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Experts discuss methods to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections

It's a statistic that almost every healthcare facility knows: 40 percent of all healthcare-acquired infections are urinary tract infections (UTI). Since catheters -- the most common source of these infections -- are used on over four million hospital patients a year, the chances of a patient getting a UTI are pretty high. In fact, the daily risk for patients acquiring a urinary infection is as high as seven percent when indwelling urethral catheters remain in their original position.

22 Oct 2009

RNAO continues to push for a recommendation to amend the Public Hospitals Act

Changes to legislation that govern regulated health professionals in Ontario open the door to improvements in patient care but stop short of the kind of change that would further reduce wait times and improve access for the public, according to the top professional nursing organization.

22 Oct 2009

Senate Democrats continue pursuit of insurers' antitrust exemption

"Top Senate Democrats intend to try to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws, according to congressional officials, the latest evidence of a deepening struggle over President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health care industry," the Associated Press/Boston Globe reports.

22 Oct 2009

House Committee votes to strip health insurance industry of federal antitrust exemption

The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday "voted to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws as senators announced plans to take the same step," The Associated Press reports. The committee voted "20 to 9 to repeal a 1940s law that exempted the health insurance industry from federal controls over certain antitrust violations including price-fixing."

22 Oct 2009

Poll: Rising concern over cost, quality of reformed health system

"Americans are increasingly worried about the cost and quality of medical care that could result from President Obama's effort to revamp health care, but a majority still trust him more than Republicans to change the system, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows," USA Today reports.

22 Oct 2009

Health reform bills maintain some type of insurance 'age rating'

Insurance company "age rating" is likely to continue under proposed health care legislation.

22 Oct 2009

Pharmaceutical company coupons to help patients buy drugs may raise insurance premiums

Drug companies use coupons to get patients to choose name-brand products -- which are often more expensive -- by subsidizing a patient's high copay. The practice hides a drug's true costs from consumers.

22 Oct 2009

Guardian examines how Uganda's drought, food shortages affect HIV-positive people

The Guardian examines how "famine and acute food shortages" in Uganda could affect people living with HIV/AIDS. "The situation is beginning to undermine efforts to fight the virus in the north and east of Uganda, the areas most affected by the drought," according to the Guardian.

22 Oct 2009

Obama's success on reform hinges on health care team of 6

"President Obama's overhaul hinges on six crucial individuals and their skill at negotiating behind closed doors," The Los Angeles Times reports.

22 Oct 2009

Insurers' stocks bruised by reform efforts despite earnings

Despite strong performance on earnings sheets, stocks for companies like UnitedHealth Group have faltered amid uncertainty about the future shape of American health care, BusinessWeek reports. The flagging stocks don't reflect "the firms' profits, sales, or anything specific to UnitedHealth or its competitors. Rather, it's the health-care reform debate coming out of Washington."

22 Oct 2009

U.S. Congress extends Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, HIV care providers applaud move

Medical providers on the front lines of HIV care applaud the U.S. Congress for extending the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, helping to ensure that more than half a million low-income, uninsured, or underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS have access to lifesaving care.

22 Oct 2009

House lawmakers laud new CBO score of $871 billion, including a public option

A government-run public insurance option is in the House Democrats' health overhaul measure which the Congressional Budget Office has "scored" at $871 billion over 10 years.

22 Oct 2009

White House offer on malpractice finds takers; Obama tells Dems to 'focus'

Since President Obama proposed using $25 million to test new ways to handle malpractice lawsuits, suitors have been lining up, the The Asssociated Press reports. One leading idea is to appoint expert panels to sort fact from fiction in malpractice claims.

22 Oct 2009

Independent panel to rein in health costs gaining support

"As Congress grapples with how to rein in the high cost of healthcare in America, the option of outsourcing hard decisions to a new, independent commission is gaining momentum," the Christian Science Monitor reports.

22 Oct 2009

FAO plans broad reforms for World Food Security committee

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Committee on World Food Security (CFS) agreed Tuesday to "wide-ranging" reforms in an effort to make the committee the most "comprehensive international and intergovernmental platform dealing with food security and nutrition," Xinhua reports (10/20). "The CFS reforms are designed to focus the Committee's vision and role on the global coordination of efforts to eliminate hunger and ensure food security for all," according to an FAO press release (10/20).

22 Oct 2009

Excise tax in Senate health care bill violates Obama's tax pledge

Americans for Tax Reform noted today that the Senate health care bill (S. 1796) indeed uses the term "excise tax" to describe the excise tax levied on Americans who do not purchase health insurance. If signed into law, the tax would break President Barack Obama's "firm pledge" not to raise "any form" of taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year.

22 Oct 2009

Harry Reid faces public option dilemma

The Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid is facing intensifying pressure from liberal lawmakers to revive a proposed government insurance plan before health-care reform legislation reaches the Senate floor, amid signs that moderate Democrats may be warming to the idea." Although the Senate Finance Committee rejected two versions of this mechanism, "the idea has gained momentum in recent weeks as Democrats look to ensure that the policies Americans would be required to buy would be affordable."

22 Oct 2009

Opinion: Fighting world hunger; U.S. leadership on global issues

In a USA Today column, writer DeWayne Wickham examines the connection between hunger and global security. "Helping poor countries feed their hungry masses is not just a grand humanitarian gesture; it is good diplomacy — a refreshing change from the jingoism and dollar diplomacy of previous administrations," he writes.

22 Oct 2009

Funding cuts continue to plague state health programs

State health agencies and Medicaid programs continue to take hits from spending cuts. A new program in Florida may be backfiring against some health workers with criminal records, while a novel health benefits program in Houston hopes to lower the number of uninsured.

22 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: Nigeria Global Fund grant; Pakistani refugees; Guinea violence

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria awarded Nigeria a $669 million Round 8 grant for health system strengthening over five years, This Day/allAfrica.com reports. "During the grant signing ceremony in Abuja yesterday, Chairman of the occasion and former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, disclosed that the [The Global Fund] had spent $15.6 billion in 140 countries worldwide especially in Africa to support large scale prevention treatment and care programmes against these diseases.

22 Oct 2009