News

Looking toward the future, plans focus on information systems and medical management.

With half of prescriptions not being taken as prescribed, experts indicate that more attention needs to be given to medication adherence.

ACOs have a very specific template in Medicare, but can exist in many different forms in the private market.

Hospitals file complaints over CMS miscalculations from two decades ago.

Plans prepare for new members with data-driven risk assessments.

A recent Census report shows how healthcare reform has started to affect healthcare coverage.

As industry leaders are concerned about their business models, plans look to evolve.

As healthcare continues to evolve, new services and cost considerations are becoming available.

Seniors shopping for Medicare coverage remain confused

Interoperability standards aren't a given on EHR systems.

Partnership aims to stop crime rings defrauding public and private health insurance systems.

Drugs remain potent long after the expiration date

A recent poll indicates that no-cost preventive care is seen as improving the value in the industry.

Blue Shield of California is issuing $50 million in credits to members

Almost all health coverage plans are expected to see trend increases below 10% in 2013. HDHPs show a projected 9.1% trend, higher than HMOs, PPOs and POS plans.

Among older adults with atrial fibrillation (AF), persistence with warfarin therapy is generally lower than what has been reported in clinical trials, according study online in Archives of Internal Medicine.

FDA has approved omacetaxine mepesuccinate (Synribo, Teva) to treat adults with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a blood and bone marrow disease. An estimated 5,430 people will be diagnosed with CML in 2012, according to the National Institutes of Health. Synribo is intended to be used in patients whose cancer progressed after treatment with at least 2 drugs from a class called tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), also used to treat CML.

The Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to recommend the use of Meningococcal Groups C and Y and Haemophilus b Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine (MenHibrix, GlaxoSmithKline) in infants at increased risk for bacterial meningitis.

Numerous health and safety violations related to the practice of pharmacy at the New England Compounding Center (NECC), Framingham, Mass. have been documented by investigators of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), according to Madeleine Biondolillo, MD, in a press conference Oct. 23

Three investigational drugs will be studied in a worldwide clinical trial to determine whether they can prevent Alzheimer’s disease. In people with inherited mutations that cause early-onset Alzheimer’s, the study will seek to identify whether the drugs can improve Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers and prevent the loss of cognitive function.

FDA has approved perampanel (Fycompa, Eisai), an AMPA receptor antagonist, as an adjunctive treatment of partial-onset seizures with or without secondarily generalized seizures in patients aged 12 years and older who have epilepsy.

meningitis, steroids, FDA, CDC, compounding

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has updated its recommendations for pneumococcal vaccine in high-risk adults.

FDA has warned patients of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a serious blood disorder, resulting from misuse of oxymorphone hydrochloride extended-release tablet (Opana ER, Endo).

FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirm that the fungus Exserohilum rostratum contaminated 1 of the 3 implicated lots of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate (80 mg/mL) from the New England Compounding Center (NECC), which the company recalled September 26.

FDA has expanded the approved indication for tocilizumab (Actemra, Genentech) for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response to 1 or more disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

New evidence suggests that statins generate large survival and health benefits at the population level and shows that the social value of the survival gains are large and go predominantly to consumers, according to a study published in the October issue of Health Affairs.

More than 200 cases of fungal meningitis linked to steroid injections have been reported.