August, 2012 | The Pump Handle

Drug Safety Medical marijuana progress under Obama not what advocates had hoped; recent crackdown puts patients in the middle

August 17, 2012 The Pump Handle 2Comment

For years, Peter Rosenfeld was looking for an effective way to treat what doctors had diagnosed as severe and intractable migraines. He’d heard of medical marijuana, but thought it was a joke — that it was just a way for people to justify their marijuana use. Today, he’s a passionate advocate for medicinal marijuana and one of many advocates disappointed at recent federal actions.

Environmental Health Legislation signed on Camp Lejeune survivors and Massachusetts temp workers

August 16, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH

Two bills we’ve written about recently are now law: President Obama signed the “Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012,” and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed the “Temporary Workers Right to Know Act.”

US Healthcare System New Health Wonk Review is up

August 16, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH

The latest Health Wonk Review features posts on healthcare quality, the Affordable Care Act, Paul Ryan, and other healthcare issues.

Injury Control & Violence Worker falls 70+ feet to his death at ConAgra mill, another at a Pepisco plant, manlifts involved in both cases

August 15, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 13Comment

Three multi-national corporations. Three workers dead from manlift incidents. Preventing more deaths from manlifts requires comprehensive fatality investigations.

Environmental Health On the departure of Obama’s regulatory czar and cost-benefit analysis

August 14, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH

President Obama offered high praise to his regulatory czar on the day Mr. Cass Sunstein announced his resignation. It’s disappointing neither are bold enough to address the grave limits of cost-benefit analysis.

US Healthcare System What Paul Ryan’s budget says about his priorities

August 13, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH 8Comment

Unlike Mitt Romney, who has often declined to provide specifics about policies he’d pursue as president, Paul Ryan has been very clear about what he thinks the government should do.

US Healthcare System Rethinking who does what in healthcare: Examples from New Mexico and Zambia

August 10, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH

In order to meet the healthcare needs of populations at the local, national, and global levels, we’re going to need to think carefully about which providers can do which kinds of tasks. Pieces in Washington Post and New York Times blogs this week highlight projects that reconsider what kinds of providers patients need to see to get care for particular conditions.

Affordable Care Act Where will new Medicaid beneficiaries get healthcare?

August 9, 2012 Liz Borkowski, MPH 1Comment

A new study finds that in states that pay lower Medicaid fees, fewer physicians are accepting new Medicaid patients.

Child Labor Congress and White House decided to turn their back, but child labor on U.S. farms hasn’t disappeared

August 8, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 3Comment

The NBC News affiliate in California’s Bay Area released last week a multi-part investigative series entitled “Children in the field: American kids pick your food.” Congress and the White House embrace the fiction of family farms, but children working on farms tell a different story.

Cancer Dense breasts are not just an interesting attribute, wish I’d known the cancer risk

August 7, 2012 Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH 19Comment

Here’s an important public health fact: women with dense breast tissue are at least four times more likely to develop breast cancer. I wish I’d known about that risk factor before learning last month that I have Stage IIIB breast cancer.