposing money set aside for the health law.
Report Examines African Government Funding For Child Development
“Tanzania, Mozambique and Niger spend the most on child wellbeing in Africa
Food safety legislation will also be taken up by the House this week.
NIH To Create New Translational Science Center
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins on Tuesday announced the agency is moving forward on plans to create a new research center focused on translational science, after NIH’s advisory board voted to create the new center, Science’s “Science Insider” reports (Kaiser, 12/7).
“The World Health Organization endorsed a new, rapid test for tuberculosis Wednesday that cuts the diagnosis time for patients from months to hours,” CNN reports (Gray, 12/8).
Annual Survey Ranks States On Health, Health Care
America’s Health Rankings, an annual survey produced by the American Public Health Association, Partnership for Prevention and the American Public Health Association grades states on quality of health and health care.
“India and the European Union (EU) have agreed that the comprehensive bilateral trade agreement being negotiated by the two will not result in an intellectual property regime that restricts the ability of Indian pharmaceutical firms to export generic or off-patent drugs by being far more stringent than the TRIPS [Trade-Related Aspects of International Property Rights] regime of the World Trade Organization,” LiveMint.com reports in an article that describes recent debates over the agreement. “The two sides agreed to this at a meeting between Indian trade minister Anand Sharma and his counterpart in the European Commission (EC), Karel De Gucht, at Brussels on 29 November, said a senior commerce ministry official on condition of anonymity,” the news service reports.
Opinions and editorials from around the country.
Texas Leaders Cut Spending For Medicaid, Wyo. Begins To Set Up State Exchange
States address a range of health policy issues.
WSJ Investigation: A Sharp Rise In Specific Prostate Therapy Parallels High Medicare Payments
Medicare payments for IMRT, used to treat patients with prostate cancer, can reach $40,000 per person.
Aetna To Acquire Health Information Exchange Firm For $500 Million
Aetna, one of the largest U.S. insurers, is expanding its health information technology presence with its $500 million acquisition of technology firm Medicity.
