Department Of Health And Human Services U S

This year, an estimated 2.5 million American teen-agers will contract a sexually transmitted disease. Some will die; some will be made sterile. Others will be put at greater risk of developing other diseases, including cancer. In an attempt to understand the precise scope and causes of this epidemic, the federal Department of Health and Human Services had hoped to survey the sexual behavior of 24,000 teen-agers. Participation was to have been contingent on parental consent.

Kathleen Sebelius won Senate confirmation Tuesday as the nation's Health and Human Services secretary, thrusting the former Kansas governor into the middle of the public health emergency involving swine flu. The 65-31 vote came after Democrats urged quick action so that Sebelius could get to work leading the federal response to the flu outbreak. "We find ourselves in the midst of a global crisis," Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said.

Agriculture Secretary-designate Clayton K. Yeutter, warmly praised by senators at his confirmation hearing, made clear that he will push for a major overhaul of farm subsidy programs. But proposed changes must await the outcome of the Uruguay round of trade talks, the former U.S. trade representative told the Senate Agriculture Committee. Senators lauded Yeutter for helping to increase exports of beef, citrus and processed food to Japan and tobacco to several Asian countries.

The withdrawal of Tom Daschle's nomination Tuesday as secretary of Health and Human Services reflected White House recognition that his tax problems were igniting anger over an apparent double standard: that Washington insiders could be careless about their taxes while ordinary Americans had to sacrifice. As late as Monday night, the former Senate Democratic leader thought he could survive the disclosure that he only recently paid about $140,000 in back taxes.

President-elect Bill Clinton sounded a renewed commitment to activism Friday as he named an eclectic group of innovators, including three women, to help forge labor, social and environmental policies in the new Administration.

The Bush Administration said Friday that it was modifying its controversial rules governing family planning clinics so doctors may give pregnant patients "complete medical information," including advice about abortion. However, clinic doctors may not refer a pregnant woman to a facility that primarily performs abortions. In addition, nurses and clinic counselors are still forbidden to advise patients about abortion.

Ruth Kindred read with alarm that the federal government's hospice investigation had reached California, demanding that one hospice repay $2.1 million in Medicare benefits for patients who had lived longer than six months after diagnosis, the standard for "terminal." "It scared me to death," says Kindred, a 65-year-old widow suffering from heart disease, emphysema, diabetes--and metastatic lung cancer. "I thought, 'Good heavens! What if I don't die in six months?'

The government advised adoption and foster-care agencies Monday that if they receive federal aid they may not delay or deny the placement of any children because of racial or ethnic considerations. The guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services are designed to implement the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, which President Clinton signed last October and which runs counter to past practices by many social workers.

Federal investigators have launched a criminal inquiry into problems with UCI Medical Center's failed liver transplant program. A spokesman for the university confirmed Saturday that the Orange hospital was served with a subpoena for documents by the FBI, which is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The U.S. government is paying millions of dollars to health care corporations under a highly unusual federal policy that covers their attorneys' fees in Medicare disputes--even when the corporations lose, according to a General Accounting Office report.

Congressional Democrats moved Monday to shore up Tom Daschle's nomination to become President Obama's secretary of Health and Human Services as the former senator apologized publicly for not paying more than $128,000 in income taxes. "The American people have high expectations for those of us who serve the public good. That's especially true when it comes to taxes.

Tom Daschle, once considered assured of breezing through his confirmation as secretary of Health and Human Services, soon will face tough questioning on Capitol Hill about underpaying his income taxes and his extensive work for clients in the healthcare industry, Republican aides said Saturday. GOP lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee are preparing to grill the former Senate majority leader about his failure to pay more than $128,000 in taxes for 2005, 2006 and 2007.

As then-Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona was preparing a report on world health problems, he received a detailed outline from officials at the Department of Health and Human Services. It suggested that he praise President Bush's initiative against AIDS in poor countries, and highlight American efforts to rebuild public health infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, his report decried global pollution and violence against women.

Fraudulent Medicare billings submitted by medical equipment suppliers in the Los Angeles area and south Florida are the target of a pilot program to be announced today by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Los Angeles County supervisors expressed serious doubts Tuesday that Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital would pass a federal inspection next month that could determine its survival as a public hospital. Board members also accused county health officials of providing misleading information about recent reform efforts at the long-troubled Willowbrook facility. "I believe the guillotine's going to fall in 11 days," Supervisor Mike Antonovich said, echoing the dismay of other board members.

The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who helps lead a Christian pregnancy counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women." Dr. Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman's Concern, a nonprofit group based in Dorchester, Mass.

The federal government spends about $2 billion a year on unnecessary hospital care for Medicare patients, and back problems, diabetes and upper respiratory infections are among the most common sources of questionable admissions, according to a special investigation by the Health and Human Services Department. More than three-fourths of the mishandled patients did need medical care but "would have been treated more appropriately in outpatient settings," said the report by Richard P.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson told senators that federal doctors are ready to combat any bioterrorist attack. Thompson urged Americans to see a physician promptly if any mysterious symptoms appear. Senators asked Congress for $1.4 billion to improve the nation's health system against bioterrorism. "The threat is real. The overall probability is low . . . yet it's increasing," said Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

The government agency charged with overseeing the quality of testing in medical laboratories has failed to ensure that even serious repeat deficiencies are cited and corrected, federal auditors said Tuesday. A 93-page report by the Government Accountability Office concluded that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, had not enforced the minimum standards required by law and could not properly judge whether a lab's quality had improved or worsened.

Federal regulators have told Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center that it will have one last chance to prove it has fixed lapses in care that repeatedly led to patient deaths. An unannounced top-to-bottom inspection will be held within 90 days -- months later than had been expected, the regulators said this week. If the long-troubled public hospital fails any portion, it stands to lose all of its federal funding.