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Congress approved the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) in September after a lengthy debate that resulted in compromises on many issues. The resulting law contains numerous provisions designed to better inform the public about drug safety and provides new tools for FDA to reduce risks and unsafe drug use.

Medicare advantage enrollment reflects the relative maturity of managed care markets generally, and the attractiveness of those markets from economic and demographic standpoints for these plans to operate in, experts say.

Employees have been receiving paychecks via direct deposit for almost 40 years. In 2005, there were 4.4 billion direct deposits. Physicians, however, have some catching up to do.

As the debate over healthcare reform accelerates, policy makers are weighing in with proposals to unlink coverage from the work place.

A national examination of disease prevalence among Medicaid beneficiaries underscores ways that managed care plans can rethink care management approaches for high-need, high-cost beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.

Emergency departments (EDs) are a critical safety net for all Americans, and that net is becoming evermore threadbare. It's downright scary when you look closely at the reality of EDs today.

Efforts are now under way by leading health plans and employers to aggregate patient information into personal health records (PHRs). This aggregation of data into a patient-centered and patient-controlled record can empower healthcare consumers.

Evidence-based assessments of medical technologies can require specific criteria that meet government regulation as well as betters health outcomes.

Case management is critical to help measure a hospital's success in quality care and financial stability. As noted by the Case Management Society of America, a case manager must be an advocate for both hospital and patient.

The World Health Organization's latest version of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) will bring "the good, the bad, and the ugly" for nearly all who use this classification system. However, the biggest asset is that the latest version is much more detailed and organized than ICD-9.

An important component of the legislation that has not received a lot of press to date has been the Health Care and Quality Cost Council (HCQCC) which was established by the same health reform law that created the Connector.

What works for retail pharmacy patients should work for mail-order recipients, namely, personalized drug counseling. When consumers pick up their prescriptions at a local pharmacy, they have access to pharmacists who can advise them on how and when to take medications, warn them of potential side effects and discuss generic alternatives.

For payers struggling with unmanageable cost increases in the business of delivering care, however, price cannot be overlooked. Insurers don't necessarily deny coverage of a treatment just because it's expensive, but they would be remiss if they didn't take cost into consideration, as well as safety and effectiveness.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that former historian Jon Kingsdale, PhD, finds himself overseeing one of the most progressive healthcare initiatives in the country, the Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority. The Connector facilitates the purchase of health insurance for individuals and small businesses across New England.

Choice of law issues arising from coverage disputes of both individual and group insurance policies many times determine which party will prevail on the merits of a particular case. Also, in today's mobile economy, insurance transactions frequently cross state boundaries.

Change was in the wind as the Medicare Part D open enrollment period began last month. Most seniors who belong to stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs) face premium increases.

Medicare is a difficult market to be in and is going to get even more challenging in the next few years, experts say.

A recent survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 70% of those enrolled in consumer-directed health plans (CDHP) say that they consider costs when deciding to see a doctor or filling a prescription as compared with fewer than 40% of those in a comprehensive plan. However, the survey also found that CDHP enrollees were twice as likely to avoid, skip or delay healthcare services.

Increased insurance coverage should boost demand for medical services which would highlight concerns about access to medical care, particularly outside of Boston.

Groups such as WellPoint are turning specialty pharmacy into a highly beneficial business model for everyone from the non-clinician to physicians.

Primary care physicians and pediatricians who do not measure childhood body mass index (BMI) are missing a prime opportunity to prevent cardiovascular disease later in life.

Researchers in Japan have found that dark chocolate can have a positive impact on coronary circulation.

Persistence with statins is only approximately 50% by 12 months after therapy is started, with Spanish-speaking patients at highest risk of discontinuing therapy, said Michael H. Davidson, MD, during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, Nov. 3-7, 2007, in Orlando.

Therapeutic choices in interventional cardiology are often complicated by factors, such as gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, left anterior descending coronary artery stenosis, thrombocytopenia, and uncontrollable angina.

A leading expert on global inequalities in cardiovascular healthcare challenged the American Heart Association to take the lead in reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease worldwide.

Antihypertensive treatment that works in the summer may not be sufficient for wintertime blood pressure (BP) control.

Ranolazine extended-release significantly reduced the level of hemoglobin (Hb) A1c in patients with diabetes, allowing more of them to achieve the clinical HbA1c treatment target of less than 7.0%.

Two new studies presented during the American Hospital Association Scientific Sessions, Nov. 3-7, 2007, in Orlando, could speed the replacement of abciximab by eptifibatide in cardiac patients. EVA-AMI showed similar outcomes between the two drugs when used in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and BRIEF-PCI showed that a two-hour infusion of eptifibatide can be as effective as the standard 18-hour course following uncomplicated PCI procedures.

Bystanders and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are a life-saving combination.

Prasugrel, a new antiplatelet agent in Phase 3 clinical trials, is superior to clopidogrel in preventing major adverse cardiac events in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (pCI), but is associated with an increase in the risk of major bleeding.