News

Despite national efforts to eliminate healthcare disparities, the poor have higher hospital admissions rates for conditions such as diabetes and asthma.

Employers still confident that they will be offering healthcare benefits a decade from now, but economic downturn and talk of healthcare reform shakes it.

The disparity in coverage between oral and IV chemotherapy medication is a critical issue for patients and is being debated at the national and federal levels.

Women aren't making it to high levels in healthcare, so executives must review their succession plan and create an engaging culture.

Executives are recognizing the importance of vision care and its contribution to overall health.

Providers would like access to patient data beyond their own EMRs from retail clinics.

Communicating a culture of wellness and a supported program for members and families can help overcome childhood obesity.

Wal-Mart pharmacy programs has industry rethinking benefit approaches.

Independence Blue Cross premium increases illustrates the need for individual mandates and finding a way to level out risk pools.

Private fee-for-service plans are under scruntiny as perhaps being partly responsible for skyrocketing Medicare expenditures.

Rethink benefit options and watch for new consolidations in your local provider market

Providers, plans and pharma companies promise to produce savings through tried and true methods, but skeptics doubt they'll make any sacrifices

Prescribing psychotropic medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other disorders in children is common around the world, even though serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have been reported with the use of these drugs, said speakers at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP)/European Society for Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) International Congress on Clinical Pharmacy meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Results from the Regulation of Coagulation in Orthopaedic Surgery to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism 4 (RECORD4) trial published in Lancet demonstrated that rivaroxaban 10 mg once daily is superior to subcutaneous (SC) enoxaparin in preventing venous thromboembolism (VTE) after total knee arthroplasty.

Analysts speculate Health Net will sell off businesses in key states where it's not the market leader.

For personalized therapies to be incorporated into a plan's coverage, a commercially insured enrollee would need to stay with the plan for many years, as more expensive therapies require longer member retention to break even, according to Deloitte.

Individual, or short-term insurance is on the rise as more Americans face transitions due to difficult economic times.

As more Americans postpone healthcare due to the recession, Managed care executives need to get out in front of this issue now to start thinking about ways to provide monitoring and stop-gap care for those who need it most.

Federal government lags when it comes to domestic partners' equal treatment in benefit, but states make progress.

CPOE has received attention to reduce medication errors and adverse drug reactions, but adoption has been slow, according to data from the 2008 Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

New federal health IT leaders need to focus more on personal health records, says one expert.

FTC's August 1 enforcement of Red Flags rules to reduce identity theft requires healthcare providers to have written policies on how they will respond to the "red flags" of identity theft.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is confirmed as HHS Secretary.

Health plan industry keeps stakeholders informed in the midst of the swine flu outbreak.

2008 Top 100 branded drugs by total prescriptions and total retail dollars

The economic stimulus package approved by Congress in February provides more than $1 billion to support research on competing medical treatments. Although a fairly minor piece of the larger $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the provision set off widespread reaction to the possibility that comparative study results may be used to limit coverage of more expensive medicines.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and the leading cause of disability in the United States, especially among older adults. This article reviews nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic approaches to management of OA of the knee and hip.

Liraglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue that is currently pending FDA approval for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. This agent mimics the actions of food-induced endogenous GLP-1 release, thus causing glucose-dependent increased insulin secretion, decreased glucagon secretion, and reduced appetite and gastric emptying.

Generic drugs approved by FDA (through May 2009) including drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol, levalbuterol, and topiramate

Recent FDA action (through May 2009) related to budesonide/formoterol, sertindole, quetiapine, saxagliptin, bevacizumab, dronedarone, and ofatumumab