News

New combination: Valturna was approved on September 16, 2009, for the treatment of hypertension in patients not adequately controlled on either aliskiren or angiotensin receptor blocker monotherapy and as initial therapy in patients likely to need multiple drugs to achieve their blood pressure goals.

FDA is struggling to implement a host of new drug safety policies and programs and still meet review time frames set by the Prescription Drug User Fee program (PDUFA).

Bulletins that focus on drugs and therapeutic matters are often distributed by hospitals and other health systems that have programs for reporting adverse drug reactions.

In August 2003, the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded a contract for prostaglandin ophthalmic agents with travoprost as the agent of choice. Although there was no national mandate to switch patients from existing therapy, many VA facilities had agreements from their local ophthalmology and optometry departments to conduct a therapeutic interchange of patients from existing prostaglandins (eg, latanoprost) to travoprost.

Recent FDA approvals (through November 2009) related to FluMist, Cervarix, Gardasil, Fluarix, Folotyn, Micardis, Twynsta, Votrient, Mirena

In a review published in The Cochrane Library, researchers determined that atovaquone-proguanil and doxycycline were well tolerated by most travelers and are less likely than mefloquine to cause adverse neuropsychiatric outcomes.

Physicians must evaluate the use of antidepressant medications based on new guidelines from two gynecological organizations

Commonwealth Fund State Performance Ranking (2009): 51

Decades of quality improvement now giving way to a leveling off trend in many areas

Reducing water and electricity use can produce immediate savings for hospitals while recycling efforts pay off in the longrun

More data is better when it comes to health measurement and inspiration for wellness programs

Sure, the integrated delivery model produces good outcomes and lower costs, but it's not applicable everywhere, in spite of what politicians think

New survey shows financial pain for employers and employees with few good options to manage the trend

Few are paying attention to the cost curve and the potential for state to enact their own reform measures

UnitedHealth's Dr. Reed Tuckson believes managing the health of large populations and individuals calls for the best in every stakeholder

More healthcare facilities want to cut back on consumption to save money and save the environment

State-level insurance exchanges are more likely to thrive in the market by taking advantage of integration

Scorecard from the Commonwealth Fund notes stark gaps between best and worst performing states

Eight Ohio health plans are participating in a pilot to streamline administration with hopes that national efforts could come next

Physicians have historically been lacking in collecting on bad debt, and now the cost of tracking it down might not be worth it

Over the next 20 years, expect to see funky formularies and new drug benefit designs to manage costs

Pfizer's $2.3 billion civil and criminal penalty over off-label promotions, shows that the federal government is serious about compliance in the health industry

Medicare Advantage beneficiaries in California spent 30% fewer days in the hospitals than patients with FFS Medicare

Nearly two-thirds of plan sponsors say the economy is causing a shift toward placing greater accountability on members to manage their own health so plan dollars are spent more wisely

The big issues are still the rising cost of coverage and the impact that rising costs have on health plan membership

Even if excess health spending, the gap between health spending and income growth, were cut in half, a very large share of income growth would still be devoted to healthcare

Almost two-thirds of the children who died with H1N1 had epilepsy, cerebral palsy or other neurodevelopmental conditions.

At this moment in history, we have a real opportunity to re-invent and revolutionize our entire healthcare system. However, current proposals are nothing more than a band-aid, missing the chance for true healthcare system reform. The proposed "fix" does very little to keep healthcare sustainable 10, 20 or 30 years from now.