Latest KFF Health News Stories
Nursing Homes Struggle To Bounce Back From Medicare Cuts
Trimming expenses is just one way nursing home companies hope to stage a comeback.
Hospitals That Readmit ‘Too Soon’ Will Face Medicare Penalty
California Watch reports that Medicare will soon start “docking” hospital payments if too many patients are readmitted within 30 days of being discharged.
Government’s Tab For ‘Big’ Health Care Programs Keeps Growing
USA Today reports on new data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that projects that Medicare and Medicaid will crack the $1 trillion cost threshold for the first time this year.
Conn. And Calif. Lower Premiums In High-Risk Pools
The sharp price reductions are for plans that serve residents who have medical conditions and have trouble qualifying for traditional insurance.
Mich. Physicians Group Seeks Standing In Kan. Abortion Case
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists is seeking to appeal a federal court ruling that temporarily blocked the Kansas law, the Kansas City Star reports. Meanwhile, the effort by abortion opponents in Massachusetts could be a complication for presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
World Must Scale Up AIDS Fight, Even As Donors Scale Back
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece that “amid all the good news” about HIV prevention recently presented at the 6th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, “one stubborn fact was hard to ignore: AIDS remains a metaphor for inequality.” With discrepancies in access to HIV treatment and prevention between developed and developing countries, “[i]t is hard not to conclude from all this that life is not valued equally across the world. This is morally wrong and unacceptable,” he writes.
Concentrated HIV Epidemics Emerging Among MSM In Middle East, North Africa, Study Shows
Concentrated HIV epidemics are emerging among men who have sex with men in the Middle East and North Africa, “and high levels of risky sexual behavior threaten to spread the AIDS virus further in the region, researchers said Tuesday” in a study published in PLoS Medicine, Reuters reports. The researchers “found evidence for concentrated HIV epidemics
Scientists Say Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella Strain May Spread Worldwide
“Scientists have identified an emerging ‘superbug’ strain of salmonella that is highly resistant to the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, or Cipro, often used for severe salmonella infections, and say they fear it may spread around the world,” according to a study published online Tuesday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Reuters reports (Kelland, 8/3).
Hundreds Of Parents In Nigerian State Refusing Polio Vaccinations For Children
Hundreds of parents “are defying threats of jail time by refusing polio vaccines for their children in a high-risk northern Nigerian state,” according to Muhammad Abdu Zango, Kano state coordinator of Journalists Against Polio, the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the impact the debt deal might have on health care providers, as well as how the agreement’s “super committee” will be charged with finding spending reductions in Medicare, Medicaid and a range of other government programs.
With Clock Ticking, Debt-Deal Moves Toward Finish
A Senate vote on the package is set for today. The deal itself has left both liberals and conservatives unhappy but clarified both parties’ priorities. For Democrats, it was protecting Medicaid and Social Security. For Republicans, preventing tax increases.
Debt Deal Triggers Nerves In Health Industry; Providers Brace For Cuts
Physicians, hospitals, nursing homes and home health care providers are all bracing for pain as the debt-ceiling agreement kicks in.
N.Y. Brothers Earn $1 Million With Medicaid-Financed Business
The New York Times details a the expensive lifestyle of two men from Brooklyn who earned nearly $1 million a year running a Medicaid-financed nonprofit organization serving the developmentally disabled. Meanwhile, in Florida, state officials submitted their plans for converting Medicaid to a managed care program.
UNICEF Faces $50M Shortfall To Aid Children In Flood-Affected Areas Of Pakistan
UNICEF last week said it “faces a shortfall of more than $50 million to meet the continuing critical needs” of children in Pakistan, one year after monsoon floods submerged nearly one-fifth of the country, the U.N. News Centre reports (7/29).
Famine Will Spread In Somalia Unless ‘Massive’ Response Mounted, U.N. Says
The famine in the Horn of Africa is getting worse, and unless there is “a massive increase in the response, the famine will spread to five or six more regions” in Somalia, Valerie Amos, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters on Monday, Reuters reports. Amos said the U.N. needs an additional $1.4 billion to help those in need and that the African Union would soon hold a funding conference, the news agency notes (Charbonneau, 8/1).
State Roundup: Fla. To Limit HMO Choices For State Workers
News outlets report on a variety of state health issues.
Reducing Commodity Costs For ARVs Could Mean Providing Treatment To Millions More People
“Reducing commodity costs [for antiretroviral drugs] by a mere five to 10 percent can represent hundreds of millions of dollars in savings for the global community. In turn these savings translate into millions of more patients who can receive access to life-saving treatment,” David de Ferranti, president of Results for Development Institute (R4D), and Kanika Bahl, managing director at R4D, write in a Huffington Post opinion piece. They discuss a strategic plan for increasing access to and lowering the cost of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) that R4D developed for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Neglected Tropical Diseases Becoming More Common In Europe, Study Shows
“Worm infestations, food parasites, Chagas disease, sand fly-transmitted infections and other neglected tropical diseases usually found in Africa and Asia are turning up more often in Europe, according to a new study” published recently in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases by researchers from the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the New York Times reports.
