Category: News - Part 33

For Milwaukee’s children, an early grave

Lakisha Stinson and her daughter, Rashyia, who was born last month and is healthy, live in a Milwaukee neighborhood where the rate at which African-American babies die is worse than Botswana. Read Report on JSOnline.

Going digital may not improve U.S. patient care

Electronic health records touted by the White House as a key way to improve health care in the United States may actually do little to improve quality, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Read the report from Reuters.

Health insurance rules may decide whether infertility treatment is essential

Is health insurance coverage of infertility treatments an essential benefit to help people manage a medical disorder? Or is it a life-enhancing benefit, nice to have perhaps but not essential because it doesnt sustain a persons life? Read the report from Washington Post

Traceability rule represents big adjustment for food industry

In response to a new federal food safety law and growing consumer interest, vast amounts of new data are being generated about the complicated path that food takes from field to supermarket shelf. Read Report on The Washington Post

Why a Gruesome Pennsylvania Abortion Clinic Had Not Been Inspected for 17 Years

While this weeks indictment involving a grisly abortion mill in Philadelphia has shocked many, the grand jurys nearly 300-page report also contains a surprising and little-noted revelation: In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinicsa policy that continued until just last year. Read Report from ProPublica.

$2.5 billion recovered in health care fraud cases

Federal agents recovered $2.5 billion from health care fraud judgments in the budget year that ended in September, a record-breaking amount they credit to whistle-blowers and a renewed effort from the Obama administration. Read the USA Today report.

Taking the copay out of staying healthy

There are many reasons why patients may not be getting preventive services. But the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health reform law passed this year, is attempting to remedy at least one of them: cost. Read the Los Angeles Times story.

Can Wal-Mart make us healthier?

What is the significance of Wal-Marts initiative to require producers to meet certain nutritional standards? What do we know about what works and what doesnt in changing peoples eating habits? Follow the discussion on the New York Times blog.

Wal-Mart shifts strategy to promote healthy foods

Wal-Mart, the nations largest retailer, will announce a five-year plan on Thursday to make thousands of its packaged foods lower in unhealthy salts, fats and sugars, and to drop prices on fruits and vegetables. Read the New York Times story.

Posh Aspen provides dismal health coverage

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon ASPEN The mountain man drives up the aptly named Castle Creek Canyon in a beat up 1981 rust-colored Chevy pickup. He winds past massive multimillion dollar estates owned by California wine billionaires and Texas oil barons. Hollywood stars Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith own a home nearby, and tennis great Martina Navratilova lives up the road. Wearing a gas-stained Aspen Ski Co. parka from decades ago when he worked on World Cup courses, A. Paul Disnard drives as far as he can. Then, the jeep road becomes impassable, buried in several feet of snow. The 64-year-old…