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| Troubled HealthCare.gov to switch website hosting to HP Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:24 PM PST  By Margaret Chadbourn and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The agency in charge of the troubled HealthCare.gov website said on Wednesday is it switching providers of Web hosting services, the latest change for the website at the heart of President Barack Obama's health care reforms. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it is replacing data center services from Verizon Communications Inc's Terremark subsidiary, with services from Hewlett-Packard Co. Terremark's data center experienced issues in late October that caused outages across the system, prompting embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to phone Verizon's chief executive to discuss the problems. Full Story | Top |
| Britain set to review cigarette packaging: media Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:12 PM PST  (Reuters) - The UK government is set to announce a review of cigarette packaging in an effort to deter youngsters from smoking, British media reports said on Wednesday citing sources. The David Cameron government in July delayed plans to ban company branding on cigarette packets, a move that was strongly criticized by health campaigners. The Times on Wednesday reported that the British government will announce a review, the findings of which are expected to strongly back the case for plain packaging, and plain cigarette packets are expected to be on shop shelves before the 2015 election. Full Story | Top |
| Higher clot risk seen with Thoratec heart pump: study Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 03:40 PM PST Researchers have found a higher rate of dangerous blood clots in patients who received Thoratec Corp's HeartMate II heart pump than had been seen in clinical trials or prior experience, according to a study published on Wednesday. They also found that when blood clots do develop, they are occurring closer to the time of HeartMate implantation than had been previously observed. The HeartMate II is a so-called LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, that is used to keep alive heart patients who are either ineligible for or awaiting a heart transplant. The devices have been shown to significantly improve the quality of life by assisting the heart's pumping function, primarily in those with advanced heart failure. Full Story | Top |
| Opioid over-regulation can leave cancer patients in intolerable pain Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 03:07 PM PST By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - A "pandemic of over-regulation" of opioid-based painkillers such as morphine and fentanyl means billions of cancer patients around the world suffer intolerable pain, researchers said on Thursday. Describing what they said was a "scandal of global proportions", researchers from the Global Opioid Policy Initiative (GOPI) said governments that over-regulate should consider the unintended consequences of restricting access to medicines and change their approach. More than 4 billion people live in countries - many of them in emerging and developing regions - where regulations, often imposed over the risk of addiction to the drugs, leave the patients in excruciating pain, they wrote in a global analysis published in the Annals of Oncology journal. "This is a tragedy born out of good intentions," said Nathan Cherny, from Israel's Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, who led the study. Full Story | Top |
| Dying Chicago woman weds partner in first Illinois gay marriage Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:54 PM PST  By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Chicago woman who is dying of cancer wed her partner on Wednesday in the first legal gay marriage to be celebrated in Illinois, six months before the state's law recognizing gay unions takes effect. The cancer patient, Vernita Gray, 64, and Patricia Ewert, 65, were wed in a private ceremony in their Chicago home two days after they were granted an emergency marriage license in federal court, according to Lambda Legal, a legal group that advocates for gay rights. Illinois' gay marriage law, signed by Gov. Pat Quinn last week, does not take effect until June 1, 2014. Full Story | Top |
| Cardiac arrests peaked after record Japanese earthquake Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:11 PM PST By Gene Emery NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Japan's 2011 Fukushima earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded in that country, generated a killer tsunami, a nuclear power plant disaster and aftershocks of another sort - a 70 percent rise in cardiac arrests, particularly among people age 75 and older, according to a new study. Those heart-related repercussions echoed through the population for more than a month, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Tetsuhisa Kitamura of Osaka University and his colleagues focused on the three hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, where 15,814 people died, 2,664 were left missing and 448,922 ended up as refugees. Kitamura and coauthor Dr. Taku Iwami of Kyoto University Health Service said in a joint email to Reuters Health that, based on past experience, the increase was not surprising. Full Story | Top |
| Bigger bowls prompt kids to want more, waste more Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:09 PM PST By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who are given larger bowls will ask for more cereal than when they're given smaller bowls, and will more than likely overeat or waste the excess food, according to a new study. Research has show that adults serve themselves bigger portions when they're given bigger plates, by as much as 22 percent, said Brian Wansink, a professor of consumer behavior at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University. Each child was randomly selected to receive either a small eight-ounce bowl or a large 16-ounce bowl. Researchers asked the children how much cereal they wanted for a morning snack and then poured dry cereal into the bowls until the kids said to stop. Full Story | Top |
| Drug compounding, tracking bill signed into U.S. law Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:49 PM PST (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signed a bill into law on Wednesday that gives U.S. health regulators greater oversight of bulk pharmaceutical compounding and strengthens their ability to track drugs through the distribution pipeline. The Drug Quality and Security Act clarifies the authority of the Food and Drug Administration over compounded medications and creates a new class of compounding manufacturer known as an "outsourcing" facility, which will be able to sell to hospitals in bulk. The law was prompted by quality control problems that led to a deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis in 2012 traced to a tainted pharmaceutical mixed by a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy. Full Story | Top |
