Obama's 2010 Health Budget Targets Reforms
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Thursday outlined provisions of President Barack Obama's 2010 health budget that target cutting costs, improving quality of care and rooting out waste and fraud in the Medicare system.
Overall, the proposed budget includes a total of $879 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services in 2010, a $63 billion increase over the agency's 2009 budget. The budget establishes a $635 billion health care reserve fund over 10 years, funded by new revenue and savings from Medicare and Medicaid, to finance the reforms and assure health care coverage for all Americans, Sebelius said in a news release from her agency. To improve public safety, the new budget also sets aside $584 million to prepare for and combat pandemic flu and fund increases for the Food and Drug Administration to help ensure the safety of food and medicine.
"We estimate that for every $1 we spend to stop fraud in the system, we save $1.55," Sebelius said in the new release. "The President's budget lays out funding for anti-fraud efforts over five years that we estimate could save $2.7 billion by improving overall oversight and stopping fraud and abuse within the Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug programs."
Other highlights in the health care budget include $4 billion for the Indian Health Service (IHS) to expand health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives; $330 million to fund education programs to address the shortage of health care providers in underserved areas; $73 million for improving rural health care initiatives; and $354 million to help combat health care disparities of racial and ethnic minorities and low-income and disadvantaged populations.
The FDA would also receive an additional $511 million, with $259 million earmarked for food safety efforts, increasing the number of inspectors by about 20 percent, as well as helping fund domestic surveillance, laboratory capacity, and response to and control of food-borne illness.
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U.S. Raid Seizes $1.5 Million of Contaminated Food Products
More than $1.5 million worth of food products, including herbs and botanicals, stored in filthy conditions at the American Mercantile Corporation of Memphis, Tenn., were seized by U.S. marshals on Thursday at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency reported.
FDA inspectors in March had found evidence of rodent and insect infestation in the company's warehouse, but said the firm had failed to correct conditions. The products seized in the raid included items such as sarsaparilla, spearmint leaves, cornstarch, sweet orange peels powder, licorice powder, sassafras, and salt that may have been sold to and used in the dietary supplement and herbal tea industries, according to the FDA release. The seized products violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the agency said, because they were held in unsanitary conditions where they may have become contaminated with filth.
The FDA said it had received no reports of illness associated with the products.
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Dodgers' Ramirez Suspended 50 Games After Positive Drug Test
Los Angeles Dodgers' All-Star outfielder Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball officials announced Thursday. The suspension begins immediately and was expected to cost Ramirez about a third of his $25 million salary. He could return to the field on or about July 3, the New York Times reported.
Ramirez, 36, said he would not challenge the decision and in a statement released through the Major League Baseball Players Association said that he tested positive for a doctor-prescribed medication he was taking for a personal health issue and not a steroid, the Times reported. "I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me, and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation," Ramirez said in the statement. The McCourts own the Dodgers, and Joe Torre, the former skipper of the New York Yankees, now manages the Dodgers.
Ramirez becomes the third major league player suspended this year under baseball's tougher drug-testing program. The new policy calls for a 50-game suspension for a first violation, a 100-game suspension for a second offense, and a lifetime ban for a third, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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West Nile Test Produced False-Positive Results: Study
A commercially available West Nile Virus test produced a substantial number of false-positive test results and affected the number of West Nile Virus (WNV) cases reported in the United States in 2008, says a study published Thursday.
One lot of the WNV Immunoglobulin M (IgM) ELISA kit used at four laboratories resulted in positive tests from 518 patients in 42 states. Retesting of available samples showed a 72 percent false-positive rate. The majority of those false-positive results were from people without symptoms of neuroinvasive disease.
The lot of the test kit, labeled for use on serum to help aid in suspected cases of WNV neuroinvasive disease, was used starting in July 2008 and was recalled after a multistate investigation into an increased number of false-positive WNV test results.
