News

Detroit's Big Three automakers are considering shifting future retiree healthcare costs to union-controlled trust funds and are eyeing a new contract between Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the United Steelworkers (USW) union.

Wal-Mart and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have formed what industry watchers have called an "unusual" partnership to push for quality, affordable healthcare.

Legislation encouraging more equitable coverage of mental illness is moving forward in Congress following important modification of previous requirements. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee recently approved a bill that requires health plans to offer similar benefits for mental and physical illness in terms of deductibles, copayments and treatment limitations. But the new measure no longer mandates that group health plans cover mental illness.

The Bush administration spending plan for 2008 proposes major funding curbs for Medicare, Medicaid, children's health and other government health programs.

Over the next few years, more health plans and employers will investigate covering the physician-administered injectable drugs under the pharmacy benefit as a way to control the costs and manage appropriate utilization, says Kathryn Lindhorst Canaday, PharmD, director of pharmacy analysis, Pharmaceutical Strategies Group (PSG), based in Dallas.

Consumerism in health benefits has moved beyond buzzword status to a mainstream strategy. Increasingly, health plans and employers view consumerism with a global approach to benefits-a collaboration with employees financially, organizationally and personally.

The primary cost to patients with hospital-acquired infections is a prolonged stay and additional therapeutic interventions. But because of the high financial costs, there is increasing outside pressure to decrease infection rates.

Millions of people's lives have been influenced by the work of Mollie Orshansky, even though very few people know who she is. Dozens of health-related programs throughout history have benefitted from Mollie's contributions, including programs through HHS, charitable agencies, private companies and managed care. In 1963, it was Mollie-an accomplished mathematical genius and daughter of a poor immigrant family-who developed the U.S. government's official measure of poverty and the guidelines for what we call the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) today.

When you're the most populous state in the union, any extraordinary policies you sketch out could likely become a national catalyst for change. California has begun working on its state initiative for comprehensive healthcare reform, not simply for lack of a national proposal, but also because the health of its 36.1 million residents is at stake.

Rising pressure to reduce federal spending for Medicare has put the spotlight on payments and policies governing the Medicare Advantage program. MA plans are "vastly overpaid," according to Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Ways & Means Health subcommittee, largely because they sign up more healthy beneficiaries. Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is looking closely at whether "funneling dollars into private plans gets us the most bang for our healthcare buck."

In 2007, healthcare providers will face identity and access management challenges that will directly impact compliance, security and audit issues.

Disease management programs aimed at enhancing quality of life for older adults with multiple chronic illnesses are blossoming and are expected to experience future growth.

Oncology therapy has the potential to become the single leading category promoting drug spending growth, however, the class of drugs is rife with challenges for plans and employers.

Many Americans suffer from insomnia regularly, but clinicians often do not address this issue. A variety of factors may contribute to insomnia, including medical conditions such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, Parkinson disease, and heart failure. Medications such as amphetamines, theophylline, and beta agonists could also precipitate insomnia.

Combination therapy with an antimuscarinic agent (tolterodine extended release [ER]) and alpha1-receptor antagonist (tamsulosin) provided symptomatic benefit in men with moderate-to-severe lower urinary tract symptoms and overactive bladder, according to a large-scale, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Many Americans suffer from insomnia regularly, but clinicians often do not address this issue. A variety of factors may contribute to insomnia, including medical conditions such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, Parkinson disease, and heart failure. Medications such as amphetamines, theophylline, and beta agonists could also precipitate insomnia.

A public forum scheduled this month will help to solidify proposals FDA unveiled in January for reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). Once public comment from the February 16 meeting is received and incorporated into the finalized proposal, negotiations between the agency and the federal government over the fourth incarnation of this important funding mechanism will be key in determining FDA's fiduciary future.

Researchers at the Infectious Disease Laboratory at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Laboratory Network have developed a new diagnostic tool called the "GreeneChip," a glass slide that can rapidly and accurately identify multiple pathogens from different biologic samples (eg, tissue, blood, urine).

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs has been a source of debate since its US approval by FDA in 1997. A primary source of debate among experts is the methods advertisers use to attempt to influence the consumer and the consumer's subsequent reaction. Despite the controversy, authors of a recent content analysis of televised DTCA say there has been no systematic analysis of DTCA's influence on consumers to date.

The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has issued a consensus statement on the safe and efficacious use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including nonselective, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (nsNSAIDs), cyclooxygenase-2 enzyme inhibitors (coxibs), and aspirin (ASA).

A cross-sectional study of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use by community-dwelling older women aged ≥71 years with or without depression demonstrated that SSRI use in that population was strongly associated with sleep disturbance. The study, which relied on data collected from 4 centers throughout the United States, was recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Adverse events associated with the use of atypical antipsychotic medications in the management of psychosis, aggression, and agitation in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) may outweigh any benefit the treatments provide, according to a double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Rifaximin has demonstrated global improvement of the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in patients for ≤10 weeks after the discontinuation of therapy. Rifaximin is a nonabsorbed (≤0.4%), broad-spectrum antibiotic that was approved by FDA in 2004 for travelers' diarrhea.

A post-hoc analysis of the large, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Physicians' Health Study found that the use of low-dose aspirin (ASA) on alternating days reduced the risk of adult-onset asthma by a statistically significant 22%.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that women who discontinued alendronate after 5 years demonstrated a moderate decline in bone mineral density (BMD) and a gradual increase in serum markers of bone turnover compared with women who continued taking alendronate for an additional 5 years, but mean levels among patients who discontinued therapy remained at or above baseline levels measured 10 years earlier. In addition, no greater fracture risk other than for clinically detected vertebral fractures was seen in the discontinuation group compared with patients who continued alendronate for 10 years.

The duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (aspirin plus clopidogrel) following drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation has been a source of much recent debate. FDA currently recommends either 3 or 6 months of clopidogrel therapy following DES implantation, depending on the type of stent used.

Approvable designations; Nonapprovable designation; Fast-track designation; Priority review; Orphan drug designations

A review of agents in late-stage development for the treatment of hepatitis (February 2007)