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Gold Standard/Elsevier continues to publish transparent drug pricing information

Gold Standard/Elsevier, publisher of drug information databases and decision support solutions, has announced its commitment to continue publishing transparent drug pricing information, including average wholesale price and all other current and future pricing benchmarks. This announcement comes amidst statements by other drug database suppliers indicating they will discontinue publishing AWP in 2011.

19 May 2010

HHS sends letter to Committee on Education and Labor over improper practices by Head Start grantees

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a letter to Chairman George Miller and the Committee on Education and Labor regarding the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into improper practices by Head Start grantees. The investigation is the subject of the Committee's upcoming hearing. Secretary Sebelius' letter outlines HHS's plans and steadfast commitment to upholding the integrity of this critical program.

19 May 2010

Loyola conducts heart health-risk assessment and screening program for EMS providers

Research suggests that stress can take its toll on even the toughest first responders. Loyola University Health System is taking steps to protect firefighters and paramedics who risk their lives and perform other heroic measures to help those in need. The organization will offer heart health-risk assessments and screenings to its network of more than 3,000 emergency medical services (EMS) providers. This is part of Loyola's efforts to celebrate its 35th anniversary as an emergency medical services resource hospital.

19 May 2010

Global Health Partner inaugurates own clinic for obesity and metabolic disorders in Prague

Global Health Partner has inaugurated its own clinic for the treatment of obesity and metabolic disorders in Prague and the first obesity operations have been performed. The Czech Republic has a well insured population where patient flows are directed to clinics with strong medical results. "The Czech Republic is one of the markets that we have identified as interesting.

19 May 2010

Study demonstrates need for understanding societal, economic impact of growing medicalization

Menopause. Normal pregnancy. Infertility. ADHD. Erectile dysfunction. Over the last several decades, these conditions have come to be defined and treated as medical problems. They've been "medicalized." In the first study of its kind in the current issue of Social Science and Medicine, Brandeis researchers used national data to estimate the costs of these and a handful of other common conditions on escalating U.S. healthcare spending.

19 May 2010

People with asthma or COPD at risk from oil-dispersing chemicals

Oil washing ashore and the chemicals used in the clean up may pose a health risk for those who have respiratory diseases according to an environmental allergy-asthma expert.

19 May 2010

Diabetic patients with limited health literacy are at higher risk for hypoglycemia: Study

People with diabetes who have limited health literacy are at higher risk for hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, CA.

19 May 2010

Physician cost profiles can vary widely depending upon methods used by insurance companies: Study

Profiles created for physicians based on the cost of the care they provide can vary widely depending upon the methods used by insurance companies to create the profiles, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

19 May 2010

Medical spending spiking in once thrifty areas

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jordan Rau, working in collaboration with The Washington Post, reports on Provo, Utah: "If there is any place that should have medical spending under control, this is it" (Rau, 5/18).

19 May 2010

CRE launches new Web-based Interactive Public Docket on FDA Tobacco Advisory Committee

The watchdog group Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) today launched an initiative to bring sunlight and transparency to the Food and Drug Administration's tobacco advisory committee examining the potential regulatory efforts surrounding menthol cigarettes, dissolvable tobacco products and other issues. As to the broader issue of governance, the tobacco advisory committee is an operating arm of FDA, not an ad hoc committee of experts who render advice on select issues assigned by a regulatory agency and as such should be transparent and accountable to the public.

19 May 2010

AP examines HIV microbicides, prep research

"Try after try to make vaginal creams that could repel the AIDS virus have failed. Now researchers are testing if a drug used to treat HIV infection finally might give women a tool to prevent it - by infusing the medicine into vaginal gels and contraceptive-style rings," the Associated Press reports in a piece that examines researchers' latest efforts to create effective HIV microbicides, ahead of the biennial International Microbicides Conference next weekend.

19 May 2010

IMI to provide University of California-Irvine Medical Center supplemental IONM services

Impulse Monitoring, Inc. (IMI), a leading provider of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) services to hospitals, today announced that it has signed an agreement with the University of California-Irvine Medical Center to provide supplemental IONM technologist and real-time physician oversight support services.

