One of every five kids and 9 of 10 older Americans took at least one prescription drug in the previous month, says a survey taken in 2008. Read more from the original source: Almost Half of Americans Took a Prescription Drug in Past Month  Read More →

One new study estimates the percentage of workers at firms with 50 or fewer employees offered health insurance will rise to 86% from 60% after health-care overhaul is implemented. The rest is here: A Whole Lotta Studies on Small Business and Health Insurance  Read More →

Also: Price hike for last-resort insurance in California; potential warfarin replacements line up; dialysis deal reached in Atlanta; U.S. asks judge to allow embryonic stem cell research to proceed. More:  A.M. Vitals: Genzyme Says Sanofi Needs to Cough... 

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes raise the lifetime risk of breast cancer to as much as 84% and of ovarian cancer to as much as 63%. Read more here: Study Suggests Importance of Screening For BRCA Gene Mutations  Read More →

Some 16 people are expected to enroll in Medicaid due to health-care overhaul legislation. Here is the original:  New Medicaid Enrollees Likely to Be Healthier Than Current Ones: Study  Read More →

At the Minnesota State Fair, families can sign up to give DNA samples for a research study. Read the original:  What Should You Ask Before You Give Up DNA? (At a State Fair or Elsewhere)  Read More →

Public hospitals are being sold amidst a general boom in hospital M&A activity. Read the rest here:  Public Hospitals, ‘Poorly Equipped to Survive,’ Are Being Sold  Read More →

That figure may be overly generous, says a study published in Health Affairs, though authors expect an uptick in digitization this year and next. See the original post: Only 2% of Hospitals Could Have Met ‘Meaningful Use’ in 2009  Read More →

Brigham and Women’s Hospital is now screening patients for its hand-transplant program, one of only five in the country. More:  Health Blog Q&A: Talking Hand Transplants With a Surgeon  Read More →

Also: experimental melanoma drug results; California insurance news; radiation at Walter Reed. Original post:  A.M. Vitals: Judge Won’t Nix Generic Version of Sanofi’s Lovenox  Read More →