Iowa news and information

Iowa doctors would be prohibited from prescribing and administering abortion-causing medication via tele-medicine video conferencing systems under legislation that won initial approval in the House on Tuesday.
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Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said Saturday that he has told HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that he will not expand Medicaid in Iowa.
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Hospitals and health systems in disputes with labor unions may increasingly duck the authority of the National Labor Relations Board by pointing to an appeals court's ruling that the board acted with no real quorum for the past year.
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U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin said Saturday he will not seek a sixth term in 2014, a decision that frees a new generation of Iowa Democrats to seek higher office and eases some of the burden Republicans face in retaking the Senate.
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“President Barack Obama began his second term … with a speech that recalled the words of the founders and civil rights pioneers to challenge the American people to come together to realize the dreams of earlier generations.
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Dozens of states have slashed spending on mental health care over the past four years, but that trend may be heading for a U-turn in 2013 after last year's shooting rampages.
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Iowa officials are asking President Barack Obama's administration for flexibility in complying with the federal healthcare act because of Medicaid cost increases expected even before the new law takes effect next year.
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A remote-control abortion-pill distribution method pioneered in Iowa four years ago improved access to women living in rural areas and did not increase the number of abortions performed in the state, according to a study released Thursday by the American Journal of Public Health.
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Clearer policies and definitions are needed to address the uncertainty surrounding which regulatory body has jurisdiction over large-scale operations that compound medications, experts testified Thursday as the Senate took its turn examining the fungal meningitis outbreak that has left 32 dead.
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Tara Hughes, 30, a second-year osteopathic medicine student at Des Moines University, says she has seen a split among her classmates over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and feels that the act is complicated enough that it's tough for anyone to fully grasp.
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