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AHF applauds Merck for doubling Isentress discount rebates and freezing price for ADAPs

Following an innovative, years long advocacy campaign spearheaded by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) that targeted Merck and Co. Pharmaceuticals over the pricing of its AIDS drug Isentress—one of the most expensive first line AIDS therapies on the US market today—officials from AHF lauded Merck today for significant concessions that the drug giant is putting in place on its pricing and rebate policies for the nation's AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP), the federally funded, state run programs that supply lifesaving AIDS drugs to low-income Americans in need.

28 Apr 2010

Kaiser Permanente approves over 250 grants and donations totaling $7 million

Kaiser Permanente, one of America's leading health care providers and nonprofit health plans, announced today it approved more than 250 grants and donations nationwide totaling approximately $7 million in the first quarter of 2010. The grants focused on expanding access to nutritious food, providing safe spaces for all ages to increase physical activity, increasing opportunities for continuing education, and eliminating health disparities.

28 Apr 2010

Top ten tips for managing healthcare

America's healthcare system is about to undergo the most fundamental transformation in our nation's history. An already over-stressed system must absorb 32 million new patients at the same time that the country's huge baby boomer population is likely to need ever more medical attention as they age. And many of our most experienced and talented physicians will soon reach retirement age, leaving fewer experienced doctors to treat more patients.

28 Apr 2010

Maryland startup Rhemisphere signs agreement with UMB for right to commercialize Blink system

Maryland startup Rhemisphere, LLC has licensed a unique, "all-in-one" patient monitoring system invented by clinical researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

28 Apr 2010

State Round-up: Federal prosecutors investigate bid rigging at New York hospitals; Montana prepares for health reform implementation; and Florida spares Medicaid from budget cuts

The Wall Street Journal: "Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that bid rigging and fraud at Mount Sinai Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital resulted in the hospitals awarding contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to outside contractors. Purchasing officials at the hospitals ... are alleged to have gotten more than a million dollars in payments from companies that were then given lucrative contracts to perform work such as re-insulating pipes and removing asbestos, according to documents filed in the Southern District of New York.

28 Apr 2010

Trade negotiations between EU, India could affect access to low-cost generics

The Associated Press examines the ongoing free-trade negotiations between the EU and India - a country that according to PricewaterhouseCoopers currently "makes one-fifth of the world's generics." The negotiations "could make it harder for millions … across the developing world to get lifesaving drugs. The deal is taking shape as India tries to transform itself from a generics powerhouse into a base for drug discovery - a trend that could ultimately do more than any trade agreement to curtail its reign as a pharmacy to the poor."

28 Apr 2010

53% of middle-aged Americans favor new health care legislation: Poll

Overall, support for the new health care legislation remains low, but a new poll indicates that middle-aged Americans are much more likely to approve of it.

28 Apr 2010

Master's programs focus on new generation of health care management professionals

Health care management is growing in popularity among business schools, according to a report in the New York Times. "Health care is the target career for 10 percent of students working on a master of business administration degree at Harvard Business School," according to the Times. Many other universities are also highlighting programs that meld health care and management.

28 Apr 2010

FDA issues warning over faulty components in external defibrillators

About 280,000 external defibrillators used worldwide in health care facilities, public places, or in the home may malfunction during attempts to rescue people in sudden cardiac arrest, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned today.

28 Apr 2010

Companies providing home care receive large Medicare reimbursements

An analysis of Medicare payments to home health care companies by The Wall Street Journal indicates that some might be taking advantage of the system. According to the analysis, the industry's largest company, Amedisys Inc., "provided many of its patients just enough therapy visits to trigger the extra $2,200 payment.

28 Apr 2010

Commission on debt will focus on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security

Lawmakers are prepping for a battle over the role of government in entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid as a the Commission on Fiscal Responsbility and Reform prepares to begin work Tuesday, The Washington Post reports.

28 Apr 2010

Holtz Children's Hospital expands Pediatric Dialysis Unit

Jackson Memorial Hospital's Holtz Children's Hospital celebrated the renovation of the Pediatric Dialysis Unit Tuesday morning by honoring the Batchelor Foundation, George E. Batchelor, founder; Alonzo Mourning and Zo's Fund for Life; the Jackson Memorial Foundation Guardian Angels; and Alma Hernandez, in memory of her husband Dr. Ismael Hernandez. Together, they raised all of the $800,000 needed for the project.

28 Apr 2010

News outlets continue malaria coverage

World Malaria Day was Sunday and news organizations continued to cover local events.

28 Apr 2010

Ontario seniors stand against McGuinty government's $750M cuts to front-line healthcare

The Alliance of Seniors/Older Canadians Network, an organization of approximately 20 seniors organizations, representing in excess of 200,000 seniors across Ontario, along with concerned seniors from our communities, have come out today to stand against the McGuinty government's $750M cuts to front-line healthcare.

28 Apr 2010

Moody's report: States will feel pinch of reform's Medicaid, health care expansions

"The Medicaid expansion under health reform is expected to strain state budgets already distressed by the recession, despite delays for new eligibility rules and federal aid, Moody's Investors Service said in a newly released report. States that see the largest gains in Medicaid enrollment under health reform will likely see the greatest financial burden, Moody's said."

28 Apr 2010

AstraZeneca to pay $520 million in largest pharmaceutical civil settlement

AstraZeneca will pay the federal government $520 million in civil fines to settle charges of off-label marketing of the powerful antipsychotic drug Seroquel. The settlement is the largest pharmaceutical civil settlement and among the top five civil and criminal drug company settlements in U.S. history.

28 Apr 2010

Doctors struggle to contact ER patients as departments bear larger patient burden

MSNBC: Doctors in ERs face significant barriers in providing the best care when phone numbers that patients give turn out to be fake or inaccurate. "It's a scenario becoming more common in emergency departments across the country, where doctors from Connecticut to Colorado say they find themselves desperately seeking patients with potentially serious or life-threatening illnesses and injuries.

28 Apr 2010

TUH, PASNAP reach tentative 4-year agreement

Temple University Hospital (TUH) and the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals (PASNAP) have reached tentative 4-year contract agreements for the bargaining units that represent the Hospital's nurses and technical/professional employees, respectively.

28 Apr 2010

House lawmaker discusses possible five-year Medicare physician payment fix

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the House might introduce legislation that would end the need for a constant Medicare payment fix, at least for five years. "Industry sources said that a five-year extension would not require offsets under recent pay-as-you-go rules. However, they said they were not aware of any legislative proposals.

28 Apr 2010

CNN: Hospital markup on supplies can be big

CNN: "When Dr. Linda Galloway learned she needed surgery to save her vision, she scheduled the procedure immediately with her opthamologist. And what an eye-opener it was - when the hospital bill arrived."

28 Apr 2010