News

Dean Health Plan and its PBM business seek sure footing for today's changing times in healthcare

Discussing hospice and palliative care with patients and families lowers healthcare costs and allows patients to realize maximum benefits of care

Outcomes-based contracting enables risk sharing between plans and manufacturers while also allowing better patient adherence to regimens

The United Kingdom implemented ICD-10 as far back as 1995, making the United States one of the last major global economies to begin the implementation process.

Straying from the popular opinion of the industry, a handful of medical device manufactures have aligned with Obama's proposed investment in comparative effectiveness research.

If these programs are executed correctly, they can educate patients about their medications, provide physicians with information about the effectiveness of drugs and facilitate communication

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association argues that contributions to San Francisco's Health Access Program under a 2006 ordinance are preempted by ERISA

Commonwealth Fund State Performance Ranking (2007): 14

While co-ops do provide good care and the right incentives, they still face market pressures that have historically destroyed them

Democrats back insurance market changes, coverage mandates and a public plan option. House leaders generally ignored Republican protests.

Standardized medical policies, appropriate technology, centralized authorization tools can render a decision before the patient leaves the clinic

Smaller companies might offer innovation with a lower price tag, but they might not be able to achieve proper certification for incentives

HealthPartners' spreading care system redesign reforms nationwide could save up to $2.4 trillion over next decade.

Through access to more robust data, actuaries can help predict and analyze the long-term feasibility of proposed healthcare reform plans.

5 million adults age 19 to 23 didn't have health insurance in 2006 for the whole year.

Aetna study shows HSAs save money for members and employers.

Educate policymakers on the industry to avoid bad or over-simplified healthcare reform legislation.

Executives are poised to push a well-thought-out wellness program for employers.

Study finds that Americans have limited understanding when it comes to the cost and effectiveness of generic drugs.

Crackdown on Medicare fraud enforced by DOJ and HHS.

Industry weighs the pros and cons of an Obama-appointed Federal Insurance Czar.

A matched, case-control analysis demonstrated an association between the use of stimulant medications (used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) and sudden unexplained death in children and adolescents.

Generic drug approved by FDA (through July 2009): melphalan injection

This review highlights treatment guidelines, disease staging criteria, and new therapeutic approaches to MM, including an overview of supportive care and emerging pipeline agents.

New indication: Tadalafil (Adcirca), a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, was approved on May 22, 2009, for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (WHO Group I)

New molecular entity: Tolvaptan (Samsca), a vasopressin receptor antagonist, was approved on May 19, 2009, for the treatment of clinically significant hypervolemic and euvolemic hyponatremia

Recent FDA action (through July 2009) related to bucindolol, botulinum toxin type A, rivaroxaban, quetiapine, olanzapine, ziprasidone, ofatumumab, pegloticase, pralatrexate, melphalan, and paclitaxel

Milnacipran was recently approved by FDA for the management of fibromyalgia syndrome. Clinical trials have demonstrated that this agent may be a reasonable alternative or adjunct therapy for patients with fibromyalgia syndrome who are unable to tolerate first-line tricyclic antidepressant therapy.