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Reid: Repeal "damaging" antitrust exemptions for insurers

Leading Senate Democrats moved today to repeal a law protecting insurers from antitrust taboos in the wake of an industry-sponsored report that condemned a key reform proposal, the New York Times reports. Testifying before the Judiciary Committee as a witness, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, "Providing an exemption for insurance companies to antitrust laws has been anticompetitive and damaging to the American economy."

15 Oct 2009

Interest groups campaign against proposed health taxes

"Insurance companies, unions, medical device makers and others in the health care industry are furiously lobbying lawmakers to shift burdens onto someone else — anyone else — before they find themselves saddled with billions of dollars in taxes under new health care legislation," The Associated Press reports.

15 Oct 2009

Institute of Medicine elects two new members from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Michael Kastan, M.D., Ph.D., and Mary Relling, Pharm.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, have been elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a prestigious branch of the National Academy of Sciences.

15 Oct 2009

New food reports highlight growing global hunger

Reforms are required to curb global hunger, which was already "growing" before the worldwide financial downturn, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a report, released in Rome, ahead of World Food Day on Friday, the BBC reports (10/14).

15 Oct 2009

House bill would extend parents' coverage for young adults

In a new development in the House health bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has agreed to insert language allowing young adults to stay on their parents' insurance plan through the age of 26.

15 Oct 2009

News outlets examine efforts to control TB in South Africa

Agence France-Presse examines the ongoing fight to control the spread of tuberculosis in South Africa. "The World Health Organisation estimates almost one percent or 461,000 South Africans develop TB annually, with government figures showing that the disease was the country's leading natural cause of death in 2006," the news service writes.

15 Oct 2009

Also in Global Health News: 'Delivering as one'; syringe vending machine; hospital preparedness

Rwanda will host a three-day U.N. meeting next week to discuss ways to improve the U.N.'s ability to "provide development assistance in a more coordinated way," the New Times/allAfrica.com reports. "Rwanda is one of the 8 pilot countries implementing the U.N. 'Delivering as One' initiative, as part of the body's reform process," the publication writes. Participants in the meeting will share their experiences and lessons learned from the program since its implementation in 2007 (Gathoni, 10/14).

15 Oct 2009

UCLA to establish a new Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center

The UCLA School of Public Health has received a major grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish a center that will facilitate research to strengthen the ability of federal, state and local public health agencies to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural and human-induced disasters, including terrorism.

15 Oct 2009

IMF policies harm Kenyan health system, report says

According to a report released Tuesday, policies set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have restricted government spending on health services, "denying sick Kenyans access to drugs and quality healthcare," Business Daily reports.

15 Oct 2009

Veterans Affairs establishes service-connection benefits for Vietnam Veterans

Relying on an independent study by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki decided to establish a service-connection for Vietnam Veterans with three specific illnesses based on the latest evidence of an association with the herbicides referred to as Agent Orange.

15 Oct 2009

Dramatic effects on Norway's health service

If we continue to use our hospitals in the same way as we do now, the health service in 2030 will need to employ every second young person in the country and increase hospital bed capacity by 5000.

15 Oct 2009

HealthPartners to establish new clinic in Minnesota

HealthPartners today announced that it will open a new 5,000 square foot clinic at 7500 80th Street south in Cottage Grove, Minn. in early 2010.

15 Oct 2009

New York Times examines HIV stigma in Vietnam

The New York Times examines the story of Vietnamese orphans from the Mai Hoa AIDS Center who were turned away from a local primary school because they are HIV-positive. Though the principal at the primary school agreed to accept the children, the parents of the other students at the school refused to allow their children in classes with the orphans, leading the principal to turn the students away.

15 Oct 2009

Analysis: Support for health reform drops if people think it'll cost them more

"Democrats in Washington are navigating treacherous electoral terrain as they craft healthcare reform legislation, judging by new polls that show Americans pulled by conflicting desires on healthcare," according to the CSM.

15 Oct 2009

APN and Cardinal Health sign agreement to help improve practice operations

Aesyntix Physician Network (APN), a leading national group purchasing organization (GPO) for dermatologists and plastic surgeons, today announced it has signed an agreement with Cardinal Health to provide APN members with products and services designed specifically for dermatologists and plastic surgeons.

15 Oct 2009

After key vote, Senate still has long way to go on health care reform

The Associated Press breaks down the different health care reform packages in Congress and takes a look at where the bills — five in all — stand after the Senate Finance Committee voted Tuesday to send their bill out of committee.

15 Oct 2009

Status report on the health care reform proposals in Congress

14 Oct 2009

ACS to develop and maintain the Kentucky Health Information Exchange

Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., today announced that it has been awarded a contract that will help improve the quality of healthcare in Kentucky by providing physicians with a more complete picture of a patient’s medical history.

14 Oct 2009

Solutions to break up BUCA monopoly on health insurance market

What Congress is doing about the healthcare dilemma that's currently facing them is flat-out wrong, according to Samuel H. Fleet, President of AmWINS Group Benefits.

14 Oct 2009

American College of Physician Executives offers new course for physicians to improve patient safety

When systems fail in the health care world, the results can be deadly. So creating the most reliable, safest system possible is always a priority. Now the American College of Physician Executives is offering a new course aimed directly at improving patient safety by helping physicians apply best practices from highly reliable organizations.

14 Oct 2009