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Industry group letter indicates qualified aupport for bill to allow approval of generic biotechnology medications

The Biotechnology Industry Organization has issued a letter to Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) to indicate qualified support for a bill (HR 5629) that they have introduced to allow FDA to approve generic biotech medications, CQ HealthBeat reports (McCarthy, CQ HealthBeat, 5/16).

19 May 2008

Bush Administration should 'rethink' immigration detention policies, editorial states

The "skyrocketing rate" of immigrants to the U.S. who are held in detention centers "is the result of an administration policy decision" to detain "all those who may be subject to deportation" and has led to "serious concerns about its ability to provide adequate care to this growing population because of staff shortages and budget shortfalls that inevitably lead to neglect or errors," a Washington Post editorial states.

19 May 2008

National Community Pharmacists Association to launch ad campaign to lobby lawmakers for policy changes

The National Community Pharmacists Association this week plans to launch a new advertising campaign that asks lawmakers to address two policies that the group maintains has or will result in closures of community pharmacies, CongressDaily reports. As part of the launch of the campaign, about 500 community pharmacists and independent pharmacy owners will visit Washington, D.C.

19 May 2008

New York Times profiles support group for HIV-positive women over age 50

The New York Times on Sunday profiled the Divas, a support group for black and Hispanic HIV-positive women over age 50 in Harlem, N.Y. The Divas is organized through Iris House, an HIV/AIDS service center that opened 15 years ago in Harlem.

19 May 2008

Taiwan approves WTO amendment allowing countries to export lower-cost versions of antiretrovirals, other drugs to developing countries

Taiwan's legislative body the Yuan on Thursday approved the first reading of a proposed World Trade Organization amendment that would allow pharmaceutical companies to make lower-cost versions of generic antiretroviral drugs, as well as drugs for malaria and other diseases, to sell to developing countries, the CNA/Taipei Times reports.

19 May 2008

Handicap International launches program in Rwanda to address HIV/AIDS among blind people

Efforts to address HIV/AIDS in Rwanda have not included blind people, Jacques Sindayigaya, Handicap International's coordinator of a new program to address the virus in the population, said Monday during a workshop in Rwanda's capital of Kigali, the New Times/AllAfrica.com reports.

19 May 2008

Online game aims to raise HIV/AIDS awareness

The New York Times on Monday examined an Internet game, called Pos or Not, that aims to increase HIV/AIDS education and awareness.

19 May 2008

NIH launches undiagnosed diseases program

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced a new clinical research program that will aim to provide answers to patients with mysterious conditions that have long eluded diagnosis. Called the Undiagnosed Diseases Program, the trans-NIH initiative will focus on the most puzzling medical cases referred to the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., by physicians across the nation.

19 May 2008

Average 2008 employee out-of-pocket costs for family health care to increase 10.5%, according to Milliman Index

The cost of health care for the average U.S. family with employer-sponsored health coverage will increase 7.6% this year, due in part to rising prescription drug prices, according to a Milliman study released on Wednesday, Dow Jones reports.

19 May 2008

Senate leaders agree on privacy protections amendment to health care information technology bill

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Wednesday announced that sponsors of a bill (HR 1693) that would promote the use of health care information technology have agreed to include an amendment Leahy proposed to help protect patient privacy, CQ HealthBeat reports. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) introduced the legislation last October.

19 May 2008

Coalition proposes using Medicaid, SCHIP funds to purchase private coverage for uninsured

Officials from the Healthcare Leadership Council, a coalition of health insurers, academics, hospitals and other health care groups, proposed using Medicaid and SCHIP funds to purchase private coverage for uninsured U.S. residents, CQ HealthBeat reports.

19 May 2008

NYT examines limited options for disabled children who reach age 18

The New York Times on Wednesday examined how as "medical advances have allowed patients who might have died as children to survive into adulthood, the patients are falling into a void in a health care system that has yet to develop institutions for the young and 'medically fragile.'"