| Unprotected sex among U.S. gay men on the rise, study shows Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:33 PM PST By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - The proportion of men in the United States having unprotected sex with other men increased 20 percent from 2005 to 2011, according to a federal study released on Wednesday, raising new concerns over the spread of the HIV virus, which causes AIDS. Fifty-seven percent of men who have sex with other men reported having unprotected anal sex at least once in the last 12 months, up from 48 percent in 2005, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We are concerned about the increase," the study's lead author, Gabriella Paz-Bailey, told Reuters. Men having sex with other men account for 65 percent of new infections even though they represent only 2 percent of the total population, she added. Full Story | Top |
| Even if website works, Obamacare could see trouble ahead Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:22 PM PST  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration says it is on target to make its problematic health insurance website work smoothly for the "vast majority" of users by this weekend, but some Americans who want coverage by January 1 may not be able to get it - even if they successfully navigate the portal and sign up for a plan. The problem, according to insurance industry officials and other specialists, is that the administration is behind schedule in building a computer program needed to help insurers verify the names, insurance plan choices and other details of those who sign up for health coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The computer program - which administration officials acknowledge will not be finished until sometime next year - is among several crucial pieces of administrative technology the government is devising to serve new online healthcare marketplaces that allow people to purchase subsidized private health insurance or join the Medicaid program for the poor in all 50 states. Full Story | Top |
| U.S., suppliers settle over school lunch beef linked to recall Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:07 PM PST Several California companies and individuals tied to the largest beef recall in U.S. history agreed to settle charges of animal cruelty and the slaughtering of sick cattle for food, including beef supplied to the National School Lunch Program, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. The settlements end a federal fraud lawsuit begun in February 2008 by the Humane Society of the United States, which had obtained a video that appeared to show inhumane cattle treatment and improper inspections of sick cattle at a Chino, California, plant run by Westland Meat Co. and Hallmark Meat Co. Under the settlements, Westland agreed to enter a $155.68 million consent judgment, which its lawyer said is unlikely to be collected because the company is defunct, while its owner, Steve Mendell, agreed to pay $240,000. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. delays online health insurance enrollment for small businesses Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:44 PM PST  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday postponed online health insurance enrollment for small businesses under Obamacare for one year, a move quickly seized upon by critics as proof the healthcare reform law should be delayed or replaced. The announcement affecting businesses with 50 or fewer workers was the latest in a series of delays that have diminished the scope of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Administration officials said the delay stemmed from the need to focus on fixing HealthCare.gov by a Saturday deadline for having the enrollment website working smoothly for most visitors from the 36 states it serves. Full Story | Top |
| Older women still getting Pap smears despite guidelines Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:41 PM PST By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuter Health) - Women who've had a hysterectomy, and most women over 65, don't need regular swabs for signs of cervical cancer - but lots of them are getting the test anyway, say U.S. researchers. Experts recommend that young women start having internal pelvic exams, including a Papanicolaou test, or "Pap smear," to check for abnormal cells on the cervix, performed by a gynecologist at age 21. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that women ages 21 to 65 without a history of cervical problems have a Pap smear every three years. Women over 65 who have had recent regular Paps with normal results, and those who have had total hysterectomies and no longer have a cervix no longer need to have the screening test, according to the government-backed panel. Full Story | Top |
| For Republicans, Obamacare is the gift that will keep on giving Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:47 AM PST  By Caren Bohan and Gabriel Debenedetti WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In its current disarray, Obamacare is providing Republicans with a steady stream of stories that any campaign manager would consider priceless: tales of ordinary people, some dreadfully ill, with canceled health insurance thanks to President Barack Obama's healthcare law. But what if the HealthCare. ... Full Story | Top |
| Tongue controller for the paralyzed offers greater independence Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:01 AM PST  Merely by moving their tongues left or right across their mouths, essentially using it as a joystick, paralyzed patients have been able to move their motorized wheelchairs, as well as computer cursors. The advance "is more than just a wheelchair control," said Jason Disanto, 39, who has been paralyzed from the neck down since a 2009 diving accident and tested the device. "It's an independence system." The innovation is especially meaningful for the most seriously paralyzed. Tetraplegics cannot use a joystick to operate their wheelchairs, as people with less severe paralysis can, and in many cases cannot even use voice commands: their voices are often so weak that recognition systems work poorly or not at all. Full Story | Top |
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