News

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

Sensitive to market pressures, 67% of employers prefer a phased approach to reform and 68% believe the current tax treatment of coverage should not be changed

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.

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.

New indication: Zoledronic acid (Reclast), a bisphosphonate, was approved on May 29, 2009, for the prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women

Lawyers are not expected to be technology experts, but they must be able to understand where relevant data exists and what steps must be taken to satisfy preservation and discovery obligations

Private insurers might need to offer parallel incentives for the accountable care organization model to have critical mass in paying for quality

Evaluate technology devices that your members use to determine the best ways to reach them with health outreach, enrollment, hot transfer and care coordination

Dutasteride reduces the risk of biopsy-detectable prostate cancer by approximately one-fourth in men at high risk for the disease without increasing the risk of high-grade cancers, said Gerald L. Andriole, Jr, MD, at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2009 Annual Meeting.

Pfizer is discontinuing a phase 3 study of sunitinib plus paclitaxel versus bevacizumab plus paclitaxel for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced breast cancer.

FDA has notified healthcare professionals that there is a risk of serious liver injury, including liver failure or death, with the use of propylthiouracil in both adult and pediatric patients.