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Next stop for health law appeal includes two GOP-appointed judges

The next appeals court to hear challenges to the law will be the 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati on June 1. The judges have a much different ideological make-up than the Richmond trio: While Circuit Judge Boyce Martin, Jr. was appointed by Jimmy Carter, Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton is a George W. Bush appointee and District Judge James Graham was appointed by Ronald Reagan.

13 May 2011

First Edition: May 12, 2011

Today's headlines include reports about the upcoming speech by GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, during which he is expected to confront what many say is his main vulnerability: his home state's health reform.

12 May 2011

Appeals Court judges appear skeptical of health law arguments, pepper lawyers with frequent questions

The first federal appeals court hearing related to the health overhaul offered a preview of how the Obama administration will likely approach the case before the Supreme Court, which is expected to be its final destination.

12 May 2011

Next stop for health law appeal includes two GOP-appointed judges

As news outlets were chewing over Tuesday's hearing on the health law, the next appeal panel, with two Republican-nominated judges, was announced.

12 May 2011

First Edition: May 11, 2011

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Hilary Abramson writes: "Now comes the hard part. California, which has had a long, sometimes-tortured history of trying to overhaul its health care markets, beat every other state last year when it passed a law creating a health insurance exchange - an online marketplace where millions of uninsured residents will be able to get insurance".

11 May 2011

Research provides insight into brain reorganization following sensory loss

The part of the brain that uses hearing to determine sound location is reorganized in deaf animals to locate visual targets, according to a new study by a team of researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

11 May 2011

Reducing hearing aid cost does not improve device purchase

Lowering the cost of hearing aids isn't enough to motivate adults with mild hearing loss to purchase a device at a younger age or before their hearing worsens, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital.

11 May 2011

Intensive exercise can help improve facial nerve damage

A research study conducted at Washington State University Spokane offers hope to those suffering from facial nerve damage. According to the study, which was published online this week in the journal Developmental Neurohabilitation, muscle weakness resulting from facial nerve damage incurred during childhood can improve with intensive facial exercise, years after injury.

11 May 2011

Scientists unravel how genetic defects can help predict risk of sudden cardiac death

Sudden cardiac death is always a shocking, tragic event, especially when it occurs at a young age. But, for the first time, scientists are unraveling how genetic defects can help predict the risk of dying suddenly in individuals with one of the leading causes of this unfortunate phenomenon.

11 May 2011

Unscrupulous GP loses case to renew license

An accused Doctor who had sex with five vulnerable patients and thought his actions were allowed has lost a bid to return to medical practice by finally losing his appeal to regain his license.

11 May 2011

Opinions: Democracy needed in epidemic outbreaks; U.S. food aid; development partnerships in Africa

After mentioning the riots that broke out in Haiti after the start of the cholera epidemic last year, Richard Evans, a professor of history and president of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge, writes in a Guardian opinion piece that "popular disturbances during epidemics are nothing new." He goes on to provide several other examples.

10 May 2011

Acousticon receives FDA clearance for ACAM-5 hearing loss product

TCG today announced that Acousticon Inc., one of its portfolio companies, recently received FDA clearance for its ACAM-5 product, allowing the company to begin US commercialization activities for the first time.

9 May 2011

State roundup: Concerns about state employee retirement boom

Plummeting stock portfolios and home values prompted many Baby Boomers to keep working long after retirement age. ... "What was once a planned exit is no longer a planned exit," says Daniel Hackler, Indiana's state personnel director.

9 May 2011

Calif. health exchange effort slows; Sebelius: Health law is state friendly

"We want to be the lead car," California Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley told POLITICO in January, shortly after the state became the first in the nation to pass legislation allowing it to set up a health exchange. But four months later, it's hard not to question whether California's lead is slipping. Gov. Jerry Brown is more focused on filling a $25 billion hole in California's budget than setting up the health reform's new programs (Kliff, 5/9).

9 May 2011

Appeals Court set to hear arguments Tuesday in health law challenge

Arguments in the two cases, which are the first two challenges to the Obama administration's health overhaul to advance from the federal to appellate level, mark the beginning in what some say is a race to the Supreme Court.

9 May 2011

First Edition: May 9, 2011

"It sounds like a new Apple product, but IPAB is actually a controversial board at the heart of a highly charged battle over Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly and disabled".

9 May 2011

CMS outlines two different ways to revise Medicare payment system for skilled nursing care

In conjunction with a hearing today before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce in which Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified about the "Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services," the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care underscored the importance of provider - Department collaboration in recalibrating the recently implemented Medicare payment system for skilled nursing facility care.

9 May 2011

Administration's top lawyer to argue for health law at appeals court hearing

The government's top lawyer will handle the first appeals court arguments on the constitutionality of the healthcare reform law - a sign of how seriously the administration takes lower court proceedings in a case with huge ramifications not only for the healthcare system, but for the 2012 election.

9 May 2011

IPAB claims a friend within the GOP

During a break in a Thursday House subcommittee hearing on elements of the health law, Mark McClellan offered positive views of IPAB. Also during the hearing, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius commented on how the reform law assists entitlement reform and gave her views on the measure's pre-existing condition program.

7 May 2011

Appellate hearing for two health law challenges scheduled for Tuesday

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit will consider two cases testing the sweeping law that requires people to buy health insurance by 2014 or face a tax penalty.

7 May 2011