After spending time with pitching legend Nolan Ryan, local Kasey Kiker decided to shape up
ARLINGTON, Texas –
An annual rite of the offseason in the Texas Rangers organization is something called the Winter Development Camp.
But don’t let the fancy name take away from what the weeklong workouts truly are: a mini-camp. More specifically, it’s a mini-camp for pitchers ranging from guys expected to be on the big-league roster to Read the rest of this entry »

At the close of a hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson promised a ruling later this week, and left little doubt about its contents: an order requiring state prison officials to turn over $250 million to a court-appointed overseer to begin construction in February on the first of eight planned new medical facilities for about 10,000 prisoners.
Henderson removed the $1.1 billion prison medical system from state control more Read the rest of this entry »

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island is proposing an unprecedented overhaul of its Medicaid program that Gov. Don Carcieri says will save this cash-starved state millions of dollars — but could risk leaving the poor and elderly with fewer services should the plan not work.
Instead of having the federal government reimburse Rhode Island more than 50 cents for every dollar the state spends to care for the needy, disabled and elderly, Read the rest of this entry »

Obama wants to overhaul health care; can he do it?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Now for the hard part.
Even if the national credit card is maxed out and partisanship remains the rule for Washington’s political tribes, President Barack Obama and Congress are plunging ahead with a health care overhaul.
This week, Obama will start the dialogue on how to increase coverage, restrain costs and improve quality.
Whether a bill can get through Congress Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK (Associated Press) – As Congress returns from summer recess, lawmakers are expected to continue needling pharmaceutical makers and health insurers with investigations, while holding off on major health care reform until next year.
Democrats this year have launched probes of some of the country’s largest drugmakers and passed laws curbing marketing tactics used by insurers. Analysts expect those efforts to continue this fall while party Read the rest of this entry »

By Ryan J. Donmoyer
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) — House Ways and Means Committee
Chairman Charles Rangel said he will pursue tax reform only after
overhauling the health-care system and said “there’s no
question” both can be completed by the end of 2010.
“It seems as though the president wants to deal with health
care and putting our arms around that is going to be a very, very
big job,” Rangel said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s
“Political Read the rest of this entry »

Shaken by a series of alarming failures, the FDA desperately needs an infusion of strong leadership, money, technology and personnel — and perhaps a major restructuring, say former officials, members of Congress, watchdog groups and various government reports.
“Everywhere you go, you hear the same chorus: The agency’s in trouble,” said David A. Kessler, who served as FDA commissioner under Presidents
. “There’s a general perception the agency Read the rest of this entry »

For the past ten years, Steven Nissen, M.D., chair of the Cleveland Clinic’s cardiovascular medicine department, has kept a watchful eye on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Nissen, who is on the short list for heading the FDA in the Obama administration, will speak on “The FDA and Drug Safety: Buyer Beware,” on Mon., Jan. 26 (See box), at a Town Hall lecture at the Ohio Theatre at PlayhouseSquare.
The Jewish physician Read the rest of this entry »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s push to revamp the costly and inefficient U.S. healthcare system was facing delay even before Tom Daschle, who was chosen to head the initiative, withdrew his nomination as health secretary.
With the administration and Congress preoccupied with righting the foundering economy, work on Obama’s promise to make affordable care available for all Americans has been limited in Obama’s first weeks in power.
Read the rest of this entry »

Finally, reform may be coming to the Food and Drug Administration’s medical device testing system. On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office released a report requiring the FDA to take “immediate steps” to fix this system.
reported that the FDA has been promising this change for decades, but has failed time and time again to act on those promises. Congress’s Accountability Office has been criticizing the FDA, in recent years, for failing Read the rest of this entry »