Health News E-Clips

An electronic healthcare news link service provided by UHA,

Utah Hospitals and Health Systems Association

 

 

 

Friday, May 8, 2009

 

Utah Healthcare Headlines

Law won't impact migrant health (Salt Lake Tribune, May 8, 2009) Health care providers feared SB81 would curtail vital health services to immigrants. Turns out, the reform bill passed in 2008 will have little impact.

 

Incontinence, back pain can be alleviated (Deseret News, May 8, 2009) When people with urinary incontinence or low-back pain avoid seeking treatment, either because of a busy schedule or embarrassment, they are choosing to live with conditions that can often be alleviated or cured without surgery or pills.

 

Swine flu numbers continue to rise (Salt Lake Tribune, May 8, 2009) As state health officials expected, the number of confirmed H1N1 swine flu cases jumped in Utah. As of Thursday, the number of confirmed cases soared from eight to 27 cases, 21 of which are in Summit County.

 

National Healthcare Headlines

State seeks to revamp way doctors, hospitals are paid (Boston Globe, May 7, 2009) Massachusetts soon may embark on another bold healthcare experiment, with a state commission poised to recommend this month that insurers radically change how they pay doctors and hospitals. (Registration required)

 

A drug's journey from idea to reality (Boston Globe, May 7, 2009) Years of tests, setbacks bridged a curious observation in a hamster and the approval of a diabetes treatment. (Registration required)

 

New Effort Reopens a Medical Minefield (New York Times, May 7, 2009) A back-pain researcher, Dr. Richard Deyo recalls the uproar the last time federal officials tried to suggest how doctors should practice their profession. (Registration required)

 

What Is ‘Socialized Medicine’?: A Taxonomy of Health Care Systems (New York Times Economix, May 8, 2009) With another “national conversation” about health reform upon us — as it is every decade or so — we will hear a lot of derisive talk about the evils of “socialized medicine.” (Registration required)

 

A rational talk about rationing care (Boston Globe, May 8, 2009) I was not surprised by the president's story. Healthcare reform is not just a matter of spreadsheets and patient charts. It's a repository of the personal narratives we carry around in our family hard drives. (Registration required)

 

Government Reports Criticize Health Care System (New York Times, May 7, 2009) Two annual government reports released Wednesday show that progress in improving the quality of health care and narrowing health disparities among ethnic groups remains agonizingly slow, and that patient safety may actually be declining. (Registration required)

 

US Senate Panel Roundtable Debates Govt Health-Care Option (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) Health insurers, business groups and lawmakers in a Senate hearing Tuesday debated proposals to create a public option for health insurance.

 

Budget Envisions $635 Billion for Overhaul of Health Care (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) The Obama administration wants to reserve $635 billion to finance a comprehensive overhaul of the U.S. health-care system, according to budget documents released by the White House Thursday.

 

Taxing Those With Insurance to Pay for Those Without (New York Times, May 8, 2009) It is an alluring way to pay for the ambitious plan to expand health coverage to the nearly 50 million people who are now uninsured. (Registration required)

 

G.E. Shifts Strategy in Health Business (New York Times, May 7, 2009) General Electric is shifting the strategy in its $17 billion-a-year health equipment and technology business, seeking to broaden its reach with more lower-cost products. (Registration required)

  • GE Unveils $6 Billion Health-Unit Plan (Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2009) General Electric Co. launched its "Healthymagination" initiative Thursday in hopes of building a thematic presence in health care on par with its four-year-old "Ecomagination" campaign around environmental concerns. (Registration required)
  • IHC partners with GE on Web-based medical records (Salt Lake Tribune, May 8, 2009) General Electric announced a $3 billion investment in new medical technology Thursday that includes a partnership with Utah's Intermountain Healthcare to create a top-line electronic medical-record system.

 

Obama Wants Additional $300 Million for FDA (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) President Barack Obama wants Congress to give the Food and Drug Administration an additional $300 million in its budget, which the agency called the largest funding boost in its history.

 

Chinese health care reformers aim to help rural areas but face hurdles (USA Today, May 7, 2009) Li Xiufen, whose family tills rice fields high in the terraced-carved hills of southwest China, had to borrow $730 from other villagers when she needed stomach surgery two years ago — a debt that remains unpaid.

V.A. Plans Review of Billing for Care in Sexual Assaults (New York Times, May 7, 2009) The Department of Veterans Affairs will review the billing practices of veterans health centers around the country amid concerns that some are improperly charging for care relating to sexual assault in the military, officials said Wednesday. (Registration required)

 

Tallying the Cost to Bring Baby Home (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) Bringing my newborn son home was a joy. Figuring out the hospital bill wasn't.

