News

Medicaid Mission

At first glance, you might wonder what the Japanese auto industry has to do with managed healthcare in the United States. For Anthony Horbal (pictured left), founder and CEO of Erie, Pa.-based Ion Health Inc. and Mike Nelson, Ion Health's president and director, Japanese automakers just might have provided an epiphany.

Parkinson's Disease is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder that occurs when neurons in the part of the brain that controls movement start to degenerate. This leads to a shortage of the neurotransmitter dopamine, causing characteristic movement problems.

Succession Success

Effective boards begin to identify and develop the CEO's replacement the moment he/she starts.

Medicaid Mission

At first glance, you might wonder what the Japanese auto industry has to do with managed healthcare in the United States. For Anthony Horbal (pictured left), founder and CEO of Erie, Pa.-based Ion Health Inc. and Mike Nelson, Ion Health's president and director, Japanese automakers just might have provided an epiphany.

Not long ago, I was talking with a family friend, Jamie, a young, single mom and then Medicaid recipient. We were discussing our families and I had mentioned how busy I was driving my children to and from their many extracurricular activities and social events.

FDA actions in brief

A new dosage strength of the fentanyl transdermal system (Duragesic, Alza) was approved for the management of persistent, moderate-to-severe chronic pain requiring continuous opioid administration for an extended period of time that cannot be managed by other drugs. The new patch will deliver 12 mcg of fentanyl per hour.

Evidence-based medicine is the driving philosophy for pharmacy and therapeutics (P&T) committee decision-making. When the available evidence is incomplete or unclear, the decision-making process becomes complex. Evaluation of the published literature to make sound decisions regarding appropriate medication use can be a time-consuming process. The use of expert panels or subcommittees may facilitate decision-making; however, this process is often limited by the schedules and time constraints of busy clinicians. This article describes the creation and utilization of a "virtual" panel of experts utilizing anonymous electronic communications to assist the P&T committee at a university-based teaching hospital in making medication use policy. The article includes a detailed description of the P&T committee's experience in the selection of virtual panel members, methods used, advantages, potential pitfalls, and the outcomes of a virtual committee used to evaluate the appropriateness of the off-label use of nesiritide (Natrecor, Scios).

Pipeline preview

Surfactant replacement therapy (Surfaxin, Discovery Laboratories) for the prevention of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature infants

Link to Learn

A new e-learning initiative succeeds more often when upper management supports it.

BREAST CANCER is the most common cancer found in women, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. More than 200,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year, approximately 77% of them in women over 50 years of age.