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Posts from Health Reform Watch have been cited by media sources throughout the country, including The New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Kaiser Health News, The Health Care Blog, NPR's Planet Money Blog, Duke Univ. Med. Center News, American Health Line Alerts, BusinessWeek.com, Concurring Opinions, Balkinization, The New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Las Vegas Sun, Maggie Mahar, Ezra Klein, Tom Geoghegan, and the official homepage of the Office of the Democratic Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer.
Kaiser- The Commonwealth Fund
- Employers and the Exchanges Under the Small Business Health Options Program: Examining the Potential and the PitfallsA set of Commonwealth Fund–supported Health Affairs articles examines the potential of the Affordable Care Act's Small Business Health Care Options Program to provide affordable options for small employers who now face high premiums and administrative costs when they insure their employees.
- Making the SHOP Exchanges WorkMany small employers—which make up the vast majority of American businesses—struggle to afford and manage health insurance for their employees. Timothy Jost discusses how the SHOP exchanges will make it easier for small employers to offer affordable plans.
- New Study: Small Businesses Could Buy Health Insurance for Nearly 10 Million Workers Through the Affordable Care Act's Small Business Health Insurance Exchanges
- Health Insurance Exchanges of Past and Present Offer Examples of Features That Could Attract Small-Business CustomersThis Commonwealth Fund–supported article in Health Affairs recommends ways the exchanges can reach out to small-business owners to meet their needs.
- How Small Business Health Exchanges Can Offer Value to Their Future Customers—And Why They MustIn this Commonwealth Fund–supported article, Jon Kingsdale argues that the reason many small firms do not currently offer health insurance to employees is not lack of availability—as there is a thriving commercial market for small-group coverage—but because of cost.
- Employers and the Exchanges Under the Small Business Health Options Program: Examining the Potential and the Pitfalls
- RWJF Health Reform News
- Decaying Statistics Prompt a Renewed Dental-Health Push by Colorado and Private OfficialsAs he lies back and chats with dentist Zach Houser about soccer, the Patriots and his next taekwondo class, 8-year-old Matthew Fellows is all that is good and getting better about teeth.
- Study: Some Physicians Not Always Honest With PatientsDoctors report that they’re not always completely honest with patients, especially when it comes to disclosing a medical mistake, or discussing a difficult prognosis, according to a new survey.
- Some Restaurant Patrons May Pick Smaller Portions When Offered ThemHaving the option to order smaller restaurant side dish portions resulted in a substantial calorie cutback among customers, a study finds.
- Trans-Fat Blood Levels Plummet After FDA Food-Labeling RegulationThe amount of trans fat in the American bloodstream fell by more than half after the Food and Drug Administration required food manufacturers to label how much of the unhealthful ingredient is in their products, according to a new study.
- High-Profile Catholic Dems Bail on Obama on ContraceptivesPresident Barack Obama’s contraceptives edict has handed Republicans an election-year gift.
- Decaying Statistics Prompt a Renewed Dental-Health Push by Colorado and Private Officials
- ACA Litigation Blog
- U.S. files brief on the Anti-Injunction Act
- States file their briefs as well
- Private respondents file their briefs in HHS v. Florida (No. 11-398)
- The next two weeks
- Severability briefs filed today
- United States files its brief on severability
- Severability briefs due today
- Seven-Sky distributed for February 17 conference
- NY Times Health Policy
- Boehner Vows to Fight Contraception RuleCongressional Republicans stepped into the battle over an Obama administration rule requiring health insurance plans at Catholic universities and charities to offer free birth control.
- Obama Addresses Ire on Health Insurance Contraception RuleFacing criticism from religious-affiliated institutions, the Obama administration promised on Tuesday to explore ways to make a new health insurance requirement more flexible.
- After Outcry, Karen Handel Resigns From KomenKaren Handel’s resignation came just days after the cancer foundation reversed its decision to cut funds to Planned Parenthood.
- Global Update: Did Malaria Kill 655,000 People in 2011 or Twice That?The numbers are being quietly fought over in e-mails among malaria specialists at the World Health Organization and the University of Washington.
- House and Senate at Impasse on MedicareLawmakers in both parties say they want to give doctors a small increase in Medicare payments, but they cannot agree on how to pay for it.
