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U.S. To Commit Additional $1B To H1N1 Vaccine Development
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday the U.S. has agreed to put an addition $1 billion towards ingredients for the production of a vaccine that offers protection against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, Reuters reports. "There"ll be another $1 billion worth of orders placed to get the bulk ingredients for an H1N1 vaccination. Congress has agreed with the president that this is the number one priority, keeping Americans safe and secure," Sebelius said (7/12).

UF Scientists Program Blood Stem Cells To Become Vision Cells
University of Florida researchers were able to program bone marrow stem cells to repair damaged retinas in mice, suggesting a potential treatment for one of the most common causes of vision loss in older people.
News of the day
This Time Around, Debate Much Different
Insurance companies, "the industry that gets credit for helping to kill the Clinton administration"s health care overhaul 15 years ago," are now "striking a conciliatory tone as it faces the most serious attempt to overhaul the system since that effort collapsed," CQ Politics reports. With low favorability ratings and Democrats in control of the federal government, "insurers know they aren"t in a good bargaining position" this time around. They have already offered concessions, including providing "insurance in the individual markets to everyone, without regard to who is sick," and not "charging people who are ill higher rates and cut health care costs." But they"ve also been ""careful to structure their offers in such a way that appears significant but does not overpromise." An individual mandate for all Americans and an end to health screening for applicants could offer "a win-win outcome, one that will benefit not just patients but potentially the profits of the industry as well." But "perhaps the biggest motivation for insurers to deal now is that they fear what might happen if they don"t" - the "creation of a government-run plan that would be more attractive to the public and siphon off customers" (Adams, 6/1).
Public Health

AMA Outlines Initiatives To White House To Help Slow Increases In Health Spending

Statement attributable to: Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D. President, American Medical Association "The American Medical Association (AMA) joined with five other organizations in the health sector today to outline initiatives to help achieve President Obama"s goal of decreasing the health-care cost growth rate by 1.5 percent, saving $2 trillion or more over the next 10 years. "The AMA is committed to action to help achieve greater value from our nation"s health-care spending. We want to help bend the spending curve and move forward on health reform. Our proposals focus on making sure people get the right care at the right time, addressing appropriateness of care, overutilization of some services and avoidable hospital readmissions. "The AMA-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI), with the efforts of more than 100 state and national medical specialty societies, continues to develop measures to improve health-care quality and value. "Efforts to reduce unnecessary utilization include the following PCPI-selected topics for development of overuse measures this year: surgical and non-surgical management of back pain, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for chronic stable coronary artery disease, induction of labor/Caesarean section, antibiotics for sinusitis and various types of diagnostic imaging. "Other specific efforts include a set of measures to improve care transitions from hospitals to other settings to avoid unnecessary hospital readmissions and a multi-pronged effort to reconcile multiple prescriptions for individual patients being treated by different physicians. This program of medication reconciliation is designed to avoid potential drug interactions and eliminate inappropriate or unnecessary prescriptions. "Defensive medicine continues to be a major factor in rising costs. We need medical liability reforms that help physicians provide the best care without needing to order additional services to guard against possible lawsuits. "All Americans can help in the effort to keep health-care costs down. The combination of large-scale national initiatives and efforts by individuals to engage in prevention and wellness efforts is key to reducing spiraling health costs, preventing chronic disease and keeping America healthy." American Medical Association


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