Mary K. Caffrey

A bill in New Jersey to regulate sober living homes points up a quandary of trying to bring resources to those struggling with addiction: too few rules can put people with mental health issues at risk. But too many could put facilities out of business, leaving even fewer places for addicts, who may have few resources, to seek care.

The call for all women age 30 and older to have genetic testing for the mutations that cause breast and ovarian cancer raises a host of ethical and practical concerns, to say nothing of the cost, which could run in the billions of dollars in the United States, according to a physician for a major insurer who has implemented a genetic counseling policy.

US school children and especially teens are eating too much salt, and they're doing so with the staples of the American diet — things like pizza, bread, snacks, chicken nuggets, and cheeseburgers. Children ages 6-18 consumed 42 percent more sodium on average than needed, with teens consuming nearly 60 percent more than recommended levels, according to a 2009-2010 survey released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After vowing earlier this year to find a way to expand Medicaid to 400,000 Virginians, Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe conceded yesterday he'd been cornered by Republicans in the Legislature determined to thwart his plans. McAuliffe yesterday unveiled a modest plan to extend Medicaid to 20,000 residents with severe mental illnesses and 5,000 children of state workers.

Writers in the recent issue of JAMA Dermatology call on the healthcare system to change the way the nation screens for melanoma, citing the $291 million annual cost of treating the disease and the $2.85 billion costs in lost productivity, which they say could be trimmed if cases were caught earlier.

Growing up in a smoke-free home is now the overwhelming norm for most Americans, with the share of smoke-free homes nearly doubling in the 20 years that ended in 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today in a new study. Overall, the prevalence of smoke-free home rules increased from 43 percent during 1992—1993 to 83 percent during 2010—2011, according to the study, which appears in today's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, published by CDC.

Yesterday's government report that healthcare spending will start rising faster after a decade of historically slow growth raises questions: Will rising numbers of insured people drive the spending? Or are healthcare costs going up on their own? The answer is likely some of each, based on a look at trends within yesterday's report and a just-released study of spending by commercial health plans, published in The American Journal of Managed Care.

Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana is facing fresh criticism for refusing to expand Medicaid, after his administration scrambled to keep the doors open at an emergency room in the state capital. Yesterday, Democratic state legislators gathered across the street from Baton Rouge General Mid City hospital, which nearly closed its emergency room last week before the Jindal Administration came through with a state-federal cash infusion that totaled $18 million to cover uncompensated care.

Two recent policy announcements, one from Medicare and another from the US Preventive Services Task Force, signal a shift toward understanding that America's battle with obesity and diabetes is not only a medical but also a behavioral health problem, and must be treated as such.

Yesterday's announcement that Pennsylvania will become the 27th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act was closely watched in both healthcare and political circles, for it shows further accommodation to both local health needs and political considerations. Will Pennsylvania's deal with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services be the last, coming after Arkansas and Iowa? Or is it a sign that Medicaid, which has always combined federal mandates with some local flavor, will continue to shift with the political winds in the states?

This week's news that Aetna would be repaid $8.4 million after uncovering a questionable relationship between three clinics and a hospital has its roots in a well-known managed care reality: If you're treated in a hospital setting, it costs more.

The race will feature a Republican turned Democrat against a one-time supporter of Medicaid expansion who now isn't so sure. But this much is certain: in Florida's race for governor, health care will take center stage, as former Gov. Charlie Crist tries to unseat incumbent Gov. Rick Scott.

If anyone thought Myriad Genetics' legal battles were over when it lost at the US Supreme Court in 2013, that person would be wrong. In many ways, the ruling in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, which found that a naturally occurring DNA sequence cannot be patented, was just the beginning for the Salt Lake City-based testing company.

While all states have Medicaid, not all Medicaid programs have the same benefits. A study published today in Cancer, the journal of the American Cancer Society, examined how differences in reimbursement for office visits and for screenings themselves play out in the percentages of patients who are screened for common cancers.

In the twilight of his term of office, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is savoring the political fruits from a leap of faith made 15 months ago, when he spurned his Legislature and opted to expand Medicaid, citing a unique provision in Kentucky regulations. A year after the CMS visit, Beshear and his team are the subject of glowing reports, which describe how a commonwealth with a history of getting things wrong in healthcare has done just about everything right in Obamacare.

Leading political outlets report today that shifts in public opinion on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or at least its components, have led US Senate campaigns to adjust ads accordingly, most notably in Arkansas. However, the changes in tone toward the ACA, often called "Obamacare," may not change the outcome of the 2014 mid-term elections, according to published reports.

A century ago, employee health and well-being was of such little concern to most US employers that it took the passage of workers' compensation laws for most to care, because suddenly it affected the bottom line.

Reports that information on 4.5 million patients from 26 states had been hacked from more than 200 hospitals stunned consumers and the health care community yesterday, even though experts in health information technology have warned of this possibility for some time. News of the hacking incident within Community Health Systems comes as the top US official charged with overseeing the nation's health information technology (HIT) is trying to educate patients about what to expect about the use of their healthcare information.

This year has brought growing awareness about needs in mental health, including the need to learn more about the genetic underpinnings of the disease. Today, investigators supported by the National Institutes of Health announced a major step forward toward that goal. Reporting in the journal Nature, the group said it had shown how a rate mutation in a suspicious gene sets off a chain reaction in other genes, disrupting the synapses, which function like a switch between neural connections.

ADA 74th Scientific Sessions

ADA 74th Scientific Sessions

ADA 74th Scientific Sessions

ADA 74th Scientific Sessions

ADA 74th Scientific Sessions