Objective: Pharmacy-managed medication assistance programs (MAP) have the potential to recoup losses incurred by the pharmacy department, but whether this offsets the personnel cost of the program has not been well-established. The purpose of this study was to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the pharmacy-managed MAP at an urban teaching clinic at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn.
Read More
Formulary policy to be shaped this year by Medicare, IT, and push for drug development
January 1st 2006The number-one health policy issue for the new year is to find ways to keep healthcare costs under control. An aging population and more costly medical technology could increase current spending trends. These developments could have an impact on efforts to reduce the number of uninsured people in the United States and could prompt initiatives to make consumers more aware of treatment costs and options.
Read More
Chest 2005: Sitaxsentan more effective than bosentan as PAH therapy
January 1st 2006Sitaxsentan, a highly selective endothelin-A (ET-A) receptor antagonist undergoing FDA review as an alternative to bosentan for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) treatment, demonstrated improved efficacy over bosentan in a recent study.
Read More
Chest 2005: Combination drug therapies may improve efficacy, reduce side effects in PAH
January 1st 2006Because several molecular pathways are relevant in the pathogenesis and progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), combinations of therapies are being explored to better manage the disease.
Read More
Chest 2005: Heparin antibodies, independent of HIT, common in patients undergoing cardiac surgery
January 1st 2006The presence of antibodies to heparin is an independent risk factor for potentially serious complications following cardiac surgery, even in patients who do not develop heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), said David Kress, MD, at the 71st international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Read More
Monoclonal antibody demonstrates efficacy in postmenopausal osteoporosis
January 1st 2006A pivotal phase 3 trial of a fully human monoclonal antibody, denosumab, that prevents bone destruction is under way and includes 7,800 postmenopausal, osteoporotic women aged 60 to 90 years. The primary endpoint is new vertebral fractures versus placebo and secondary end points are safety and tolerability of the new agent. Phase 2 clinical trials have demonstrated that denosumab is superior to aldendronate in preserving bone mineral density (BMD), reported researchers during the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego, Calif.
Read More
Study diminshes value of beta blockers in treatment of hypertension
January 1st 2006Beta blockers, touted for 3 decades as first-line drugs in the treatment of hypertension, are less than optimum in comparison to other antihypertensive drugs and raise the risk of stroke, according to a meta-analysis published online by The Lancet.
Read More
Early invasive stategy no better than selectively invasive approach for acute coronary syndromes
January 1st 2006Early invasive strategy, recommended by the current guidelines in the treatment of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), did not excel when compared with its more conservative alternative in a randomized study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Read More
Retrospective analysis demontrates that switching statins hinders treatment compliance, persistence
January 1st 2006Patients who have switched statins should receive special care as they are substantially less likely to be compliant and remain on the treatment long enough to obtain its full benefits, researchers reported in the American Journal of Managed Care.
Read More
Lower incidence of CHD, other vascular events observed with absolute reductions in LDD-C
January 1st 2006Utilizing statin therapy, researchers have provided further evidence that absolute reductions in LDL-C reduce the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and other major vascular events.
Read More
2005 AHA Scientific Sessions: EURIDES/ADONIS
January 1st 2006Dronedarone, a class III multichannel blocker developed for maintenance of sinus rhythm and ventricular rate control, reduces the risk of all-cause hospitalizations and death in patients with atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF/AFl), according to a post-hoc analysis of 2 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials.
Read More
2005 AHA Scientific Sessions: REVIVE II/SURVIVE trials
January 1st 2006The calcium sensitizer levosimendan was associated with an improvement in the clinical course of patients compared with placebo when used for the treatment of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), but the drug failed to reduce 6-month mortality when compared with dobutamine in a similar set of patients.
Read More
2005 AHA Scientific Sessions: CAF? trial
January 1st 2006Drugs that reduce brachial blood pressure similarly can have different effects on central blood pressure. This finding may explain differences in clinical end points between antihypertensive drugs that lower blood pressure similarly, said Bryan Williams, MD, lead investigator of the Conduit Artery Function Evaluation (CAF?) trial, a substudy of the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT).
Read More
2005 AHA Scientific Sessions: IDEAl trial
January 1st 2006In a trial comparing high-dose atorvastatin with moderate-dose simvastatin in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD), the aggressive LDL-lowering strategy offered no significant advantage over the less aggressive strategy in reducing the number of coronary events, said Terje R. Pedersen, MD.
Read More
2005 AHA Scientific Sessions: ERICA trial
January 1st 2006The anti-anginal agent ranolazine, in phase 3 clinical trials, reduced anginal frequency in patients experiencing 3 or more anginal attacks per week despite daily treatment with amlodipine 10 mg/d said Peter Stone, MD, lead investigator of the Evaluation of Ranolazine in Chronic Angina (ERICA) trial.
Read More
2005 AHA Scientific Sessions: PROactive
January 1st 2006An exploratory analysis of PROactive (Prospective Pioglitazone Clinical Trial In Macrovascular Events Study) demonstrated a significant reduction in the risk of a second coronary event in patients with type 2 diabetes who took pioglitazone.
Read More
2005 AHA Scientific Sessions: ACTIVE-W
January 1st 2006Oral anticoagulant therapy proved superior to the combination of clopidogrel and aspirin in preventing adverse vascular outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This outcome was observed in a large, multicenter trial at the 2005 AHA meeting in Dallas, comparing warfarin therapy with combination antiplatelet therapy in patients with AF.
Read More
Integrate a three-pronged wellness approach
January 1st 2006While healthcare costs are predicted to rise at a slower rate in 2006 than in recent years, employers will still pay an average of more than $8,400 per employee. This amounts to an 8% increase, roughly $600 per employee; employees will pay about $155 of that increase in 2006, a 10% rise from 2005 levels, according to the 17th Annual Towers Perrin Health Care Cost Survey released in September 2005.
Read More
Rapid- and slow-acting insulins help control diabetes
January 1st 2006If the united states' healthcare trend continues on its current course, in 20 years the number of people with diabetes will more than double to 50 million. This dismaying prediction comes from a new report from the Yale Schools of Public Health and Medicine in conjunction with the Institute for Alternative Futures. If the current trend continues, by 2025
Read More
On a national level, the Medicaid population has grown by 11 million since 1996 and has increasingly spread into managed care. Ten years ago, 40.1% of the 33 million Medicaid enrollees were covered by managed care plans, and as of June 2004, 60.6% of 44 million enrollees were covered by managed care, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Read More
Soft approach required for marketing Medicare drug plans
January 1st 2006The Medicare Advantage unit within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is keeping a watchful eye on improper marketing activities in the new, revamped Medicare product market. Medicare officials at CMS have received numerous complaints about the aggressive sales tactics being used by some insurance agents and insurers in the marketing of new Medicare prescription drug plans.
Read More
Healthcare and finance meld to serve the new market
January 1st 2006For some problems, there are no easy answers. Even the best solution might have detrimental drawbacks. We see this in healthcare every day when we try to deliver care to the uninsured, improve health through lifestyle changes or push the quality envelope.
Read More