This podcast is a reminder to health care providers about the importance of annual flu vaccination—it’s not too late! Health care providers should get their flu vaccine and continue offering and encouraging flu vaccination among their staff, colleagues, and patients. Created: 2/8/2012 by National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). Date Released: 2/14/2012. Running time = 5:14.
Today, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) released an updated annual report showing that, for the second year in a row, anti-fraud efforts have recovered more than $4.1 billion in fraudulent Medicare payments. Compare this to just $2.14 billion recovered in FY 2008. Prosecutions are way up too: the number of individuals charged with fraud increased from 821 in fiscal year 2008 to 1,430 in fiscal year 2011 – nearly a 75 percent increase.
Pregnant women…watch your diet. What you eat can affect both you and your newborn. Gestational diabetes is a common pregnancy complication that can affect both you and your baby. Data from 13,000 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study II show high fat intake can put you at risk.
Dr. Katherine Bowers is a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health.
In August 2011, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden visited India and saw firsthand CDC’s important work. Dr. Frieden returned with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in January 2012 to learn more about CDC’s collaborations around influenza surveillance and research in India.
Many children born preterm require additional medical attention and early intervention services, special education and may have conditions that affect their productivity as adults. To help reduce the rising number of premature births and ensure more babies are born healthy, HHS announced the Strong Start initiative, designed to reduce preterm births and improve outcomes for newborns and pregnant women.
Dr. Joe Bresee addresses questions and misconceptions about the flu and the flu vaccine.