Latest KFF Health News Stories
NIH Grants $70M Over Five Years To Help Search For HIV Cure
NIH announced on Monday it will provide $70 million over five years to three collaborations searching for an HIV/AIDS cure, making it “the largest single investment yet … into finding a way to rid the virus from the body or at least reduce levels to the point that infected people can stop taking anti-HIV drugs
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the new HHS rule on health exchanges and how its nod to state flexibility may help states move forward.
Officials Say The Exchange Rule Includes Flexibility For States
Stakeholders will have 75 days to comment, and the final regulations will be released later this year. Read KHN’s summary of today’s news coverage for more details and insights regarding the rule.
Type-3 Poliovirus Case In Pakistan Raises Concerns Disease May Spread, WHO Says
Pakistan has reported the first case of the type-3 wild poliovirus in six months, raising concerns that the disease may spread to other parts of Asia and beyond, the WHO said on Thursday, Bloomberg/San Francisco Chronicle reports. “Confirmation of continuation of WPV3 transmission in tribal areas of Pakistan has significant implications for the global effort to eradicate WPV3, particularly as Asia is on the verge of eliminating circulation of this strain,” the WHO said on its website.
Governors Oppose Medicaid Cuts In Debt-Ceiling Efforts
One approach being discussed would lower federal payments to states for Medicaid and the CHIP program – which an analysis says would lead to even more budget burdens for already cash-strapped states.
NY Times: Medical Schools Are Adjusting Their Interest In ‘People Skills’
Traditionally, medical schools haven’t done much to train future doctors to behave well – but that is changing.
Health IT Could Give Seniors Independence
In this pair of articles, news outlets report on how technology is playing a role in health care.
News Outlets Report On Health Landscape In South Sudan
Al Jazeera reports on the public health situation in South Sudan, which gained its independence on Saturday, and profiles Juba Teaching Hospital, the new country’s largest medical center. “A lack of proper primary care facilities in South Sudan means the doctors here are often overworked: Many of the doctors at the hospital come to work seven days a week,” Al Jazeera writes. “The health ministry has plans to open a network of primary care centers
Viewpoints: N.Y. Health Exchange Stalemate; Dick Cheney’s Heart; Vaccine Debate Refuses To Die
A selection of editorials and opinions from around the country.
State Roundup: Recurring SustiNet Rumors In Conn.
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
Different Hunger Calculation Approach Could Help Use Resources More Effectively
In a New York Times opinion piece, Robert Jensen, an associate professor of public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Nolan Miller, a professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, suggest an alternate strategy for measuring hunger, called the “staple-calorie-share approach,” which “can give us a radically different view of who is hungry and who is not.”
In other health reform coverage, news outlets report on the divisive impact IPAB is having among Democrats, how health care is playing among GOP presidential hopefuls and what might happen in the legal challenge to the health law.
Drug Makers Seek To Block Deficit-Talk Demands For Discounts
Also, The Wall Street Journal reports that the pharmaceutical industry’s pipeline is showing a reinvigorated level of energy.
Opponents Ask Colo. Attorney General To Intervene On Hospital Sale
Opponents are mounting a challenge to the planned sale of Denver’s largest hospital group to a for-profit chain while hospitals in Massachusetts report difficult economic conditions and a California facility is expanding.
Slow Economic Recovery Slows Tally Of New Health Care Jobs
Despite the health industry’s slow job growth, it remains a key contributor of new employment.
Deal In Debt Talks Still Elusive As Aug. 2 Deadline Looms
Issues related to trimming entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as well as revamping the tax code, continue to be difficult to tackle.
Haiti Passed Up Cholera Vaccine Offer, Crucell CEO Says
Ronald Brus, CEO of the Dutch vaccine maker Crucell, said Haiti did not accept an offer of tens of thousands of cholera vaccine doses late last year, the Financial Times reports. Brus said Crucell offered significant donations of its Dukoral cholera vaccine, but Haitian health officials passed on the offer, according to the newspaper.
Scientists Isolate New Gonorrhea Strain Resistant To All Antibiotics
Scientists have isolated a new strain of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea that is resistant to all known antibiotic treatments in biological samples from a Japan woman, according to Magnus Unemo of the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria, Reuters reports. Unemo is set to present his findings at a conference of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research in Quebec on Monday.
U.N. FAO, WFP, Oxfam Launch Joint Appeal For Horn Of Africa Drought Aid
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and Oxfam issued a joint appeal on Friday asking the international community to provide the “political, moral and financial means” necessary to fight the severe drought affecting more than 10 million people in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Uganda, the Associated Press reports (7/8).
USAID, NSF Launch Science Research Grant Program To Support Development Goals
USAID and the National Science Foundation (NSF) on Thursday launched the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) initiative to “provide grants to developing world partners of NSF U.S. grantees,” with the goal of supporting “applied research
