AllHealthcare

BETHESDA, Md. – Calling scientific research a job-creating engine, President Barack Obama heralded $5 billion in new government grants Wednesday to fight cancer, autism and heart disease while boosting the economy. Obama described the money as crucial to improving public health and helping add jobs to an economy that has seen unemployment surge. Visiting the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes ...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama alternately wooed and defied critics of his mammoth health care plan Wednesday in a speech to Congress and the nation timed to help him regain momentum lost during a month of growing public anxiety. Saying he wanted to succeed where presidents since Theodore Roosevelt have failed, Obama told a joint session of Congress and millions watching on ...

HHS Deputy Secretary Bill Corr today announced the release of $13.4 million for loan repayments to nurses who agree to practice in facilities with critical shortages and for schools of nursing to provide loans to students who will become nurse faculty. The funds were made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed Feb. 17, 2009, by President Obama. ...

Former Senator Thom Daschle pledges on Thursday to work with lawmakers of both parties in a grass roots, ideology-free campaign to revamp the nation's struggling health care system...

WASHINGTON – In an unusually blunt letter, a group of federal scientists is complaining to the Obama transition team of widespread managerial misconduct in a division of the Food and Drug Administration. "The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the scientific review process for medical devices at the FDA has been corrupted and distorted by current FDA managers, ...

Some medical researchers say they're let down U.S. President Barack Obama hasn't reversed Bush administration limits on human embryonic stem cell study. Proponents expected Obama to lift Bush's 2001 restriction in his first week in office, when he issued executive orders to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, make government less secretive and fund international family planning groups that support ...

WASHINGTON - Patients suffering from obsessive, distressing thoughts have a new treatment option: a pacemaker-like device that relieves anxiety with electrical jolts to the brain. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Medtronic's Reclaim Deep Brain Stimulator device as the first implant to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder, which causes uncontrollable worries, such as fear of germs or dirt. Patients suffering from ...

ADELPHI, Md. - Government experts say the maximum dose listed for Tylenol and dozens of other painkillers should be reduced to help curb deadly overdoses. In a series of votes Tuesday, a Food and Drug Administration panel endorsed lowering the maximum dose of over-the-counter acetaminophen - the key ingredient in Tylenol, Excedrin and other medications. But panelists rejected a proposal to ...

WASHINGTON — Congress stripped nearly $900 million to combat an influenza pandemic from the economic-stimulus package earlier this year as part of last-minute negotiations to gain GOP support for the plan. Now, with the spread of a potentially deadly strain of the swine flu, public-health advocates and liberal bloggers are sharply criticizing the move. Key Democratic lawmakers, including Iowa Sen. Tom ...

WASHINGTON – Health officials warned doctors and patients Thursday about potentially deadly risks of using the anti-wrinkle drug Botox and similar drugs for unapproved uses to treat certain types of muscle spasms. The Food and Drug Administration said Botox and two other injections carry risks of rare botulism symptoms, particularly when given to children to help relax uncontrollable muscle movements. While ...

WASHINGTON — CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta won't be the next surgeon general, the Obama administration confirmed Thursday. Gupta, 39, a neurosurgeon with star appeal, was seen as President Barack Obama's first pick for the job. He would have brought instant recognition to the office of surgeon general, a post that has lacked visibility since the days of C. Everett ...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order on Monday reversing restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The long-expected move is likely to stir up not only the promise of scientific breakthrough but also the controversy over where government crosses a moral line. Obama will hold an event at the White House to announce ...

WASHINGTON - The House has passed a far-reaching food safety bill requiring more government inspections and imposing new penalties on those who violate the law, reacting strongly to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts that killed at least nine people. The legislation would require greater oversight of food manufacturers and give the Food and Drug Administration new authority to order recalls. ...

WASHINGTON — The economic crisis is jeopardizing the nation's ability to handle public-health emergencies and possible bioterrorist attacks, according to government leaders and a new report. Federal and state governments are cutting programs that help communities respond to disease outbreaks, natural disasters and bioterrorism incidents, and that "could lead to a disaster for the nation's disaster preparedness," a report released Tuesday ...

WASHINGTON – Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle will pull double duty in the Obama administration, where he will serve not only as the Health and Human Services secretary but also oversee a new White House Office of Health Reform. A Democratic official familiar with the plans — to be announced Thursday in Chicago — said the additional appointment makes it ...

WASHINGTON – The House overwhelmingly approved a bill extending health coverage to 4 million uninsured children, giving President Barack Obama a much-needed win on health care and taking a first step toward his promise of universal coverage. The Democratic-controlled House passed the bill 290-135 on Wednesday, with 40 Republicans backing it. Obama plans to sign it into law later in the ...

NEW YORK – Researchers tracking Sept. 11 responders who became ill after working at the World Trade Center site found many had lung problems years later in a study the authors said proves persistent illness in people exposed to toxic dust caused by the twin towers' collapse. The study by the Mount Sinai Medical Center's medical monitoring program examined more than ...

The federal government could save $540 billion in health care costs over the next 10 years if existing, proven programs and techniques that have improved health care quality and slowed the growth of medical spending are applied more broadly, according to a report from UnitedHealth Group's new Center for Health Reform and Modernization. The issue of cost containment is at center ...

Faced with reports of overcrowded hospitals and providers who say their budgets can't stretch to accommodate everyone who needs help, some state lawmakers say West Virginia's mental health care system has reached a crisis stage. A Senate bill using that word to describe the system was introduced this week, aimed at creating new legislative oversight of mental health care and at ...

WASHINGTON — The federal government would for the first time have regulatory powers over the tobacco industry under a bill the House approved Thursday after years of campaigning by anti-smoking forces. The measure, passed 298-112, gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate - but not ban - cigarettes and other tobacco products. The Senate could take up its version ...