- Boehner Vows to Fight Contraception Rule
- WaPo Health
- Redskin London Fletcher’s fitness regimenLet’s say your job is to take off at a sprint, get moving about 20 mph and slam yourself full speed into a brick wall — 60 times in a single afternoon. We’d give you a helmet and lots of padding to protect yourself. Because of the toll this would take on your body, we’d make you do it only once a week. And we’d reward you handsomely. Read full art […]
- Keep your New Year’s fitness resolution without hitting the gymThis is it. This is the year you finally get in shape, shed those pounds or meet that fitness pledge you made at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31. But do you have to build the new you in a hot, stuffy gym, cheek by jiggly jowl with a dozen other sweaty resolutionaries awaiting their turn on the elliptical machine? Read full article >>
- My workplace fitness resolutionI’m not saying my co-workers are fat. In fact, a fair number of them are toothpick skinny — including, unfairly, the guy who brings in his latest cupcake creation every other day. Many of them are also super-active, always running, biking and yoga-ing in their free time. Read full article >>
- Guys: Stretch now or pay laterListen up, ladies, because it’s confession time, and as you may know, this is not my gender’s forte. So let’s get this over with: Although we are bigger, stronger and faster than you are, we must acknowledge that when it comes to flexibility, most of us are pretty much outclassed. We aren’t built like you, and we don’ t bend like you do. Read full […]
- Ways to get kids to eat quinoaWhen people ask me to list my favorite healthy foods, quinoa always tops the list. And not just because the National Restaurant Association named it the hottest trend in side dishes in 2010. My boys think I like quinoa because when it was first discovered it was named “the mother grain.” Yes, I am proud to be a mother myself, but check out all the real […]
- Redskin London Fletcher’s fitness regimen
- Fierce Healthcare
- One father's heartbreak inspired a $250M quest for a cureEvery new drug ever approved involved years of workby dedicated teams of investigators. In the case of the newcystic fibrosisdrug Kalydeco from Vertex ($VRTX), the story also includes Boston businessman Joe O'Donnell, who helped raise much of the money the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation used to back the development of the treatment. The Boston Globe toda […]
- Altheos grabs $12.5M more, launches glaucoma trial Drug developer Altheos has expanded its Series A round by an additional $12.5 million, just in time for the launch of a Phase IIa dosing trial for its glaucoma treatment. The South San Francisco startup can now herald the fact that its "A" round raised a not-insignificant $32.5 million. Existing investors Bay City Capital, Novo A/S, Canaan Partners […]
- Takeda opens new drug development center in ChinaJapan's Takeda is adding a new drug development center in Shanghai intended to complement the international clinical work now under way in Singapore and Cambridge, MA. Both of the existing operations, including the cancer drug developer Millennium in Cambridge, work with contract research organizations to advance new treatments through the clinic. Now t […]
- Cytomedix snaps up stem cell biotech Aldagen for a bargain priceJust 10 months after abandoning its second effort to go public, Aldagen is selling out to a small regenerative medicine company for just $16 million in shares and the chance to earn another chunk of stock based on the clinical success of its stem cell therapies. The news isn't likely to spur much joy among its investors. Durham, NC-based Aldagen reporte […]
- Celgene pays $15M for front-row seat on Acetylon myeloma programSince its launch back in 2009, Boston-based Acetylon Pharmaceuticals has fueled its work on a next-gen HDAC inhibitor with $40 million drawn from wealthy individual backers as well as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation. But with its lead program in a classic Phase Ia dose-escalation safety study, Celgene has stepped in with a $15 million strategic investme […]
- GSK's Slaoui opts for more flexible approach in DPU change-upNow that GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK)has hit the three-year mark on its closely watched experiment with Drug Performance Units, R&DChairman Moncef Slaoui (pictured)tells FierceBiotech the pharma giant has adopted a more flexible approach to reviewing their progress. Those DPUs--which will now include a special unit focused on traditional Chinese medicine- […]
- Astex hammered after regulators diss Dacogen applicationShares of Astex Pharmaceuticals ($ASTX) got hammered yesterday after regulators turned a skeptical eye on Eisai's request for an expanded use of Dacogen, a leukemia-related drug the biotech licensed to Eisai. Ahead of tomorrow's scheduled FDA panel review for the treatment, the agency released its comment that Dacogen "failed to demonstrate be […]
