News

5 million adults age 19 to 23 didn't have health insurance in 2006 for the whole year.

Aetna study shows HSAs save money for members and employers.

Educate policymakers on the industry to avoid bad or over-simplified healthcare reform legislation.

Executives are poised to push a well-thought-out wellness program for employers.

Study finds that Americans have limited understanding when it comes to the cost and effectiveness of generic drugs.

Crackdown on Medicare fraud enforced by DOJ and HHS.

Industry weighs the pros and cons of an Obama-appointed Federal Insurance Czar.

A matched, case-control analysis demonstrated an association between the use of stimulant medications (used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) and sudden unexplained death in children and adolescents.

Generic drug approved by FDA (through July 2009): melphalan injection

This review highlights treatment guidelines, disease staging criteria, and new therapeutic approaches to MM, including an overview of supportive care and emerging pipeline agents.

New indication: Tadalafil (Adcirca), a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, was approved on May 22, 2009, for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (WHO Group I)

New molecular entity: Tolvaptan (Samsca), a vasopressin receptor antagonist, was approved on May 19, 2009, for the treatment of clinically significant hypervolemic and euvolemic hyponatremia

Recent FDA action (through July 2009) related to bucindolol, botulinum toxin type A, rivaroxaban, quetiapine, olanzapine, ziprasidone, ofatumumab, pegloticase, pralatrexate, melphalan, and paclitaxel

Milnacipran was recently approved by FDA for the management of fibromyalgia syndrome. Clinical trials have demonstrated that this agent may be a reasonable alternative or adjunct therapy for patients with fibromyalgia syndrome who are unable to tolerate first-line tricyclic antidepressant therapy.

New indication: Zoledronic acid (Reclast), a bisphosphonate, was approved on May 29, 2009, for the prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women

Lawyers are not expected to be technology experts, but they must be able to understand where relevant data exists and what steps must be taken to satisfy preservation and discovery obligations

Private insurers might need to offer parallel incentives for the accountable care organization model to have critical mass in paying for quality

Evaluate technology devices that your members use to determine the best ways to reach them with health outreach, enrollment, hot transfer and care coordination

Dutasteride reduces the risk of biopsy-detectable prostate cancer by approximately one-fourth in men at high risk for the disease without increasing the risk of high-grade cancers, said Gerald L. Andriole, Jr, MD, at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2009 Annual Meeting.

Pfizer is discontinuing a phase 3 study of sunitinib plus paclitaxel versus bevacizumab plus paclitaxel for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced breast cancer.

FDA has notified healthcare professionals that there is a risk of serious liver injury, including liver failure or death, with the use of propylthiouracil in both adult and pediatric patients.

Centocor Ortho Biotech has issued a Dear Healthcare Professionals letter to remind healthcare providers that golimumab (Simponi), a tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha blocker, is associated with a risk of serious fungal infections.

Sipuleucel-T represents the "first active immunotherapy to demonstrate improvement in overall survival for advanced prostate cancer," said David Penson, MD, MPH, who announced the results of a phase 3 study known as Immunotherapy for Prostate Adenocarcinoma Treatment (IMPACT), at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2009 Annual Meeting.

A prospective pharmacoepidemiologic cohort study published in JAMA demonstrated that hospitalized patients treated with acid-suppressive medications were 30% more likely to develop hospital-acquired pneumonia than those who were not treated with acid-suppressive medications.

A prospective study published in Archives of Internal Medicine demonstrated that despite standardization of data entry within the computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system in a specific healthcare facility, inconsistent communication in orders entered into the CPOE posed a significant safety risk.

A proposal by Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D), to establish member-run healthcare ?co-operatives? is gaining attention.

While evidence-based plan designs are still evolving, they are improving health outcomes, say experts

The aging population and the huge unmet needs are fueling the focus on biologics, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

In the wake of healthcare reform, pharmaceutical executives help take charge.

Five Blues plans collaborate to provide online, consumer-friendly healthcare cost information.