 

Man stable after 1st U.S. double hand transplant (USA Today, May 7, 2009) Teams of surgeons performed the nation's first double hand transplant on a man whose hands and feet were ravaged by a bacterial infection a decade ago and who hoped to once again be able to hold his daughter.

 

Mixing Plavix, Heartburn Drugs Seen as Risky (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) A cardiologists' group warned doctors to limit the use of popular heartburn pills in certain patients, citing a new study that says these pills raise the risk of heart attack by interfering with Plavix, an anticlotting medicine.

 

Glaxo Study: Cervarix Immune Response Tops Merck's Gardasil (Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2009) GlaxoSmithKline PLC's Cervarix vaccine induced a higher immune response in women against the virus that causes cervical cancer than Merck & Co.'s Gardasil, according to a Glaxo-funded clinical trial.

 

FDA: Kids at risk from testosterone gel (USA Today, May 8, 2009) A little testosterone might be good for adults, but it can cause serious harm to children, federal health officials warned Thursday.

 

Fear of Vaccines Spurs Outbreaks, Study Says (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) Parental doubts about the safety of childhood vaccinations are leading to outbreaks of largely eradicated diseases like measles and whooping cough, doctors warned in a new report.

 

H1N1 vaccine: Make now or later? (USA Today, May 7, 2009) People worldwide are still getting sick with the new H1N1 flu virus, but health officials are now looking ahead to the next big question: whether to start producing a vaccine against the new strain for this fall's flu season.

  • Vaccine Would Be Spoken For (Washington Post, May 7, 2009) Although no final decision has been made to produce a vaccine against the new strain of swine flu, officials at the World Health Organization say they are aware of "pre-production contracts" by wealthy countries that may lay claim to substantial quantities of any that is made. (Registration required)
  • New Virus, Old Tale: Animals Share Bugs With Us (Washington Post, May 7, 2009) Somewhere out there, somewhere along the way, a single creature got all this started. A pig, presumably. Pig Zero. (Registration required)
  • Asian Health Officials Discuss Flu (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) Health officials from across Asia met in Bangkok on Thursday to discuss ways to coordinate their defense against the A/H1N1 flu virus, including the possibility of establishing some kind of joint mechanism for the development and production of vaccines.
  • Decision on Flu Vaccine Looms (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) The Obama administration is weeks away from a critical decision on whether to trigger mass production of swine-flu vaccine, which could affect the bottom lines of big vaccine makers as well as public health.
  • Flu Lockdown Spurs Quarantine Debate (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) The seven-day quarantine at a hotel here has reignited a debate over the effectiveness and fairness of a technique used by disease fighters, particularly in Asia.
  • Flu Cases Rise in U.S.; Mexico Reports More Deaths (Wall Street Journal, May 7, 2009) Federal health officials said Wednesday they remain concerned about the new H1N1 influenza strain despite lifting a recommendation that schools and daycares close if they have students or staff with H1N1 flu.
  • Mexico opens for business under strict rules (USA Today, May 7, 2009) Most businesses in Mexico reopened Wednesday after being closed for five days because of the swine flu outbreak, but they faced a complex — and, to some people, utterly bewildering — set of new health restrictions, including a mandatory two empty seats between people at movie theaters.
  • Pandemic practice (Editorial, Salt Lake Tribune, May 7, 2009) Don't let down your guard. Keep washing your hands and coughing into your sleeve and keeping your distance from those who appear ill. But go ahead and exhale.
  • Mexico Raced to Build Flu Testing Laboratory (Washington Post, May 8, 2009) The staff was overwhelmed. The director was sleeping only a few hours a night. The telephones kept ringing and ringing as thousands of saliva samples from sick patients were rushed in. But the national testing laboratory was unable to identify a deadly new strain of swine flu. (Registration required)
  • Viral Threat Emerged in a Ready World (Washington Post, May 8, 2009) So, is the great swine flu scare of 2009 just a big overreaction? (Registration required)
  • Hong Kong Releases Quarantined Hotel Guests (Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2009) City officials released 286 guests and employees from a quarantined hotel Friday evening, ending an unusual and contentious seven-day lockdown aimed at stopping the spread of the A/H1N1 influenza virus.
  • The Flu Had Everyone Worried, and That Could Be a Good Thing (Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2009) For anyone who lived and worked in Asia during SARS earlier this decade, here is the lesson learned about disease outbreaks:
  • Origins of swine flu in N. America still elusive (USA Today, May 8, 2009) The newly identified H1N1 strain of influenza, or swine flu, contains two genes from pig influenzas that so far have been found only in Europe and Asia, and scientists have no idea how they got here.