- Novartis vaccine Bexsero combats meningitis Novartis ($NVS) is reporting its vaccine Bexsero stimulated an immune response against three strains of the meningococcus B bacterium. An approval would open the door to jabs that would combat the full slate of serogroups that are the primary cause of meningococcal disease around the world. The CDC's Amanda Cohn and Nancy Messonnier called it a "ma […]
- Gedeon Richter, Forest tout promising results from antipsychotic Ph3Investigators are reporting promising preliminary top-line results from a late-stage study of an experimental antipsychotic being studied by Hungary's Gedeon Richter and Forest Laboratories ($FRX). Shares of Gedeon Richter climbed a bit on the news. Bipolar patients suffering from acute mania reported progress as early as5 days after beginning treatmen […]
- Illumina urges investors to shun $5.7B Roche bidIllumina's board of directors has taken the next expected step in the traditional dance of a company angling for a better offer from a hostile suitor. The board rejected Roche's $5.7 billion bid, urging its investors not to tender their shares. And Roche played its part, expressing its disappointment that the gene sequencing company "refuses t […]
- One father's heartbreak inspired a $250M quest for a cure
- Boston Globe Health Blog
- MIT professor wins prestigious chemistry prizeBy Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff Robert Langer, a biomedical engineer at MIT best known for his contributions in the fields of tissue engineering and drug delivery, has been named the winner of the 2012 Priestley Medal, a prestigious prize...
- Daily check up: New York Times points to Mass. public opinion on health care mandate as a modelIn an editorial today, the Times says support for the national mandate could follow the recent trend in Mass. and grow
- Brigham and Women's performs face transplant on woman mauled by chimpJonathan Wiggs / Globe Staff Photo Steve Nash, brother of Charla Nash, who received a full face transplant at Brigham and Women's Hospital late last month, appeared at a press conference today with his wife, Kate. Charla Nash did not...
- Poll: Public supports mandatory physical educationIn a survey of 501 Mass. residents, 87 percent said the state should require 30 min. of physical activity each school day
- Immigrant health care back in courtImmigrant advocates had hoped for a quick decision, but the state plans to file a motion that would delay the process
- MIT professor wins prestigious chemistry prize
- LA Times Health Blog
- Health Affairs Blog
- Small Business Health Insurance Exchanges: Potential And PitfallsThe Affordable Care Act’s state health insurance exchanges for small businesses present a host of opportunities for states now creating them, but they also present design and regulatory challenges that could make or break the success of the program, according to a cluster of articles in the February issue of Health Affairs, released yesterday. The [...]
- New Health Affairs: Some Physicians Not Always Honest With PatientsDespite wide institutional acceptance of a medical professionalism charter that endorses openness and honesty in physicians’ interactions with patients, not all doctors comply, according to a survey whose results are published in the February 2012 issue of Health Affairs, released today. Although about two-thirds of doctors responding to the survey did agr […]
- The ACA Supreme Court Litigation: The States’ Medicaid And Minimum Coverage BriefsBriefs continue to be filed at a furious pace in the Affordable Care Act Supreme Court litigation. On January 6, the federal government led off with its brief challenging the decision of the Eleventh Circuit federal court of appeals that the ACA’s minimum coverage requirement (individual mandate) is unconstitutional. The states and the National Federat […]
- Two Health Affairs Articles Among RWJF’s 2011 Top FiveA belated tip of the hat to two Health Affairs articles included in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s five most influential research articles by RWJF grantees in 2011: Evidence Links Increases In Public Health Spending To Declines In Preventable Deaths, by Glenn Mays and Sharla Smith; and Nurses’ Widespread Job Dissatisfaction, Burnout, And Fr […]
- What Is “Sustainable” Health Spending?As we embark upon a presidential campaign season, we can anticipate many lively debates on the topics of taxation and spending in this nation. As health spending in the Unites States accounts for 18 percent of our gross domestic product – a rate often called unsustainable – it is critical that we be clear-eyed in [...]
- Small Business Health Insurance Exchanges: Potential And Pitfalls
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