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Four Pharma companies underpay Medicaid rebate obligations, pay $124M to resolve allegations

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, UDL Laboratories, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and Ortho McNeil Pharmaceutical have entered into settlement agreements for a total of $124 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by failing to pay appropriate rebates to state Medicaid programs for drugs paid for by those programs, the Justice Department announced today.

20 Oct 2009

Senate postpones vote on Medicare 'doc fix'

Senate Democrats have postponed a scheduled cloture vote today on a bill that would make permanent changes to scheduled rate cuts to Medicare reimbursement for doctors and hospitals. Meanwhile, doctors worry about the cuts and lawmakers worry that the fix could break budget goals.

20 Oct 2009

The CBO's educated guesses make or break reform bills

The senior Congressional Budget Office analyst whose job is calculating the costs of overhaul the health system -- an overworked, "amiable father of three" named Phil Ellis -- "is the first to admit that his painstaking numbers are almost certainly wrong," the Washington Post reports. His estimates "essentially condemned two" bills by pricing them at over a trillion, while boosting another by estimating much lower costs, illustrating the huge political stakes generated by Ellis' guesswork.

20 Oct 2009

Opinions: HIV vaccine; HIV resources help promote global disease control; U.S. fight against world hunger

Seth Berkley, president and chief executive of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, in a New York Times opinion piece examines how the "pessimism" over the recent controversy surrounding the results of an experimental HIV vaccine tested in Thailand "may ultimately thwart other efforts to develop an AIDS vaccine.

20 Oct 2009

Winner of first annual Healthcare Administrator Award announced

Deborah Friberg, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of WakeMed Health and Hospitals, Raleigh, North Carolina, has been named the recipient of the first annual Healthcare Administrator Award, presented by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). The award recognizes a healthcare facility's executive team member who has demonstrated significant support for infection prevention and control throughout their facility.

20 Oct 2009

Medicare officials back away from hard line stance on insurers' warning letters

The New York Times reports: "The Obama administration on Friday backed away from an order that had prohibited insurance companies from warning Medicare recipients about the possible loss of benefits under pending legislation to overhaul the health care system." A political storm storm was triggered last month when they tried to stop such communications.

20 Oct 2009

Boehringer Ingelheim's TWYNSTA approved by FDA for the treatment of hypertension

Boehringer Ingelheim announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved TWYNSTA®, a new highly effective single pill combination therapy of telmisartan (an angiotensin receptor blocker [ARB]) and amlodipine (a calcium-channel blocker [CCB]). TWYNSTA® is indicated for the treatment of hypertension, alone or with other antihypertensive agents, and as initial therapy in patients who are likely to need multiple drugs to achieve their blood pressure goals.

20 Oct 2009

FDA approves new oral medication for renal cell carcinoma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Votrient (pazopanib), the sixth drug to be approved for kidney cancer since 2005.

20 Oct 2009

DC 'squanders' AIDS money on questionable groups despite urgent needs

A Washington Post investigation has found that the city with the highest AIDS rate in the United States, Washington, D.C., has awarded millions of dollars to often ineffective groups with little oversight. Officials failed to act when information about waste and abuse became available, and in the worst case one may have helped channel funding to relatives who operated an AIDS charity out of their nightclub. Meanwhile, AIDS patients waited years for treatment, faced needs legitimate agencies were unable to meet, and in one case, died alone on a park bench within a couple of miles of a dozen nonprofits meant to care for AIDS patients (Cenziper, 10/18).

20 Oct 2009

Lawmakers struggle to balance interests as sweeping health legislation negotiations proceed

Lawmakers continue to try to shape health bills as they move closer to floor votes.

20 Oct 2009

Website answers questions about 'end of life'

Questions about end of life are as old as humanity, yet they can be new and overwhelming when someone we care about is dying.

19 Oct 2009

WHO recommends antivirals for patients with symptoms of both H1N1, pneumonia

The WHO concluded a three-day meeting on H1N1 (swine flu) in Washington, D.C., on Friday, where health experts issued recommendations that patients with symptoms of H1N1 and pneumonia be treated quickly with antivirals, even before the results of H1N1 tests are complete, the San Francisco Chronicle blog, "ChronRX" reports (Allday, 10/16).

19 Oct 2009

West Virginia nears dental crisis over stagnant Medicaid payments

West Virginia's Medicaid patients are nearing a crisis when it comes to access to dental care, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports. Medicaid's reimbursement rates for dentistry haven't increased since 1991, and West Virginia cut rates in 1994 by 30 percent, causing fewer and fewer dentists to accept payment from the public program for low-income patients.

19 Oct 2009

School-age children most vulnerable to malaria infection in Africa, study says

Children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 19 in malaria-endemic African countries are "the most vulnerable group to malaria following the successful distribution of the free bednets to protect children under five and pregnant women against the killer fever," according to a study published in the journal BMC Public Health, the East African reports.

19 Oct 2009

Baucus: Public insurance option 'alive' in Senate negotiations

USA Today: During a conference call with reporters today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said the public option is "alive." Baucus, "one of a handful of senators engaged in behind-the-scenes health care negotiations, said Democratic lawmakers are continuing to debate whether to include a government-run health insurance program -- also known as the public option -- and what shape that program might take."

19 Oct 2009

Philippines at risk for rapid spread of disease after typhoons

"Survivors of two powerful storms that caused widespread destruction in the Philippines in recent weeks are threatened by outbreaks of potentially life-threatening diseases, as the country braces for another super-typhoon," named Lupit, that is expected to make landfall on Thursday, the Guardian reports.

19 Oct 2009

Even with budget concerns, lawmakers fight for rural hospitals

Kaiser Health News' staff writers Eric Pianin and Mary Agnes Carey report in a story produced in collaboration with Politico on rural hospitals' stake in the ongoing efforts to overhaul the nation's health system.

19 Oct 2009

Experts: Treat swine flu quickly, even without verification

The World Health Organization concluded a three-day meeting on H1N1 (swine flu) in Washington, D.C., on Friday, where health experts issued recommendations that patients with symptoms of H1N1 and pneumonia be treated quickly with antivirals, even before the results of H1N1 tests are complete, the San Francisco Chronicle blog, "ChronRX" reports (Allday, 10/16).

19 Oct 2009

More details emerging on health reform's proposed changes to Medicare

The Dallas Morning News reports on some of health reform's proposed changes to Medicare and local consumer reactions. "The 10.4 million beneficiaries with private insurers' Medicare Advantage plans will still get coverage at least comparable to regular Medicare, but some will see fewer extra benefits or higher out-of-pocket costs. For most of Medicare's 45 million beneficiaries, an overhaul will improve coverage by beefing up drug benefits, preserving access to physicians, paying for more preventive care and putting Medicare on firmer financial footing."

19 Oct 2009

Innovative financing for global health issues discussed at Nairobi meeting

As more countries prepare to introduce a voluntary travel tax to help fight HIV/AIDS and other diseases worldwide, Philippe Douste-Blazy, chair of UNITAID and a U.N. special advisor on innovative development financing said at a recent event in Nairobi, Kenya, that "the airline levy gives participating developing nations an opportunity to contribute to treatment in their countries rather than depending on handouts from the developed world," the Standard reports.

19 Oct 2009