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This week's studies come from Health Affairs, the National Institute for Health Care Reform, the Center for Studying Health System Change, The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report about how a federal rule change might have unintended consequences for dialysis patients and details of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's veto of legislation to set up a state health exchange.
The Senate is not expected to approve the measure, which is designed to counter the automatic cuts mandated by last summer's debt-ceiling deal.
House Republicans want to stave off $55 billion in automatic cuts to the Pentagon budget by paring back key provisions of the health law and cutting Medicaid and other safety net programs, restarting an emotional debate about the nation's spending priorities.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has offered this amendment to the appropriations bill that provides funding to the Department of Justice and other agencies. It's part of the GOP's ongoing effort to target the health law. Also, during a House hearing, Republicans questioned spending levels at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Many governors find themselves in an awkward spot since opposing the health care law is GOP orthodoxy. In the meantime, Iowa lawmakers approved a bill requiring licensure of advisers who help people navigate health insurance options.
States deal with Medicaid issues, including illegal transportation of poor children to Medicaid services in Texas and a lawsuit challenging bidding rules in Missouri. In Connecticut, lawmakers have raised the bar for low-income adults to qualify for the program.
On Tuesday, "the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases [NTDs], in partnership with the Embassy of South Africa, hosted a panel called 'Integrated Approaches to Health and Development through NTD Control,'" according to the network's "End the Neglect" blog. "The Global Network's managing director, Dr. Neeraj Mistry, moderated the panel and hopes the discussion will improve awareness of and support for solutions to NTDs, diseases that have often been 'hidden in the shadows,'" the blog writes, noting panelists included Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute; Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at Kaiser Family Foundation; and Ok Pannenborg, former chief health adviser for the World Bank Group (Garlow, 5/9).
Ahead of Mother's Day on May 13, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe writes in this post in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog, "Together we can go from 390,000 children becoming infected with HIV each year to zero," and he highlights "three simple things we can all do to ensure babies everywhere can be born free from HIV."
For solutions to help end avoidable child deaths, "government and development sector leaders should heed the lessons of a massive-yet-innovative program" in Bangladesh, called SHOUHARDO, a Bangla word for "friendship," "that is not only helping children ... reach their fifth birthdays but also ensuring they grow healthier, and in many cases, taller," Faheem Khan of CARE Bangladesh, who heads the SHOUHARDO program, writes in this Christian Science Monitor opinion piece. The first phase of the program, which is run by CARE, USAID, and the government of Bangladesh, was implemented from 2004 to 2010 and "represented the largest non-emergency USAID food security program in the world," Khan writes.
GOP legislators have backed down from some of the anti-abortion and anti-contraception coverage measures they wanted.
"The Nepalese government has launched an ambitious plan to curb the spread of malaria in high-risk parts of the country, where some 3,000 people were infected last year," IRIN reports. Through the program, which began on May 1 and "is the first nationwide push to end malaria," the "health ministry will distribute [anti-malarial] drugs at their local offices, and through their representatives in rural areas," IRIN writes. The news service notes, "Nepal is still considered one of the most malaria-prone countries in Asia, even though the ministry is using a 1994 study, which showed that 20 million of the country's 30 million people were at risk."
Kansas City's KCUR 89.3 FM reports on the 2012 International Food Aid & Development Conference, where experts gathered this week to discuss food aid programs. The news service writes, "The challenge for governments, aid agencies and recipient countries is to create a collaborative food aid system that accommodates both the needs of the U.S. agriculture industry and growing food insecurity among a mushrooming population," and quotes a number of experts who spoke at the event.
Politico examines the relationship between industry-group PhRMA and congressional Republicans in the post-health-reform-debate landscape. Meanwhile, in the Senate, some lawmakers are investigating the relationship between drug manufacturers and the medical groups as well as the physicians who advocate using certain narcotic painkillers.
The billing and collection company has denied allegations by the Minnesota attorney general that it used overly agressive tactics on patients.
Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., and Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., introduced the latest bill Wednesday aimed at reforming how Medicare pays health care providers and preventing a scheduled, Jan. 1, 2013 cut to physician reimbursement rates. The bipartisan measure would replace Medicare's current pay formula.
"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, [on Wednesday] announced over 100 new grants of $100,000 each to support innovative global health and development proposals that have the potential to unlock transformative, life-saving solutions in the developing world," a foundation press release reports. "Additionally, the Gates Foundation announced additional funding of up to $1 million each for six existing Grand Challenges Explorations projects to enable grantees to continue to advance their ideas towards global impact," the press release adds (5/9).
HHS says the increase, required by the health law, would raise primary care doctors' payments for treating Medicaid patients, on average, 34 percent.
The Iowa plan had been held up by funding concerns. In other news on mental health issues, North Carolina is also weighing major changes in its system.
News organizations report on state health care policy issues in Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and Oregon.
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