“The hard-fought health reforms slowly taking shape across the country are intended to help provide better access to care — but they could mean financial trouble for so-called ‘safety-net’ hospitals that take care of the poor,” The Fresno Bee reports. “Already, hospital officials say millions in payments have been cut this year for Medicare patients in California, and they expect billions of dollars in cuts over the next 10 years for Medicare and Medi-Cal, as government tightens spending to help cover more people.

Relationships hold the key to giving terminally ill patients the spiritual care they need. However, researchers have pinpointed a mismatch between patients’ expectations and understanding when it comes to spirituality, and what medical and family caregivers offer. New recommendations to improve this situation appear today, in the journal Palliative Medicine, published by SAGE.

A novel therapy designed to attack tumors in patients with a genetic mutation in either BRCA1 or BRCA2, slowed tumor growth in 85 percent of advanced breast cancer patients treated in a small study, researchers report in the July 6 issue of The Lancet.

The Health Council of Canada applauds the British Columbia Ministry of Health Services and the B.C. Medical Association on their June 24, 2010 announcement of $137 million toward integrated primary and community care that will connect every resident with a family doctor by 2015, starting with the province’s most vulnerable citizens – high needs patients, frail seniors and patients with chronic diseases.

Physicians who prescribe erectile dysfunction drugs for their male patients should be sure to discuss the importance of safer sex practices, even with older patients: that is an important implication of a report in the July 6 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The analysis of insurance records of more than 1.4 million U.S. men over 40 found that those who used ED drugs were more likely to have sexually transmitted diseases than were non-users.

Previous studies have shown that antiviral treatment reduces the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic hepatitis B. But now, researchers from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Thomas Jefferson University are reporting that the antiviral therapy also prevents recurrence of HCC and extends patients’ lives.

Researchers from the University of Grenoble Medical School in France determined that cardio-respiratory aerobic exercise is safe for patients with stable rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Cell>Point announced today that it has submitted to the Food and Drug Administration an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a Phase 1b/2 trial of its 99mTc-EC-G diagnostic in assessing patients with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD).

Biologics-na-ve Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis patients may have an increased risk of cancer compared with the general Swedish population, according to research presented today at EULAR 2010, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy. Results of an additional study, which researched a small cohort of patients showed an increased frequency of cancer in those receiving the biologic etanercept, however, results were deemed not statistically significant by researchers.

The West Australian government has withdrawn funds allotted for wigs for cancer patients at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Cancer patients typically lose their hair during therapy. The measure was undertaken to cut costs and has been severely criticized by the opposition.