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JHPIEGO's Dr. Harshad Sanghvi Receives International Health Award - Global Health Council Present Award For Best Practices In Global Health On May 28
Jhpiego, an international non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, is pleased to announce that Dr. Harshad Sanghvi, Vice President and Medical Director of Jhpiego, has been awarded the 2009 Award for Best Practices in Global Health from the Global Health Council.

Editorial Calls Supreme Court's Pregnancy Leave Decision 'Not Just'
"The Supreme Court keeps finding ways to deny women equal pay and benefits," a New York Times editorial states in response to the court"s 7-2 ruling on Monday that employers are not required to award women credit toward pension benefits for pregnancy leave taken before Congress passed the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. According to the Times, the ruling reflects reasoning similar to the court"s 2007 decision in which it denied former Goodyear employee Lilly Ledbetter"s "claim for equal pay because it thought she waited too long to file it." In Monday"s decision, the majority "reasoned mainly that the pregnancy leaves predated the 1978 law, and since the law was not retroactive, the discrepancy in benefits was the product of "past completed events that were entirely lawful at the time they occurred,"" the editorial states. It notes that the majority included "two generally reliable votes for equality, Justices John Paul Stevens and David Souter." The editorial continues, "This may sound logical, but it is not just." The editorial says that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in writing the dissent, "quite correctly" recognized a company"s "ongoing denial of equal benefits not as past discriminatory behavior that started and ended decades ago, but as a current violation of the act." In a similar way, "Goodyear discriminated against Lilly Ledbetter by maintaining her unequal pay for years, not merely the first time the company underpaid her." The Times calls on Congress to "write corrective legislation" on pregnancy leave (New York Times, 5/21).
News of the day
Mean New MicroRNA Data Analysis Method Gives Sharper Results
Our understanding of the importance of microRNAs in regulating gene expression is expanding, and with it our requirement for robust methods to measure their expression levels. Now a new method published in BioMed Central"s open access journal Genome Biology helps researchers to better understand the delicate interplay between differences in microRNA expression levels and their target genes.
Diagnostics

Transition To Electronic Health Records Is Now Complete At Randolph Medical Center - Alabama Department Of Public Health

A successfully completed electronic health record pilot project at Randolph Medical Center in Roanoke proves that even a small rural hospital can convert to electronic health records. The 18-month project was funded by a grant through the Health Res and Services Administration and managed by the Office of Primary Care and Rural Health Development of the Alabama Department of Public Health. State Health Officer Dr. Donald Williamson stated at the conclusion of the project in East Alabama, "Many Alabama communities face geographic and other barriers to access care. The positive results of this pilot help better position Alabama hospitals to take advantage of millions of dollars provided by the federal stimulus incentives." The federal government promotes electronic medical records to reduce medical errors and improve the quality of care. The economic stimulus package provides an economic incentive to hospitals to develop electronic health records. The sooner hospitals convert to the electronic record the better, because penalties will be imposed for Medicare and Medicaid providers who do not comply by 2015. Randolph Medical Center started implementing an electronic health record in the fall of 2007 to: - Improve automation of all medical and administrative departments - Upgrade a network link to East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika to obtain patient Information - Establish a reporting/trending system - Create a system to follow up with patients at risk for cardiovascular disease Tim Harlin, chief executive officer for Randolph Medical Center, said, "Small rural hospitals may have more of a challenge in meeting the federal stimulus mandates due to their small size and lack of capital for technology improvements. Our valuable experience in completing this process can only help other hospitals implement electronic health records." Randolph Medical Center, which has 25 licensed beds, is one of three hospitals in Alabama to be designated a Critical Access Hospital under the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. The Critical Access Hospital program requires that these hospitals limit their number of beds to receive enhanced reimbursement for their Medicare patients. Alabama Department of Public Health


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