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President-elect Obama selects former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle as HHS secretary

The ability of health information exchanges to sustain themselves is questionable, so they must show that their data is worthy enough to outweigh the costs.

Ambitious new efforts to expand healthcare coverage may be ruled out in the near future.

Putting lab results into EHRs will clearly enrich data. However, CLIA and state laws pose a barrier that should be reconsidered.

PPIs and H2 -receptor blockers are standard treatment for peptic ulcers and GERD, but lifestyle changes and OTC products can help

The ability of health information exchanges to sustain themselves is questionable, so they must show that their data is worthy enough to outweigh the costs.

Health coverage is typically gender-balanced, but in some states, women are paying higher premiums that simply cannot be justified actuarially, according women's groups and some Congressional leaders.

Commonwealth Fund State Performance Ranking 2007: 8

CMS will begin demonstration projects to further test the promise of P4P by bundling payments for certain services as single case-rates

Triple-S hopes to leverage its local market success in Puerto Rico to gain new business within the United States' growing Hispanic population

Payers miss opportunities to reduce costs during times of transition between levels of care for hospitalized patients

Managed healthcare executives should take a new look at diagnosis decision support, which is less expensive than EMRs

In the midst of current financial turmoil, the industry entrusted with the greatest accumulation of funds is the insurance industry. MCOs and HMOs should expect greater scrutiny of their finances.

If MAC lists were not in place, prices for drugs would vary dramatically. Discounts for generic drugs would also decrease significantly.

Some green goals are consistent with functional requirements of the healthcare facility, but others may require trade-offs, including possible compromises on the project budget and schedule

On November 7, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco, California, overturned a previous ruling in the case of Conte v Wyeth and ruled that Wyeth, the manufacturer of Reglan (metoclopramide), should be held responsible for harm caused to Elizabeth Conte, who developed tardive dyskinesia after taking generic metoclopramide for nearly 4 years. The court upheld the previous ruling in favor of Purepac, Pliva, and Teva, manufacturers of generic metoclopramide.

In a large, population-based cohort study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, current use of statins by patients hospitalized with pneumonia was associated with a decreased risk of death after hospital admission compared with nonusers of statins.

Compared with biguanides, thiazolidinediones, meglitinides, and second-generation sulfonylureas, metformin is the sole oral therapy associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular (CV) mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a meta-analysis published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

In a survey of trends in diabetes treatment from 1994 to 2007, investigators observed an increasing incidence of diabetes, a greater variety of drugs and combinations available for treatment, and a marked increase in the annual cost of diabetes medications.

On November 3, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Wyeth v Levine; the ultimate decision of the Court on this case may set a precedent on the issue of pre-emption, a tenet that FDA actions regarding drug approvals and medication safety supersede state laws.

As conflicts of interest between academia and the pharmaceutical industry are again under investigation, several pharmaceutical companies and universities are beginning to change their policies on disclosures and funding.

One month after Merck announced that the company was discontinuing development of taranabant, an investigational selective blocker of the cannabinoid-1 (CB-1) receptor that was being studied for the treatment of obesity, Sanofi-Aventis and Pfizer announced that they were also halting the development of their investigational CB-1 receptor antagonists (rimonabant and CP-945,598, respectively).

On November 7, 2008, a California Intermediate Appellate Court in San Francisco held that the "common-law duty [of Wyeth] to use due care in formulating its product warnings extends to patients whose doctors foreseeably rely on its product information when prescribing metoclopramide, whether the prescription is written for and/or filled with Reglan or its generic equivalent."

A phase 2/3 trial of atacicept in combination with mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids for the treatment of lupus nephritis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus has been discontinued.

Study finds CT colonoscopies to be as effective as standard ones. This may prompt further coverage by health plans, as well as encourage more individuals to be screened for colon cancer.

Johnson & Johnson?s acquisition of HealthMedia Inc., a provider of Web-based behavioral interventions, speaks to the critical need for a dramatic shift in focus toward wellness and prevention.

Consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) can achieve significant cost savings for employers because these plans encourage employees to take advantage of the preventive benefits offered through these plans, according to a WellPoint study.

More than one-third of small employers don't offer benefit plans because it is too expensive, according to Mercer. Technology can be the key to making healthcare affordable for all by reducing the cost of delivering care.

Lack of access to care has nothing to do with insurance status. A study the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds that there is no evidence that, despite perceptions, uninsured adults are primarily responsible for overcrowding in ERs or are using ERs to seek treatment for minor illnesses.

The candidates are generally in agreement that the next administration should work toward reducing healthcare costs, delivering high-quality patient care, placing an increased emphasis on prevention, and providing coverage for an estimated 46 million uninsured Americans, but their proposals differ dramatically.