health - "report"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Bush administration plan to support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost U.S. taxpayers $25 billion, congressional analysts said on Tuesday in a report that fueled debate as Congress took steps to approve a housing market rescue package.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A review of health problems reported after women and girls received Merck & Co's Gardasil vaccine shows it remains safe and effective for protecting against a virus that causes cervical cancer, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

The 'Cover Florida' plan, which offers 'bare-bones' health insurance to low-income residents, likely will not reduce the number of uninsured, according to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Orlando Sentinel reports.read more

The Foraker Group, an organization that supports not-for-profit organizations in Alaska, on Thursday announced that it will offer health insurance to employees of private, not-for-profit organizations in the state, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The coverage will be offered through Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska and will be funded with $2 million from the Rasmuson Foundation. The program will not use state money.read more

Results from a clinical trial show that patients with treatment-resistant depression who underwent deep brain stimulation (DBS) report significant improvements as early as one month after treatment. The patients also experienced continued and sustained improvement over time. The data are reported in the online issue of Biological Psychiatry by scientists from the University of [...]

A new report suggests mild memory impairment may be associated with central auditory processing dysfunction, or difficulty hearing in complex situations with competing noise, such as hearing a single conversation amid several other conversations. The study is found in the July issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.“Central [...]

Programs that provide access to no-cost antiretroviral drugs have had a significant impact on people living with HIV/AIDS, but they also should take into account the effects of poverty and hunger, according to a report recently released by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, PlusNews reports. According to CAFOD, the 'long-term sustainability' of people living with HIV/AIDS who need treatment is 'threatened by the continuing lack of food and economic independence.'read more

A CMS proposal under consideration would limit a practice used by pharmacy benefit managers known as 'lock-in pricing' that can increase costs for beneficiaries enrolled in the Medicare drug benefit and bring them into the so-called 'doughnut hole' coverage gap more quickly, the Wall Street Journal reports. The doughnut hole begins when total annual drug spending by beneficiaries and their health insurers reaches $2,510. When in the doughnut hole, a beneficiary is responsible for 100% of prescription drug costs until total spending reaches $5,726 for the year.read more

The Southern U.S. is not receiving enough federal funding to provide adequate HIV prevention, treatment and support programs, according to a report scheduled to be released on Monday by the Southern AIDS Coalition, the Birmingham News reports.

By studying medication orders that are withdrawn ('discontinued') by physicians within 45 minutes of their origination, researchers at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated a systematic and efficient method of identifying prescribing errors. The method, they say, has value to screen for medication errors and as a teaching tool for physicians and physicians-in-training. The report is published in the July/August 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.read more