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Pharmacy franchises sue Cardinal Health

Medicine Shoppe and Medicap pharmacists in seven states sued Cardinal Health in federal court Tuesday, alleging the health care products distributor failed to make good on promises it made when it asked them to switch to a new franchise agreement.

11 Mar 2010

BCBSWNY, BSNENY to deploy American Well's Online Care platform in upstate New York

BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York (BCBSWNY), BlueShield of Northeastern New York (BSNENY) and American Well™ Inc. today announced an agreement to deploy American Well's Online Care platform and services in upstate New York to eligible members and employers beginning this summer.

11 Mar 2010

Key stakeholder groups convene to address noncommunicable diseases at Global Forum

The first Global Forum of the Noncommunicable Disease Network (NCDnet) marks the first time WHO has convened key stakeholder groups to address the large-scale and increasing global health and development burden posed by noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

11 Mar 2010

Congress works on tariff-lowering legislation for Haiti as Preval meets with U.S. leaders in Washington

The Senate Finance Committee's chair, Max Baucus (D-Mont.), and top Republican, Charles Grassley (Iowa), are working with colleagues in the House on legislation that would lower tariffs in an effort to help Haiti's apparel industry and help the country recover from the major January earthquake, CQ Politics reports.

11 Mar 2010

ARHC launches seven-state radio ad campaign calling on Democrats to listen to people's opposition to ObamaCare

Americans for Responsible Health Care launched a seven-state radio ad campaign today calling on Democrat Members of Congress to listen to the American people's opposition to ObamaCare, and to vote against the government takeover of the nation's health care.

11 Mar 2010

WHO's updated malaria guidelines include rapid diagnosis, new ACT

The WHO on Tuesday released new guidelines for the treatment of malaria, which recommend "parasitological testing before treatment begins" and add "a new artemisinin based combination treatment [ACT] to the list of prescribed drugs," BMJ News reports.

11 Mar 2010

Poor, minority adults with chronic kidney disease face increase risk of developing ESRD

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) afflicts a large number of younger minority adults receiving medical care in settings that serve the uninsured and underinsured (settings collectively known as the healthcare safety net). Poor, minority adults with moderate to severe CKD are also two to four times more likely to progress to kidney failure than non-Hispanic whites.

11 Mar 2010

Obama makers final public push for health reform as Democrats consider timeline

President Obama is delivering his "closing argument" for health care reform in St. Louis today as Democratic leaders strategize on moving the bill through the House and Senate.

11 Mar 2010

Comparative research lags far behind approval-driven evaluations

A new study has found that few drug evaluations compare treatments in ways that help doctors make better decisions, Reuters reports.

11 Mar 2010

British government, HIV/AIDS advocates warn decreased aid budgets could lead to reversals in HIV/AIDS treatment progress

Recent gains in the global fight against HIV/AIDS could be reversed as the "global economic downturn pinches poor countries' budgets and donors show signs of backing away from their promise to provide universal access to AIDS treatment," the British government together with Medecins Sans Frontieres warned Tuesday, Reuters AlertNet reports.

11 Mar 2010

Sebelius: Insurer's opposition to health measure works against them

The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius spoke earlier today at the America's Health Insurance Plans' national policy forum in Washington, D.C. and "warned health insurers Wednesday that opposing President Obama's health-care agenda and letting premium hikes continue would eventually hurt the health-care industry. ... Sebelius cautioned in stark terms that, if insurers opposed Democrats' health-care legislation, premiums hikes would continue and more small businesses would drop health coverage for their employees" (Yoest, 3/10).

11 Mar 2010

President announces plans to crack down on health care fraud

The Boston Globe: "President Barack Obama said Tuesday he'll bring in high-tech bounty hunters to help root out health care fraud, grabbing a populist idea with bipartisan backing in his final push to overhaul the system. ... Obama's anti-fraud announcement was aimed directly at the political middle."

11 Mar 2010

Non-profit operations plugging health care gap in Chicago

Medill Reports presents a story on community health centers in Chicago that try to fill access-to-care gaps for people too sick to get health care coverage or too poor to afford other care.

11 Mar 2010

FDA sponsoring workshops to increase rare disease treatment options

The Wall Street Journal: FDA is putting on workshops for pharmaceutical manufacturers to increase the pool of applicants for approved "orphan drugs," that treat rare diseases. Currently, there are about 7,000 so-called orphan diseases in the U.S. that have few or no FDA-approved treatments.

11 Mar 2010

6 Day Dental and Orthodontics improves access to oral health care

6 Day Dental and Orthodontics now accepts Medicaid and CHIP at all five 6 Day locations – in Allen, Coppell, Frisco/Plano, Flower Mound and Roanoke/Keller.

11 Mar 2010

Passage of legislation could spell disaster for Idaho's health care system

Hundreds of thousands of Idahoans struggling with the high cost of health care received bad news last night -- no relief and more problems are on the way. With the passage of the Idaho Health Freedom Act (House Bill 391), the Senate moved forward legislation that could spell disaster for Idaho's health care system, while addressing none of the health care issues plaguing families across the state.

11 Mar 2010

Lincoln, Kucinich weigh in on health bill votes

The Associated Press/The Washington Times: Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., "insisted Tuesday she remained opposed to pushing a health care bill through the Senate with a simple majority vote, despite saying she wanted to see what was in the legislation." Lincoln "said those comments didn't represent a change of heart on her stance against the controversial majority-vote procedure known as 'reconciliation.' 'I don't support reconciliation. All I said was I want to see what's in it,' Lincoln told reporters outside the Senate floor. She walked quickly into a senators-only area without elaborating" (Werner, 3/9).

11 Mar 2010

GOP putting strategies in place to thwart Dems on reform

"When Mitch McConnell speaks these days, he expects House Blue Dogs to be listening." The Senate minority leader is "very much part of a newly launched Republican shadow war to block health care reform by playing on the nerves of wavering Democrats across the Capitol" with "his real goal of sowing doubts about the fiscal soundness of President Barack Obama's agenda — and with it health care reform.

11 Mar 2010

Senate poised to pass COBRA subsidy extension, Medicare 'doc fix'

The Senate is set to vote Wednesday on a jobs bill that would extend the COBRA subsidy program and Medicaid funding for states and prevent a Medicare reimbursement cut for doctors.

11 Mar 2010

Cogent Healthcare, Seton Medical Center to develop exclusive hospitalist care delivery system

Cogent Healthcare today announced a new hospital medicine affiliation with 375-bed Seton Medical Center, located in Daly City, Calif., and the Daly City Hospitalist Medical Group, an existing Seton physician group, to develop a distinctive hospitalist care delivery system.

11 Mar 2010