Latest California Healthline Stories
House Committee Requests HHS Investigation of Potential Misuse of NIH Grants
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Joe Barton (R-Texas) this week wrote HHS asking Inspector General Daniel Levinson to investigate possible “widespread disparities” among the amount of research activity estimated by NIH grant recipients and the amount of research being completed, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Unions End Dispute Related to California Home Health Workers
Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees on Monday agreed to end a long-running dispute by agreeing not to take each other’s members, including home health workers in Riverside County, the New York Times reports.
NGA Supports Bill To Extend Medicaid Coverage to Hurricane Evacuees
The National Governors Association on Wednesday endorsed the Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan measure that would expand Medicaid coverage to survivors of Hurricane Katrina, CongressDaily reports.
Senators Seek Investigation of FDA Conflict-of-Interest Policy for Advisory Committee Members
Several senators on Wednesday asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate an FDA policy that allows some scientists who have potential conflicts of interest to serve on advisory committees, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Republican Lawmakers Call for Delay in Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit To Offset Hurricane Costs
The 110-member Republican Study Committee on Wednesday released a 23-page list of proposed spending reductions to offset hurricane recovery costs that includes a proposal to delay by one year the launch of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.
FDA Sends ‘Approvable’ Letter to Inamed for Application to Market Silicone Breast Implants
FDA on Wednesday sent an “approvable” letter to medical device company Inamed that said the agency would approve an application to market silicone breast implants, provided that the company meets certain conditions, USA Today reports.
U.S. Spends $95B Annually on Medical Research, Study Finds
Total expenditures for U.S. medical research have doubled in the past 10 years to almost $95 billion annually, although “whether the money is being well spent needs much better scrutiny,” according to a study published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
Suspended CMS Chief Medical Officer Tunis Reassigned to AHRQ
Sean Tunis, a high-level CMS official whose medical license was suspended in May for falsification of documents, was reassigned to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as a senior biomedical research scientist, the AP/New York Times reports.
Studies Record Effects of Pollutants on Children’s Asthma, Chronic Diseases Among Adults
Children’s risk of being diagnosed with asthma increases the closer they live to freeways, according to a study University of Southern California researchers released on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.
CMS Launching Web Tools for Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
CMS in October will launch three new Web-based tools designed to help Medicare beneficiaries choose a prescription drug plan, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said Tuesday, CQ HealthBeat reports.