Latest KFF Health News Stories
Small Health Facilities, Solo Practices Face Health IT Challenges
News outlets report on trends in health IT and the implementation of electronic medical records.
Little-Noticed Change Could Cause Higher Costs For Out-Of-Network Care
The Wall Street Journal reports on a develop that may cause consumers to face higher bills.
Medicare Hires Northrup Grumman For Predictive Modeling Anti-Fraud Project
The defense contractor will develop rapid methods to analyze Medicare claims before they are paid. Meanwhile, CNN reports on how “phantom pharmacies” are a new trend in health care fraud.
The Complexitites Of Medicare’s Doctor Pay Dynamics
Poltico Pro reports on why overhauling Medicare’s physician pay formula presents so many challenges.
Groups Rev Up Behind Their Causes, Revisit Health Law Positions
As Tea Partiers roll through Iowa on a bus tour, single-payer advocates rally outside the annual convention of the health insurer trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans. Meanwhile, as the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates meets in Chicago, its members will revisit the organzation’s position on the individual mandate. In the background, some of the physician organization’s members blame the AMA’s declining ranks on the position it took in support of the health law.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about new trends in the health care marketplace.
Weekend political chatter swirled around health care issues.
HHS Announces Deadline For Health Law Waivers
Officials give health plans that do not meet coverage requirements until Sept. 22 to apply for controversial waivers. All plans that secure a waiver will be able to apply for extensions.
Five Food Security Priorities For The G20
Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, outlines five priorities for G20 leaders to endorse at the upcoming summit in a Guardian “Poverty Matters Blog” post.
Global Health Council Conference Panel Discusses Country Ownership
“The Global Health Initiative [GHI] will focus more heavily on countries’ own goals for development, explained Amie Batson, deputy assistant administrator for Global Health at USAID at a panel at the Global Health Council Conference on Thursday,” GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog reports.
Additional Funding Announced For PEPFAR Programs In Africa
In a post on State’s “DipNote” blog, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby describes accompanying Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on her trip to Africa.
Report Outlines Lessons From AIDS Advocates
A new report from the consulting firm HCM Strategists and the nonprofit group FasterCures “analyzes the factors that helped patient advocates drive research into and drug development for [HIV/AIDS], and tries to figure out whether there are lessons to be learned for other disease advocates,” the Wall Street Journal’s “Health Blog” writes.
Important To Fund The GAFSP Now
In a Guardian opinion piece, Lael Brainard, under-secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury, writes about the importance of funding the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) and investing in small farmers in the developing world.
Cooperation Needed To Fight NCDs, U.N. Officials Note
Speaking Thursday at an informal civil society hearing that is a precursor to the first-ever high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), top U.N. officials “stressed the need for governments, the private sector and civil society to work together and more effectively to address cancers, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases, which account for nearly two thirds of global deaths each year,” the U.N. News Centre reports (6/16).
Food Prices Projected To Rise Over Next Decade, FAO/OECD Report Says
Food prices are likely to continue to rise over the next decade, “putting the poor at an increasing risk of malnutrition and hunger,” according to a joint report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Associated Press/Washington Post reports (6/17).
HPV Vaccine Shows Success In Young Australian Women, Study Says
“A vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, triggered by the human papillomavirus (HPV), has helped reduce the number of teenage girls developing abnormalities in their cervix by as much as 50 percent in a study in Australia,” according to a report published Friday in the Lancet, Reuters reports.
Economist Examines Decade Of Changes In Vaccine Field
The Economist examines how “the past decade has seen changes in how vaccines are developed, financed and delivered
House Passes Agriculture Spending Bill
“The House on Thursday afternoon approved the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act by a 217-203 vote,” The Hill’s “Floor Action Blog” reports. A day earlier, the House “rejected several amendments from Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) to cut the Food for Peace program, the International Food for Education and Child Nutrition program, and make further cuts to [the Women, Infants and Children program],” the blog notes (Kasperowicz, 6/16).
UNICEF Calls On Governments To Improve Status Of Children On Day Of The African Child
“African governments need to provide ‘more protective environments’ to keep children safe and free from harm and exploitation,” UNICEF said in a statement marking the 2011 Day of the African Child on Thursday, the U.N. News Centre reports.
Civil Society Must Have Voice In Future Of MDGs
There are three main options on the table” about what to do after the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015, Leo Williams, chair of Beyond 2015, an international campaign that aims to “ensur[e] that the process of developing a [development] framework is participatory, inclusive and responsive to those directly affected by poverty and injustice,” writes in a post on the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog.”
