AAP UPDATES RECOMMENDATIONS ON OBESITY PREVENTION

FROM THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS Parents and families are encouraged to model healthy behaviors for children, and pediatricians are in a good position to help families find ways to do this together. In updated recommendations, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers practical steps families can take to help children maintain a healthy weight. The advice comes as part of an AAP clinical report published in the July 2015 issue of Pediatrics. The report, […]

UNITED CEREBRAL PALSY’S 2015 REPORT

Every year since 2006, United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) produces The Case for Inclusion, an annual ranking of how well State Medicaid programs serve Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) and their families. Individuals with ID/DD, including the young and the aging, want and deserve the same opportunities and quality of life as all Americans. Medicaid impacts so many—children and adults with disabilities, the elderly and families living in poverty. It is the critical safety […]

The Supreme Court Affirms The ACA

Family Voices applauds the June 25th Supreme Court ruling that upholds a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — that premium tax credits are available to offset the cost of health insurance, regardless of whether a person signed up through the federal or a state exchange. According to Enroll America, “more than 10 million Americans have coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, and 85% of them receive financial help to pay for their […]

Health is Something WE Don’t Have

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & DENTISTRY BY H. BARRY WALDMAN DDS, MPH, PHD, STEVEN P. PERLMAN DDS, MSCD, DHL (HON), AND MISHA GAREY, DDS Bulletin: “Measles vaccine reduces death from other diseases.” Having the measles disease somehow disrupts the immune system to combat other diseases, which the child may already have had sometime in the past. “Not only is measles extremely contagious and deadly, it creates a kind of immune forgetfulness.” (May 2015) 1 […]

Key Findings: State Actions to Adopt Newborn Screening for Critical Congenital Heart Defects

NCBDDD SCIENCE ALERT CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report has published a new study looking at state actions to adopt newborn screening for critical congenital heart defects (critical CHDs) using pulse oximetry – a simple, non-invasive way to measure the amount of oxygen in a newborn’s blood. CDC researchers found that 43 states have taken action toward newborn screening for critical CHDs through legislation, regulations, or hospital guidelines. This report is the first assessment of […]