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NYT editorial criticizes proposed Medicaid reimbursement rules

Rules proposed by the Bush administration that would reduce Medicaid reimbursements to public hospitals and nursing homes could "have a huge potential impact on an extremely frail population" in states that have enacted laws to "take full advantage" of current rules, a New York Times editorial states (New York Times, 9/10).

11 Sep 2006

Why H5N1 bird flu is so lethal

Researchers in Vietnam have discovered why the H5N1 bird flu virus currently at large is so lethal to humans.

11 Sep 2006

'Plenty of time' to pass final health care IT Bill, Rep. Deal says

House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health Chair Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) on Thursday said Congress has "plenty of time" prior to midterm elections to pass legislation that would promote the implementation of health care information technology, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 9/7).

11 Sep 2006

N.Y. Gubernatorial candidates discuss health care plans

New York governor candidates last week discussed their plans for health care.

11 Sep 2006

FDA fines Red Cross for failing to meet blood safety laws

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that the American Red Cross (ARC) is being fined $4.2 million for failure to comply with requirements under Federal laws and FDA regulations relating to the collection of blood products.

11 Sep 2006

NHS staff need basic knowledge about the social and physical ill effects of alcohol misuse

Large amounts of money and resources would be saved if all frontline NHS staff had basic knowledge about the social and physical ill effects of alcohol misuse, say doctors in this week's British Medical Journal.

7 Sep 2006

Ageism is endemic in health services

In England, decades of health service underfunding have provided an environment in which ageism has flourished, writes Professor John Young in an editorial.

7 Sep 2006

New radiotherapy/chemotherapy strategy improves outcomes for children with medulloblastoma

Radiotherapy that is adapted for the severity of disease and followed by a shortened course of chemotherapy substantially improves the outcome of children with a type of brain tumour called medulloblastoma, claim investigators in an Online/Article in The Lancet Oncology.

7 Sep 2006

Mexico's health system reforms working

Julio Frenk, Minister of Health of Mexico, outlines the results of the country's 6-year project of health system reform in a Public Health article in this week's issue of The Lancet.

7 Sep 2006

Czech Government has not fully answered charges of forced sterilizations of Romany women

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women this week is expected to finalize and release a draft report that says the Czech Republic government has not completely answered allegations that more than 80 Roma, or Gypsy, women from 1986 through 2004 were sterilized in the country without informed consent.

7 Sep 2006

NIH launches "Knockout Mouse Project"

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded a set of cooperative agreements, totaling up to $52 million over five years, to launch the Knockout Mouse Project.

7 Sep 2006

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital learning from 9/11

With the nation's busiest burn center and the metropolitan area's largest hospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) fleet, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital rescued and treated many survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center.

7 Sep 2006

Elective Caesarean births put babies at three times the risk of dying

Researchers in the U.S. say that babies born by Caesarean section rather than normal birth, are three times more likely to die.

7 Sep 2006

Hospitals, local governments have more work to do to prepare for disasters

Hospitals and local governments since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have been working to improve disaster preparedness and better equip their facilities to handle large surges of patients, though for "all the progress in improving readiness, experts warn that there is still a long way to go," the Wall Street Journal reports.

6 Sep 2006

Long hours cause of medical errors among residents

More than 80% of first-year medical residents work more hours than allowed by national accreditation rules, according to two studies published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Washington Post reports (Washington Post, 9/6).

6 Sep 2006

Mental health care in New Orleans remains the biggest hole in the safety net

Mental health care in New Orleans "remains the biggest hole in a safety net that was decimated" by Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

6 Sep 2006

Massachusetts Connector sets rates for low-income health plans

The Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector on Friday voted 9-1 to approve health insurance rates for low-income residents under the state's new health insurance law, the Boston Globe reports (Kowalcyzk, Boston Globe, 9/1).

6 Sep 2006

UIC receives $20 million NCI grant to research blood disorders

A $19.6 million National Cancer Institute grant has been awarded to the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine to advance basic and clinical research for incurable blood disorders.

6 Sep 2006

Tenecteplase study halted

World Congress of Cardiology 2006 - Thrombolytic Therapy, given during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in out-ofhospital cardiac arrests, may be no better than placebo.

6 Sep 2006

Ultrasound targets angioplasty

World Congress of Cardiology 2006 - A simple technique - combining cardiac ultrasound with a heart muscle-stimulating drug - can identify the MI patients who would benefit most from angioplasty after thrombolysis, reports a study in Hot Line session II.

6 Sep 2006