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High OOP costs discouraging many cancer patients from filling prescriptions

A new study presented today at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy's 22nd Annual Meeting finds that one in six cancer patients with high out-of-pocket (OOP) costs abandons their medication. The study by Prime Therapeutics (Prime), a thought leader in pharmacy benefit management, found patients with an OOP cost greater than $200 were at least three times more likely to not fill their prescription than those with OOP costs of $100 or less.

12 Apr 2010

Medical clinic for the sole purpose of committing Medicare fraud

Miami residents Jose and Denisse Martinez were each sentenced today to three years in prison for their role in running a Canton, Mich.,-based drug infusion clinic designed to defraud Medicare, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS). U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts also ordered Jose and Denisse Martinez to pay $649,000 in restitution, jointly with co-defendants, and to each serve three years of supervised release following their prison terms.

12 Apr 2010

Patients receiving medications in 90-day supplies less likely to have adherence problems: Study

A new study presented today at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy's 22nd Annual Meeting by Prime Therapeutics, a thought-leader in pharmacy benefit management, provides new evidence to support an easy, low-cost way to help keep patients with chronic conditions on their medications: provide them with a three-month drug supply.

12 Apr 2010

Stupak to retire, Republicans continue to hit Democrats on health care

CBS News reports that Rep. Bart Stupak, a lightning rod holdout on health care reform who eventually voted for the law, will retire this year. "Had Stupak sought re-election, he would have faced challengers from both the left and the right backed by interest groups angered by Stupak's health care vote" (Condon, 4/9).

12 Apr 2010

Kaiser Health News examines health innovations from developing countries

Kaiser Health News examines several health care innovations that started out in developing countries and were then brought to the U.S.

12 Apr 2010

Health Alliance Medical Plans licenses Thomson Reuters Treatment Cost Calculator

Health Alliance Medical Plans, a provider-sponsored health insurer in the Midwest, has licensed Thomson Reuters Treatment Cost Calculator, an application that tells health plan members how much they will pay out-of-pocket for upcoming healthcare services.

12 Apr 2010

Ness Technologies led consortium to provide Electronic Healthcare Services system for Slovak Republic

Ness Technologies, Inc., a global provider of information technology solutions and services, announced today that Ness, as the leader of a consortium with its partner Lynx, Ltd., has won a public tender with the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic to provide the first phase of an Electronic Healthcare Services system, valued at EUR32.4 million, or approximately $44 million, excluding VAT. The term of the initial phase is 24 months.

12 Apr 2010

Firm hopes to save on health costs with concierge doctor

The (Milwaukee) Business Journal explores the story of Serigraph, a West Bend, Wis., company which gave up on "fine-tuning" insurance coverage for workers and turned to concierge medicine instead. "Industry experts said the move is one that other employers likely will begin considering as they grapple with increasing health care costs."

12 Apr 2010

Threats against lawmakers on the rise after health reform

Threats against lawmakers have risen threefold in recent months, The Washington Post reports. Lawmakers reported 42 threats in the first three months of this year, compared with 15 in last three months of 2009, said Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance W. Gainer, who had information about threats involving both chambers." Gainer said the threats ranged from "very vulgar to serious" and included death threats.

12 Apr 2010

Health insurance and new laws: Questions still abound

In Massachusetts, individuals and small businesses are in limbo about their future rates, The Boston Globe reports: "Hundreds of individuals and owners of small businesses seeking to buy health insurance this week were turned away from the state's Health Connector website as the standoff between insurers and Massachusetts regulators dragged" on.

12 Apr 2010

New York Attorney General: Some college health plans violate state regulations

An investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office into health insurance plans offered to college students found that most plans "pay out far less in benefits than they collect in premiums," sometimes in violation of state regulations.

12 Apr 2010

Johns Hopkins Hospital launches Meatless Monday campaign to encourage healthier

The Johns Hopkins Hospital will launch a campaign on Monday, April 12 to encourage healthier eating among patients, visitors and staff — Meatless Monday.

12 Apr 2010

Wireless technology and data systems transforming health care

News outlets report on the way that health information technology is changing the practice of medicine.

12 Apr 2010

Study finds overall increase in developing country domestic health spending, some countries have reduced health budgets as donor funding increases

Researchers on Friday released a study in the Lancet that found while "[m]ost countries in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East doubled their health budgets," countries in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have trimmed their health spending as donors have boosted their health aid, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

12 Apr 2010

NHS chief execs paid seven times more than nurses reveals report

According to newly revealed figures the managers of NHS trusts have received a pay rise of 6.9% in 2008-09 compared to less than 3% among the nurses. This data came forth in an ‘Incomes Data Services’ report that was based on data from more than 380 NHS trusts in England, including primary care, mental health and ambulance trusts. The report showed that the NHS Chief Executives earn seven times more than nurses. The top managers now make £147,500 according to the report which is £10,000 more than average workers. The NHS Confederation in reply said that these top managers were needed to bail them out from financial setbacks.

12 Apr 2010

Medicare Supplement changes with introduction of Modernized Medicare Supplement Plans

Medicare Supplement, the insurance millions of seniors buy to help cover their out-of-pocket medical expenses, is undergoing dramatic changes with the introduction of Modernized Medicare Supplement Plans, which become effective June 1, 2010.

12 Apr 2010

Pfizer discloses payments to doctors

In Pennsylvania, the payments suggested that "[p]harmaceutical company money continued flowing to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center doctors last year, despite a restrictive two-year-old policy designed to limit drug company influence, and reflecting the struggle academic medical centers face in distancing doctors from drug companies," the Pittsburgh Business Times reports

12 Apr 2010

Mental health respite center for women and children to close next month

New Zealand - Newell House (opened in 1995) is a small five bed unit that cares for mentally ill women and children. However due to shortage of funds, the Trustees from Oxford Terrace Baptist Church have announced that the unit may close down permanently by the end of May this year.

12 Apr 2010

Elmendorf: Health reform will reduce deficit, warns of fiscal crisis

In remarks to reporters Thursday, Congressional Budget Office director Doug Elmendorf warned of a looming budget crisis that "cannot be solved through minor tinkering." The nation's "unsustainable" spending could increase the national debt from $7.5 trillion at the end of 2009 to 20.3 trillion in 2020, when the debt would total 90 percent of gross domestic product, Elmendorf noted (Allen, 4/8).

12 Apr 2010

IHME researchers advocate greater transparency in financial reporting

The commitment to health by country governments in the developing world has grown dramatically over the last two decades, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and Harvard Medical School.

12 Apr 2010