19 May 2010

Study: ICU patients without insurance coverage more likely to die

A study released Monday has found that intensive care patients who didn't have insurance were 21 percent more likely to die than those with insurance in Pennsylvania, Reuters reports. The University of Pennsylvania researchers' "study of intensive care units or ICUs in Pennsylvania adds to arguments that a lack of health insurance can be deadly.

19 May 2010

Hospitals experiment with new marketing, but critics say money should be spent on health care

Hospital marketing can be an effective way to attract doctors and new patients, but some critics say hospitals should spend the money on health care instead.

19 May 2010

Physicians opting out of some insurance create two-tiered medical system

The Fiscal Times: "A small but growing number of physicians are ... abandoning traditional insurance-based practice to offer VIP treatment, including more time with patients, in return for upfront fees. In one common setup, often called concierge or retainer-based medicine, a primary care doctor charges an annual fee ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 just to get in the door.

19 May 2010

Former NIH chief Varmus to head National Cancer Institute

The New York Times: "Dr. Harold E. Varmus, a Nobel Prize-winning biologist and former director of the National Institutes of Health, will become director of the National Cancer Institute, the White House announced Monday. President Obama selected Dr. Varmus, who is now president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, after a lengthy search. Dr. Varmus is expected to shake up the much-criticized federal cancer program" (Pear, 5/17).

19 May 2010

Massachusetts insurers blame caps on rate increases for large losses

Four of Massachusetts largest health insurers posted first-quarter losses with three blaming Gov. Deval Patrick's rate increase caps for the bulk of the financial hit that totaled more than $150 million.

19 May 2010

Insuring your health: New health law throws lifeline to 'uninsurables'

In this new KHN consumer column, produced in collaboration with The Washington Post, Michelle Andrews writes about high-risk pools: "If you're sick - or have ever been sick - and can't get insurance, the new health-care law promises fast relief: access to guaranteed coverage through a special federally funded insurance program starting in July.

19 May 2010

Market for telehealth and home health monitoring to grow up to $7.7 billion by 2012: Survey

AMERICAN TELEMEDICINE ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING - Health care delivery in the United States will undergo dramatic changes over the next 10 years through the adoption of telehealth, according to a national survey of health care and information technology professionals sponsored by Intel Corporation.

19 May 2010

Minn. budget deal postpones key Medicaid decision

Minnesota's Democratic-controlled legislature ended a budget standoff Monday with Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty that focused on an impasse over Medicaid policy, The Wall Street Journal reports.

19 May 2010

Healthcare News

Gold Standard/Elsevier continues to publish transparent drug pricing information

HHS sends letter to Committee on Education and Labor over improper practices by Head Start grantees

Loyola conducts heart health-risk assessment and screening program for EMS providers

Global Health Partner inaugurates own clinic for obesity and metabolic disorders in Prague

Study demonstrates need for understanding societal, economic impact of growing medicalization

People with asthma or COPD at risk from oil-dispersing chemicals

Diabetic patients with limited health literacy are at higher risk for hypoglycemia: Study

Physician cost profiles can vary widely depending upon methods used by insurance companies: Study

Medical spending spiking in once thrifty areas

CRE launches new Web-based Interactive Public Docket on FDA Tobacco Advisory Committee

AP examines HIV microbicides, prep research

IMI to provide University of California-Irvine Medical Center supplemental IONM services

Study: ICU patients without insurance coverage more likely to die

Hospitals experiment with new marketing, but critics say money should be spent on health care

Physicians opting out of some insurance create two-tiered medical system

Former NIH chief Varmus to head National Cancer Institute

Massachusetts insurers blame caps on rate increases for large losses

Insuring your health: New health law throws lifeline to 'uninsurables'

Market for telehealth and home health monitoring to grow up to $7.7 billion by 2012: Survey

Minn. budget deal postpones key Medicaid decision

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

How cohesin mechanics and nanotracker tech are redefining DNA research

Todd Bauman and Chris Povich

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