News

FDA has approved Flublok (Protein Sciences) recombinant influenza vaccine for all adults aged 18 years and older. Previously, Flublok was indicated for adults aged 18 to 49 years.

Texas-based Memorial Hermann Health System and the Memorial Hermann Physician Network launched a co-branded health plan in a quest to operate more efficiently and grow market share.

FDA drug approvals, fast-track designations

At a time when insurers are expanding their presence on state exchanges and rolling out tech-savvy portals to capture new customers, single state “Blue” insurers are finding themselves hamstrung by regulations and lack of capital.

After beating third quarter Wall Street estimates and with their stock prices at all time highs, the nation’s leading insurers are expanding their presence on state exchanges (also known as marketplaces) in response to a contracting employer-driven market.

Healthcare spending has climbed from roughly 5% of U.S. GDP to nearly 18% as of 2012, an unsustainable rate of growth that jeopardizes America’s fiscal solvency and long-term ability to support programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

FDA has approved once-daily dapagliflozin and metformin hydrochloride extended-release (Xigduo, AstraZeneca) (XR) for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes. Xigduo XR is indicated as an adjunct therapy to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus when treatment with both dapagliflozin and metformin is appropriate.

In children discharged home with a fracture, both ibuprofen and oral morphine were effective at relieving pain. However, there were no significant differences in efficacy between the 2 agents and oral morphine was associated with more side effects, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

FDA advisors have recommended approval of a 60-mg dose of edoxaban (Daiichi Sankyo), a once-daily anticoagulant that inhibits Factor Xa, for some atrial fibrillation patients, but suggested limiting its use to those with abnormal kidney function.

Americans in 2013 spent a little more on medical services from the prior year, but utilized them less, according to a new report by the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI).

A new Kaiser health tracking poll shows 90% of uninsured Americans are not aware of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) next open enrollment period.

Public-private partnerships are proving to be an effective structure for funding and governing patient registries.

The three giants driving America’s $3 trillion healthcare economy–health insurers, hospital systems, and pharmaceutical companies–all face the same dilemma: how to effectively engage customers to earn trust and improve the consumer healthcare experience.

FDA has approved sotalol hydrochloride oral solution (Sotylize, Arbor Pharamceuticals) for the treatment of documented life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and the maintenance of normal sinus rhythm in patients with a history of highly symptomatic atrial fibrillation/flutter.

Hospital pharmacies play an essential role in the nation’s healthcare system, and these days, are expected to add value to every aspect of a hospital's strategic agenda.

Following the lead of the CMS, healthcare is waking up to the use of rewards to motivate consumers to get healthy.

With more than 40,000 health and wellness apps on the market today, consumers of all ages are responding to health care they can access on-the-go.

America’s health care system is going through transformational changes. Price transparency – providing consumers cost information before services are received – is a significant force in today’s system.

When Congress voted in March to push back the ICD-10 deadline to at least Oct. 1, 2015, emotions were mixed from payers and providers across the industry.

The Ebola outbreak has taught us that the health systems in West Africa are under-resourced and vulnerable. Scaling up capability of local healthcare provision is an important consideration for control of this virus, and drug makers are gearing up to expedite development of Ebola vaccines.

FDA has approved Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), Porcine Sequence] (Obizur, Baxter) for the treatment of bleeding episodes in adults with acquired hemophilia A.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents just under 15% of all breast cancer (BC) cases, according to IMS’ epidemiologic analysis. It carries a bleaker prognosis than other forms of BC. These facts are well-known. Much else about the disease is unknown, however; indeed, it’s probably a mistake to think of TNBC cancer as “a” disease at all.

FDA has approved an updated labeling of morphine sulfate/naltrexone hydrochloride (Embeda, Pfizer) extended release capsules, CII, to include abuse-deterrent properties

An FDA advisory committee has voted to keep the boxed warning for varenicline (Chantix, Pfizer) that states that the drug may cause serious neuropsychiatric events.

Enrollees in health insurance plans that don’t comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have begun receiving notices of cancellation, one year after getting a reprieve.

Patients who saw a physician assistant (PA) in the past year give high marks to the interaction, according to a new Harris Poll.

A surge in ER visits and hospitalization rates on the part of newly-insured Medicaid patients is a mostly temporary phenomenon created by pent-up demand, according to a report by UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world, and the most common cancer in women. In 2013, approximately 261,000 women were diagnosed with this disease in the United States alone.1 When diagnosed in the earliest stages, such as ductal carcinoma in situ and stage 1, the 5-year survival rate is almost 100%. If diagnosed later, or if the disease progresses to advanced breast cancer, survival rapidly decreases. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer represents about 20% of cases, and before the introduction of HER2-targeting therapies, had the worst prognosis of all breast cancer subtypes.