Latest KFF Health News Stories
As Federal Court Action Looms, Sebelius Says Plan B ‘Not About Politics’
A federal judge in Brooklyn will hear arguments Tuesday afternoon on the constitutionality of the federal decision regarding the access teenage girls should have to morning-after contraceptive pills. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the decision about Plan B’s over-the-counter status was not a political one.
Donors Must Continue Funding R&D To Bring New Global Health Technologies To Patients
In this post in the Hill’s “Congress Blog,” Kaitlin Christenson, the coalition director of the Global Health Technologies Coalition; Jim Connolly, president and CEO of Aeras; and Mel Spigelman, president and CEO of the TB Alliance, respond to a recently released G-FINDER report that shows “overall global investment in the research and development (R&D) of [new global health technologies] has declined for the first time since 2007, when the tracking of such funding began,” writing, “This decline is especially troubling given that there are more than 100 products in [the Product Development Partnerships’ (PDPs)] pipelines.”
Nighttime Satellite Images Could Provide Clues To Disease Outbreaks, Researchers Suggest
“The intensity of light shining from cities at night could help identify hot spots where outbreaks of infectious disease are likely to take place,” PBS NewsHour’s “The Rundown” reports, adding, “A team of researchers tracked satellite images of three cities in Niger and found that fluctuations in nighttime brightness were strongly correlated to measles incidence, according to results published in this week’s Science.” According to the blog, “The same tracking of nighttime light could be used for other diseases as well, the team wrote, and could help public health officials plan for emerging epidemics and predict outbreaks.”
Kansas Finds Prison Clinics Help Control Costs
The Kansas Health Institute News offers a compilation of stories about caring for the health needs of state prisoners.
HHS Grants Texas Managed Care Waiver, Denies Family Planning Request
The Perry adminstration had asked the federal government for two waivers and was granted one.
Study: High Cancer Screening Rates Seen Among Elderly Adults
Medscape reports on new results published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Medtronic Agrees To $23.5 Million Settlement In Kickback Case
The settlement resolves allegations that the company paid kickbacks to doctors who participated in post-market studies and device registries.
Lobbying Reports Highlight Focus On Health Care Rules, Calorie-Count Laws
The Associated Press reports on third-quarter lobbying expenses for McDonald’s and Starbucks.
Calif. Revamping Mental Health Services
As the state shifts emphasis to the most serious patients in hospitals and prisons, other groups raise concerns.
State Roundup: FBI Questions Prime Healthcare Billers In Calif.
News outlets report on a variety of health policy issues around the country.
Health Policy Issues Draw Headlines For Romney And Gingrich
News outlets fact check the policy question behind GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s $10,000 bet. Meanwhile, other stories focus on Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s support for the Medicare Part D drug program.
Viewpoints: The High Cost Of Treating Patients Who May Die; Young Girls And Plan B
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
TV Cameras And The Supreme Court: Health Law Adds Pressure To The Mix
USA Today reports on how the court’s upcoming consideration of challenges to the health law have triggered stepped-up interest in televising the high court’s proceedings.
Berwick Places Blame For Health System’s Ills On Delivery System
The now-former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is speaking out about what he might do next and what is wrong with the health care system.
Medicaid Prompt-Pay Bill Introduced; Grassley Asks CMS About Hedge Funds
Modern Healthcare reports that Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., have introduced legislation to require Medicaid to pay its bills promptly. Also in the news, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday that he believes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may have given special treatment to information requests from hedge funds and political intelligence brokers.
Central African Republic In State Of ‘Chronic Medical Emergency,’ MSF Report Says
“The Central African Republic (CAR) is in the grips of a chronic medical emergency, according to a report released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF),” an MSF press release states. “Four mortality studies carried out by MSF over the past 18 months reveal crude mortality rates in some regions of CAR at three times the emergency threshold of one death per 10,000 people per day, which, according to the World Health Organization, is considered a humanitarian crisis,” the press release adds (12/13).
People In Swaziland Protesting Shortages Of ARVs Amid Government Financial Crisis
In Swaziland, where a “deepening financial crisis is taking a toll on service delivery, and the country is experiencing an unprecedented number of protests over issues such as school closures and a lack of HIV treatment,” “[a] new wave of HIV activism is rising … as people living with HIV take to the streets in protest, many for the first time in their lives, over continued shortages of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment,” PlusNews reports.
Unexplained Kidney Disease Affecting Rural Workers Across Central America, PRI’s ‘The World’ Reports
PRI’s “The World” reports on an epidemic of an unexplained kidney disease that is affecting rural workers across Central America, writing, “[I]t’s the second biggest cause of death among men in El Salvador, and in Nicaragua it’s a bigger killer of men than HIV and diabetes combined,” and “the latest theory is that the victims are literally working themselves to death.” According to the news service, “El Salvador’s health minister recently called on the international community for help,” stating that “the epidemic is ‘wasting away our populations.'”
Early Warning Systems Helping Aid Agencies Respond To Potential ‘Food Crisis’ In Sahel Region
Africa’s Sahel region is facing a potential “food crisis,” “[b]ut the good news is that the world’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) is giving West African countries and donor nations a period of time to prepare, says the aid group Oxfam,” the Christian Science Monitor reports. “Early reports suggest that as many as six million people in Niger and 2.9 million people in Mali live in vulnerable areas, where low rainfall, falling groundwater levels, poor harvests, lack of pastureland, rising food prices, and a drop in remittances from family members living abroad are starting to take their toll,” according to the newspaper.