The indicated use of commercially available test kits should be considered when requesting testing and interpreting results. Any positive results should be confirmed by a state health department or the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the authors of the report, which was published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
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Syphilis Rates in Heterosexuals Need Monitoring: Study
Public health officials in the United States need to watch for increasing rates of syphilis among heterosexuals, say the authors of a study that found sharp increases in new syphilis infections among heterosexuals in Jefferson County, Ala.
U.S. syphilis rates have been increasing since the early 2000s, and this rise has been associated primarily with men who have sex with men (MSM). Between 2002 and 2004, MSM accounted for 46.3 percent of all new syphilis cases in Jefferson County, which includes the city of Birmingham.
However, between 2005 and 2007, heterosexuals accounted for 87.7 percent of new syphilis cases in the county, while MSM accounted for only 12.3 percent, said the study published Thursday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overall, cases of syphilis in Jefferson County increased from nine in 2002 to 238 in 2006, and then declined to 167 in 2007. Between 2002 and 2007, the proportion of women with syphilis increased from 26.9 percent to 43.3 percent. The researchers noted that after 10 years of decline, syphilis cases among women in the Southern U.S. increased 69 percent between 2003 and 2007.
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Facebook Use Doesn't Harm Grades: Report
Students who use the social networking site Facebook don't have lower grades, says a new study that contradicts the preliminary findings of an Ohio State University study that made news last month.
"We found no evidence of Facebook use correlating with lower academic achievement," co-author Eszter Hargittai, an associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern University and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, said in a news release.
Hargittai and colleagues' examination of three data sets found no significant negative relationship between grade point average and normal Facebook use. The study appears in the online journal First Monday.
It is possible that excessive Facebook use can have a negative effect on academic performance, Hargittai noted.
"If somebody's spending an inordinate amount of time on Facebook at the expense of studying, his or her academic performance may suffer, just as it might from spending an excessive time on any activity," Hargittai said. "We need more research with more nuanced data to better understand how social networking site usage may relate to academic performance."
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3.5 Million U.S. Kids Under 5 Facing Hunger: Study
About 17 percent (3.5 million) of American children under age 5 are at risk of going hungry, according to a report released Thursday by the nonprofit, anti-hunger group Feeding America.
The group's analysis of 2005-2007 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Agriculture Department revealed that in 11 states, more than 20 percent of children under age 5 may go hungry, the Associated Press reported.
Louisiana had the highest rate (just under 25 percent), followed by North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho and Arkansas.
Young children who go hungry can suffer lasting physical and behavioral problems, as well as poorer development and academic achievement, the AP reported.
Agriculture Department data shows that, before the current economic crisis, 11 percent of U.S. households lacked enough food for an active, healthy life.
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New Schizophrenia Drug Approved by FDA
A new pill to treat adults with schizophrenia has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Fanapt (iloperidone), which belongs to the atypical antipsychotic class of drugs, is not approved for patients with dementia-related psychosis, United Press International reported.
The FDA ordered that Fanapt carry a boxed warning about the increased risk of death associated with off-label use of the drug to treat behavioral problems in patients with dementia-related psychosis.
Fanapt is made by Patheon Inc., in Ontario, Canada, for Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Rockville, Md., UPI reported.
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FDA OKs Avastin as Brain Cancer Tumor Treatment
It had been more than 10 years since a new treatment for glioblastoma was approved, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has now granted accelerated approval for the cancer drug Avastin for use against the aggressive brain cancer tumors, Business Week reports.
Avastin, developed by Genentech, which in March was bought by Switzerland-based Roche, is already approved as treatment for various forms of colon, breast and lung cancers, Business Week said. The FDA go-ahead was based on the drug's ability to achieve a partial or complete response in clinical trials, although Genentech said there is currently no data showing it reduces symptoms or improves survival. The company said it is planning a late stage trial of Avastin as a treatment for newly diagnosed glioblastoma.
About 10,000 people in the United States have glioblastoma -- the same type of tumor Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., has been fighting -- and the tumors often recur even after initial treatment, Genentech said in a news release, Business Week reported.
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