Latest KFF Health News Stories
Big Picture: ACO Progress Report; Grading New Laws On Job Creation
Modern Healthcare takes a look at the 32 medical groups that were named late last year to be the accountable care organization “pioneers” and how their planning is taking shape. Meanwhile, The New York Times examines how job creation has become the buzz word for lobbyists.
States Find Flexibility With Essential Benefits
Stateline offers an explanation of how the Obama administration’s approach to the health law’s essential benefits package will work. In California, a push to extend health coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions has led to more than 6,000 patients gaining insurance. Also, some new health regulations take effect. And, in Wisconsin, a decision last month by Gov. Scott Walker to halt work on a state health exchange until after the Supreme Court rules on the measure’s consitutionality has triggered industry concerns.
State Department Fact Sheets Examine Cholera, Food Security, Health Progress In Haiti
The State Department has released a series of fact sheets examining the U.S. government’s two-year progress in Haiti. One fact sheet examines government efforts to “lessen the severity of the [cholera] outbreak” in Haiti. Another fact sheet looks at the challenges of food security in Haiti, stating, “Even before the January 12, 2010 earthquake, Haiti faced significant challenges to food security.
Working In Kazakhstan To End HIV Stigma, Discrimination
In this post on USAID’s “IMPACTblog,” Erin McKee, USAID mission director for the Central Asian Republics, recounts a discussion roundtable with people “on the front lines” in the battle against HIV/AIDS in Kazakhstan. She writes, “I was honored to share a morning with people in Kazakhstan who are bold advocates for HIV-positive groups in their country, and I look forward to a renewed partnership with them in the fight to end stigma and discrimination toward people living with HIV in Central Asia” (12/27).
Top 10 Global Health Achievements Of 2011
In this Huffington Post “Impact” blog post, Karl Hofmann, president and CEO of PSI, outlines 10 “milestones for the global health community” that occurred in 2011. Among the achievements, Hofmann says governments avoided making major cuts to foreign aid budgets despite a global economic downturn; studies supported “treatment as prevention” as an HIV prevention strategy; the number of malaria cases and deaths worldwide continued to decline; research showed a promising vaccine candidate to prevent malaria among children; and more women gained access to long-acting, reversible contraceptives. Hofmann also lists advances in social franchising; maternal health; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights; pneumonia prevention and treatment; and sanitation, hygiene and access to clean water (12/29).
Foreign Aid To MICs Needs ‘More Sophisticated Approach’ Instead Of Cuts
“[T]he E.U., the Global Fund [to Fight] AIDS, TB and Malaria, and the World Bank’s International Development Association … want to save money during a fiscal crunch by cutting off aid to middle-income countries (MIC),” Andy Sumner and Amanda Glassman of the Center for Global Development write in the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog.” However, doing so “means disconnecting foreign aid from most of the world’s poor and sick,” they write, adding, “At least three factors support the development of a more sophisticated approach.”
J&J Will Not Join Medicines Patent Pool; Company’s Pharma Head Says Mechanism Could ‘Cause Disaster’
Pharmaceutical company “Johnson & Johnson has rejected calls to offer patent rights on its HIV medicines to generic drug companies through a” Medicines Patent Pool, created to promote low-cost antiretroviral drugs in low-income countries and the development of new drug combinations and formulations, the Financial Times reports. “Paul Stoffels, worldwide head of pharmaceuticals at J&J, … cautioned that the pool could trigger a ‘mixing and matching’ of medicines that would cause a rapid surge in patient resistance to innovative HIV drugs” that could “cause a huge disaster,” according to the newspaper.
Global Health Issues Allow For Reporting On Broad Spectrum Of Challenges, Journalists Say At Seminar
GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog describes a December seminar, titled “Global Health and Story Telling in the Digital Age” and sponsored by GlobalPost and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, at which “journalists discussed challenges they faced in covering global health during a time of shrinking budgets and within an industry struggling to balance hard-hitting coverage with the need to continually update websites and attract readers.” According to the blog, “Global health reporting can and should be a ‘window’ into addressing the spectrum of challenges facing the world, from political to economic and scientific, journalists said” (Kriel, 12/28).
WHO Issues Warning About Risks Of Research On Human Engineered Bird Flu
“The World Health Organization issued a stern warning on Friday to scientists who have engineered a highly pathogenic form of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, saying their work carries significant risks and must be tightly controlled,” Reuters reports (Kelland, 12/30). The agency “warned … that while such studies were important, they could have deadly consequences,” the New York Times writes (McNeil/Grady, 1/2).
PlusNews Highlights 10 Major HIV Headlines Of 2011
In a year-end recap of major HIV-related headlines, IRIN/PlusNews writes, “It’s been a roller coaster of a year in HIV and AIDS. AIDS turned 30 in 2011, and with new evidence of the effectiveness of HIV treatment as prevention, experts are increasingly talking about ‘the end of AIDS.’ At the same time, however, funding for HIV has become ever more uncertain, jeopardizing efforts to put new, life-saving science into action.”
In-Your-Face Advertisements Target Childhood Obesity
The ads have drawn strong criticism, but Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is standing by the effort.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
State Roundup: Texas Health Assistance Program Closing
A selection of stories from Maryland, New York, Texas, Florida, Kentucky, Washington and Massachusetts.
Medicaid News: Wis. To Lift Cap On Long-Term Care
News outlets also report on Medicaid developments in New York, Ohio and Colorado.
India’s Successful Polio Vaccination Campaign Could Bring First Disease-Free Year
“In India, a mass vaccination campaign involving more than a million volunteers reduced cases nationally by 94 percent between 2009 and 2010, from 741 to 42, and down to the single case last year,” the Guardian reports, adding, “If in India as a whole there are no more confirmed cases before 13 January, the country will have completed its first year without a new victim. And if polio is gone from India, the only countries where the disease is still endemic would be Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Moving Forward: The Medicare Debate In 2012
The AP reports on some of the surprising similarities that can be found behind the partisan rhetoric surrounding Medicare.
Study: In-Hospital Mortality Rates Questioned As Measure Of Quality
Research in Monday’s Annals Of Internal Medicine indicates that it may make more sense to review mortality over a set window of time, rather than the number of people who die while in the hospital.
Supreme Court Justices’ Recusal Questions Continue To Grab Headlines
While the Wall Street Journal takes a look at how the individual mandate could be viewed by specific justices, news services report on the chief justice’s view of the health care recusal issue.
CMS Delays Two Anti-Fraud Projects
Modern Healthcare reports that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has put on hold its initiative targeting fraud related to power wheelchairs and its expansion of the Recovery Audit Contractors. Georgia Health News reports on how health care fraud has taken root in Georgia.
GOP Plan To Reclaim White House Will Turn Obama’s Words Against Him
The Washington Post reports on the Republican battle plan, which will undoubtedly include his past claims about lowering the cost of insurance premiums. The Associated Press reports on how the GOP primary race has yet to “fully test” candidate Mitt Romney’s health care record. Also, The Hill reports that the Republican presidential field appears to be “moving to the right” on abortion issues.
