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Obama Open To Using MedPAC To Set Medicare Payment Rates
As the administration searches for ways to pay for health care reform and restrain medical costs, President Obama suggested Wednesday that he would consider transferring the power to set Medicare reimbursement rates from Congress to the independent advisory agency known as MedPAC, MedPage Today reports. The move reflects legislation introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., last month that would move MedPAC into the executive branch as "a regulatory board similar to the Federal Reserve ... The move would transfer the power to set reimbursement rates from Congress -- and perhaps the interest groups that lobby it -- to an agency that critics say is better equipped to make nuanced medical payment decisions" (Walker 3/09).

Former President Clinton, U.N. Advisor Douste-Blazy Announce Voluntary Airline Ticket Donation
Former President Clinton has joined efforts to raise money for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria from travelers purchasing electronic airline tickets, the New York Times reports. At a press conference in Paris with United Nations special advisor Philippe Douste-Blazy, Clinton said, "If you provide a user-friendly, efficient way of giving, the contributors will use this system."The U.N. is behind the effort, which will enable travelers to voluntarily add a $2 donation for projects to fight malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS when buying an airline ticket, the Times reports. Both Clinton and Douste-Blazy are working with a newly formed group - Leading Innovative Financing for Equity, or LIFE. LIFE is comprised of eight different groups working to raising money for health aid. According to Douste-Blazy, efforts targeting small donors will begin in January 2010. He added that "the idea is that the citizens of the world are connected by the Internet and credit cards and can show their solidarity."The groups also hope to reach people renting cars, booking hotels or buying train tickets, the Times reports (Carvajal, New York Times, 5/21). Clinton said U.S. air passengers will be able to voluntarily participate in the program, adding, "There is no question that huge numbers of people will participate in this. They understand that it doesn"t cost much and that 100% will go to save lives." (AFP/Google.com, 5/20).
News of the day
Genome Sequencing Of Schistosomiasis Parasites Could Promote Drug Development
Researchers have sequenced the genomes of two parasites that cause bilharzia or schistosomiasis - a disease transmitted by water-borne snails that affects more than 200 million people worldwide - "revealing potential weaknesses that could be exploited by drug developers," Nature reports (Smith, 7/15).
Public Health

Chicago Woman Dies Of Swine Flu After Giving Birth

The new H1N1 swine flu virus claimed the life of a 20-year old Chicago woman on Saturday, one day after giving birth to a baby via Cesarean section at the city"s University of Illinois Medical Center, according to local news. The Chicago Sun Times reported that a spokeswoman for the hospital said that Caitlin Huber died of "complications from the swine flu and pneumonia", after she was admitted on May 23 with flu-like symptoms. Officials said Huber"s condition deteriorated quicky and her baby, a 27-week fetus was delivered by Caesarean on Friday. The baby is being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital, reported the Chicago Tribune. Huber is reported to have had and "underlying medical condition", as did three other people, two men and a woman, who have died in Chicago as a result of the swine flu. According to the Tribune, the state health authorities said there are now 1,268 confirmed swine flu cases in Illinois. This means the state has around 8 per cent of the US total of 11,054 confirmed and probable cases reported yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 52 states, including District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have now reported confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu. Two other states have reported more cases than Illinois, Wisconsin"s total number of cases is now 1,905 and Texas is 1,405. Apart from the 4 deaths in Illinois (only three of them appear in the CDC bulletin), Arizona and New York have also reported 4, Texas has reported 3, and Missouri, Utah and Washington have each reported 1, and there are media reports of a death in Michigan that has not yet appeared on the CDC list. On a global scale, according to the latest World Health Organization figures reported in update number 43 on 3 June, 66 countries have officially reported 19,273 lab confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 117 deaths (97 of them in Mexico). While many new cases are emerging south of the equator (for instance Australia has 204 more new cases in their total of 501), the US continues to dominate the scene: of the 1,863 new cases worldwide since the last WHO update, 1,078 of them are in the US. Although the WHO update shows no more new cases of death in Mexico since the last report, AFP news agency reported yesterday that the Mexican health ministry have announced their country"s new H1N1 death toll went up by 6 to 103, and their case count went up by 200 to 5,460. Egypt has now reported a confirmed case to the WHO, making it the first country in Africa to report the virus. According to a report from the WHO regional office for Africa in mid-May, all countries in the region have now put in place revised or updated contingency and emergency preparedness and response plans for tacking A/H1N1. They have also set up emergency committees and task forces, and are enhancing surveillance to speed up early detection, lab comfirmation of cases, and rapid response. Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, AFP, WHO. Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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