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1 million California residents travel to Mexico annually for health care, study finds

About one million adults living in California, including 500,000 immigrants, travel to Mexico for health care each year, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Medical Care, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

27 May 2009

United Auto Workers to accept up to 20% of GM stock; agrees to concessions on retiree health care obligations, labor rules

United Auto Workers leaders on Tuesday agreed to accept up to 20% of General Motors stock, as well as concessions on labor rules and retiree health care obligations, as the automaker faces a June 1 deadline to restructure or seek bankruptcy protection, the Detroit News reports (Aguilar/Shepardson, Detroit News, 5/27).

27 May 2009

Pledges to reduce health care costs, spending growth could violate antitrust laws, lawyers say

U.S. antitrust laws could affect health care industry groups' efforts to work together to rein in health care costs, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 5/27).

27 May 2009

Some small businesses must cut employee health benefits or lay off workers amid global downturn

Small businesses increasingly are eliminating their employee health coverage plans because of rising health care premiums and declining revenue attributed to the current economic recession, the Wall Street Journal reports.

26 May 2009

Comparison key to lower drug costs, better outcomes

Patients can expect significant savings and better outcomes from their prescription medications when health care professionals use comparative effectiveness research, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

22 May 2009

Senate Finance Committee discusses funding for health reform in final 'walk through' meeting

The Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday to discuss potential funding mechanisms for health reform legislation but indicated that no concrete decisions had been reached, The Hill reports.

22 May 2009

Comparative effectiveness necessary to weigh new drugs against old ones, opinion piece says

Patients and physicians "need to know not just whether a new drug outperforms a placebo, but whether it's a real advance on what's already on the market," Richard Friedman, a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

20 May 2009

Vermont Legislature passes law regulating all drug/device company marketing, requiring disclosure of gifts to doctors

The Vermont Legislature has passed legislation (S 48) that bans nearly all gifts from pharmaceutical and medical device companies to health care providers, administrators and facilities in the state, the New York Times reports.

20 May 2009

Republicans to introduce health reform plan that would establish state health insurance exchanges, provide tax credits

Congressional Republicans are releasing two health care reform proposals -- one from conservatives and one from moderates -- as alternatives to plans by Democrats, CQ Today reports (Wayne, CQ Today, 5/19).

20 May 2009

Sixteen States, DOJ join whistle-blower lawsuits alleging Wyeth defrauded Medicaid programs

The U.S. Department of Justice and 16 states have joined two whistle-blower lawsuits filed in federal District Court in Massachusetts alleging that Wyeth defrauded the government by not offering the same discounts on two medications to Medicaid that it offered to hospitals, the Wall Street Journal reports.

19 May 2009

Sen. Olympia Snowe holds private meetings to discuss fallback public plan

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) last week held a private meeting to discuss a compromise on health care reform legislation that would include a "fallback public plan," implemented in several years if private insurers do not take steps to make coverage more affordable and accessible, CongressDaily reports.

19 May 2009

A.P. Pharma submits NDA for APF530 in chemo-induced nausea and vomiting

A.P. Pharma, Inc. has announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for its lead product, APF530, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). APF530 is being developed for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) and is a long-acting formulation of granisetron that utilizes the Company's proprietary Biochronomer drug delivery system.

18 May 2009

Washington State drops budget provision that would have cut Medicaid pharmacy payments

Washington state lawmakers this week eliminated a budgetary proposal that would have reduced Medicaid payment rates to pharmacies to the lowest levels in the country, the AP/Spokane Spokesman-Review reports.

15 May 2009

Pfizer to give away 70 of its most widely prescribed drugs to those who lost jobs

Pfizer on Thursday announced a new program that would provide some of its existing customers access to more than 70 types of medications at no cost if they have recently been laid off or lost their prescription drug coverage, USA Today reports. The program -- called MAINTAIN, or Medicines Assistance for Those who Are in Need -- will begin July 1.

15 May 2009

New Jersey Senator proposes plan to avert HIV/AIDS drug copayments

New Jersey state Sen. Joseph Vitale (D) -- chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee -- earlier this week proposed a plan to temporarily reduce rebate checks to senior citizens earning $100,000 to $150,000 in an effort to alleviate the effects of possible budget cuts on certain populations, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. Vitale's proposal also would avert planned $6 to $15 prescription drug copayments for people living with HIV/AIDS in the state (Livio, Newark Star-Ledger, 5/12).

15 May 2009

Morphine patches create addiction

Morphine patches are supposed to reduce use of painkillers, and provide more control over their use in chronic pain conditions. But researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim have found otherwise.

15 May 2009

Missouri Legislature passes bills that impose levies on health care providers to generate additional Federal Medicaid funding

Missouri lawmakers have approved two bills (HB 740 and SB 307) that extend or create health care provider taxes or certification fees as part of an effort to draw in more federal Medicaid matching dollars, the AP/Ann Arbor News reports.

14 May 2009

Prescription drug use dropped in 2008, though spending increased, Medco Research indicates

Use of prescription drugs in the U.S. declined in 2008 -- the first such decrease in a decade -- but total spending on such treatments increased by 3.3%, according to a report released on Wednesday by Medco Health Solutions, the AP/Washington Post reports.

14 May 2009

Medicare hospital fund will be insolvent by 2017, two years earlier than expected, trustees say

The trust fund that Medicare uses to pay for beneficiaries' hospital care will be insolvent by 2017, as the program since last year has been paying out more than it collects in taxes and interest, in part due to the worsening economy, according to a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission report issued Tuesday, the Washington Times reports.

13 May 2009

Medicare information for caregivers now available on NIHSeniorHealth

If you're caring for an older friend or family member, you've probably had questions about Medicare, the federal health insurance program for adults 65 and older and people under age 65 with disabilities.

13 May 2009

Prescription Drug News and Research

1 million California residents travel to Mexico annually for health care, study finds

United Auto Workers to accept up to 20% of GM stock; agrees to concessions on retiree health care obligations, labor rules

Pledges to reduce health care costs, spending growth could violate antitrust laws, lawyers say

Some small businesses must cut employee health benefits or lay off workers amid global downturn

Comparison key to lower drug costs, better outcomes

Senate Finance Committee discusses funding for health reform in final 'walk through' meeting

Comparative effectiveness necessary to weigh new drugs against old ones, opinion piece says

Vermont Legislature passes law regulating all drug/device company marketing, requiring disclosure of gifts to doctors

Republicans to introduce health reform plan that would establish state health insurance exchanges, provide tax credits

Sixteen States, DOJ join whistle-blower lawsuits alleging Wyeth defrauded Medicaid programs

Sen. Olympia Snowe holds private meetings to discuss fallback public plan

A.P. Pharma submits NDA for APF530 in chemo-induced nausea and vomiting

Washington State drops budget provision that would have cut Medicaid pharmacy payments

Pfizer to give away 70 of its most widely prescribed drugs to those who lost jobs

New Jersey Senator proposes plan to avert HIV/AIDS drug copayments

Morphine patches create addiction

Missouri Legislature passes bills that impose levies on health care providers to generate additional Federal Medicaid funding

Prescription drug use dropped in 2008, though spending increased, Medco Research indicates

Medicare hospital fund will be insolvent by 2017, two years earlier than expected, trustees say

Medicare information for caregivers now available on NIHSeniorHealth

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