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As a former college athlete, Daniel J.Hilferty, president and chief executive officer of AmeriHealth Mercy/Keystone Mercy in Philadelphia, knows how critical teamwork is. Teammates are especially helpful when dealing with complicated healthcare issues, such as serving the Medicaid population.

Your benefits program may qualify as a health plan that&s subject to federal regulations that took effect in October. Check your status, review your options and get ready for the next wave?privacy and security rules?in the spring.

With the threat of bioterrorism, there was a need to reintroduce a smallpox vaccine. FDA has now approved this dried, calf lymph-type vaccine.

Successful management of migraine attacks and their symptoms leads to economic benefits such as decreased reliance on healthcare resources, decreased employee absenteeism, and increased productivity. Appropriate treatment includes prophylaxis with lifestyle changes and drug therapy, and acute therapy with drugs. Over-the-counter analgesics can be effective acute therapy for mild migraine; for moderate to severe attacks, the 5HT1B/1D agonists, or triptans, offer significant efficacy and cost-effectiveness.

Ezetimibe (Zetia), approved in late October, represents the first new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs in 15 years. Ezetimibe, an intestinal cholesterol absorption inhibitor, has a unique mechanism of action, distinct from those of statins and bile acid sequestrants. When used as monotherapy, ezetimibe lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels up to 18.5%. Coadministration of ezetimibe with statin therapy reduces LDL-C levels up to an additional 22%. The article reviews ezetimibe?s chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and clinical trial results.

As costs continue to rise, perhaps we should focus less on our expensesand more on our priorities

Streamlining helps MCOs meet their responsibilities in tedious credentialing tasks

Electronic prescription transmission can improve efficiency, reduce costs and enhance patient safety

Ranked by total of all payers, 2001

The Journal of the American Hospital Assn. voted it one of the most wired hospitals in the United States for the third consecutive year, but it's not backing off its investment in information technology. Northwestern Memorial Hospital has been operating in its new, $258 million facility since 1999.

Individual people and circumstances have different needs, and MCOs need to be flexible enough to meet them all

He's president of Evergreen Re, a managed-care consulting firm and reinsurance broker. Evergreen&s annual survey of the finances of managed care prompted a wide-ranging conversation from capitation to IT investments to inappropriate transplants.

Pipeline Preview for November

Microbial resistance is a concern in treating urinary tract infection (UTI) and bacteremia. But analysis of data from more than 200 US hospitals in the Surveillance Network Database-USA from 1999 to 2001 demonstrated bloodstream and urinary tract isolates with the potential to cause urosepsis to be very susceptible in vitro to broad-spectrum b-lactams and aminoglycosides. The study results were reported at the 42nd Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in San Diego, CA.

Studies presented at the Third European Stanley Foundation Conference on Bipolar Disorder in September in Freiburg, Germany, show two newer antipsychotics are each more effective than standard therapy for preventing mania relapse or reducing symptoms.

NME: Aldosterone blocker approved to treat hypertension

A phase III study presented at the 14th annual meeting of the Migraine Trust International Research Symposium (MTIRS) in September in London showed that topiramate (Topamax) significantly reduced migraine frequency at doses as low as 100 mg/d. The onset of efficacy was observed as early as the first month of treatment. Topiramate is already approved in the United States and worldwide as an

Aripiprazole is an investigational atypical antipsychotic that received an approvable status from FDA in September 2002 for the treatment of schizophrenia. The decision on approval could be made as early as the end of this year. Aripiprazole offers a unique mechanism of action as a dopamine system stabilizer. Aripiprazole has been found to be effective in both short-term (4?6 wk) and long-term (26?52 wk) treatment trials. It appears to produce less hyperprolactinemia, weight gain, and extrapyramidal symptoms than other antipsychotics.

Although the commonly used HMG CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) are well tolerated and relatively safe, muscle toxicity and rhabdomyolysis can occur with administration and can be severe. This risk is higher with more bioavailable and lipophilic statins. This article summarizes what is known about the etiology of statin-associated muscle toxicity, the risks for each statin, and the current recommendations for monitoring and management.

After months of speculation, in late September the White House finally nominated its lead health policy advisor, Mark B. McClellan, MD, PhD, as the next commissioner of the FDA.

Formulary has identified three organizations that recently begancharging pharmaceutical representatives a fee to meet withphysicians. Two of the organizations-Queen City Physicians and thePolyclinic-are physician group practices based in Cincinnati, OH,and Seattle, WA, respectively.

Health plans that make their products easier for individuals to findwill reap the rewards

Attorney Eric Katz sets his sights on New Jersey health plans

Ranked by total HMO enrollment as of July 1, 2001

By addressing different levels of risk and readiness to change, plans can empower members to take control of diseases

In its most basic form, the Internet is about access. At any time of the day, from anywhere on the planet, people who have a computer and a phone line have a world of information at their fingertips.

Sixteenth century author Thomas Deloney likened lawsuits to "the winter nights: long and wearisome." Wearisome legal battles in healthcare can be exhausted with motions as costs increase proportionately. Ultimately, the chill is felt in the premiums of millions of Americans.

The U.S. health care system is at a crossroads. Purchasers must think what lies around the bend before they abandon proven tactics in a flurry of short-term cost sharing.