19 May 2008

Two California health insurers agree to reinstate coverage for 1,200 people whose policies were rescinded after incurring high medical bills

California health insurers Kaiser Permanente and Health Net on Thursday agreed to reinstate coverage to about 1,200 individuals whose policies were improperly rescinded, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

19 May 2008

Michigan Judge rules against Blue Cross Blue Shield rate hikes, cites large surplus

A Michigan administrative law judge on Wednesday ruled that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan would not be justified in increasing premiums by 24% to 42% for individual health insurance plans, the Detroit Free Press reports.

19 May 2008

House Committee holds hearing on concerns about nursing home ownership, inspections

The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Thursday held a hearing to examine the effects that the "increasingly veiled nature" of nursing home ownership and problems with inspections have had on the quality of care for elderly and disabled residents, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 5/15).

19 May 2008

Cleveland Clinic Medical School to offer no-cost education for students pursuing academic careers

The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University on Thursday announced that all future students entering the school will be given full scholarships in an effort to promote academic medicine as a career path among medical students, the Wall Street Journal reports.

19 May 2008

More than 10,000 beneficiaries enrolled in Oklahoma insurance premium assistance program

Enrollment in the Oklahoma Employer/Employee Partnership for Insurance Coverage, the state's health insurance premium assistance program, has exceeded 10,000 beneficiaries for the first time in the program's three-year history, the Oklahoman reports.

19 May 2008

Health Ministers to discuss issues surrounding drug patents, access at World Health Assembly

Health ministers from countries worldwide next week at the World Health Assembly will discuss issues surrounding patents and access to drugs for diseases such as HIV/AIDS in developing countries, Reuters UK reports.

19 May 2008

Researchers discover 'reservoir' that allows HIV to remain infectious despite treatment

Researchers at Brigham Young University and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered a human cell "reservoir," called follicular dendritic cells, that allows HIV to stay in an infectious state and not respond to antiretroviral drugs, the Deseret Morning News reports.

19 May 2008

Effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy causing 'complacency' among high-risk groups

HIV/AIDS clinicians and scientists have been "witness to a transformation in disease management that is virtually unprecedented in the history of medicine," Mark Wainberg, director of McGill University's AIDS Centre at Jewish General Hospital, and Julio Montaner, director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, write in a National Post opinion piece.

19 May 2008

Health Care News and Research

Industry group letter indicates qualified aupport for bill to allow approval of generic biotechnology medications

Bush Administration should 'rethink' immigration detention policies, editorial states

National Community Pharmacists Association to launch ad campaign to lobby lawmakers for policy changes

New York Times profiles support group for HIV-positive women over age 50

Taiwan approves WTO amendment allowing countries to export lower-cost versions of antiretrovirals, other drugs to developing countries

Handicap International launches program in Rwanda to address HIV/AIDS among blind people

Online game aims to raise HIV/AIDS awareness

NIH launches undiagnosed diseases program

Average 2008 employee out-of-pocket costs for family health care to increase 10.5%, according to Milliman Index

Senate leaders agree on privacy protections amendment to health care information technology bill

Coalition proposes using Medicaid, SCHIP funds to purchase private coverage for uninsured

NYT examines limited options for disabled children who reach age 18

Two California health insurers agree to reinstate coverage for 1,200 people whose policies were rescinded after incurring high medical bills

Michigan Judge rules against Blue Cross Blue Shield rate hikes, cites large surplus

House Committee holds hearing on concerns about nursing home ownership, inspections

Cleveland Clinic Medical School to offer no-cost education for students pursuing academic careers

More than 10,000 beneficiaries enrolled in Oklahoma insurance premium assistance program

Health Ministers to discuss issues surrounding drug patents, access at World Health Assembly

Researchers discover 'reservoir' that allows HIV to remain infectious despite treatment

Effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy causing 'complacency' among high-risk groups

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