Medicine & Health articles from December 2004

Medicine & Health archives from December 2004

Thompson resignation shakes up HHS, CMS.(People)(Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who has served since President Bush came into office, announced his resignation Dec. 3. Thompson will continue in office until Feb. 4 or a new Secretary is confirmed. For a man who really...

Policies sought to slam window against pandemic flu.
December 6, 2004... As a popular kids' rhyme had it during the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed between 50 and 100 million people worldwide: "I had a little birdy. His name was Enza. I opened the window, and in-flu-enza." Today, once again, the window is...

Disparities continue in US HIV infection rates.(HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... An estimated 850,000-950,000 Americans are infected with the HIV virus, including 180,000-280,000 who don't know they are infected, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in its Dec. 3 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. ...

Omnibus increase big for veterans, modest for NIH.(Appropriations)
December 6, 2004... Veterans health spending received a significant increase in the generally tight fiscal year 2005 omnibus appropriations bill Congress passed Nov. 20. The $388.4 billion measure, HR 4818, wraps together the nine FY 2005 spending bills...

Spending bill bars states from requiring abortion services.(Abortion)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... The newly passed fiscal year 2005 omnibus spendling bill bars all levels of government from subjecting physicians' offices, hospitals, clinics, and health plans to "discrimination" because they refuse to "provide, pay for, provide coverage of,...

Cost growth slowdown: if you blinked, you missed it.(Health Care Costs)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... You know that slowing in the growth rate for health care costs? It may well be over. That's the message from the Center for Studying Health System Change. "Early 2004 health care cost data suggest that the decline in spending growth has...

More drugs? Fewer drugs? Formulary wars rage on.(Medicare Drug Benefit)
December 6, 2004... As the countdown proceeds toward the January 2006 launch of the full prescription-drug benefit, sparring continues over how wide a choice of medications a beneficiary will get in a Medicare private health plan or prescription drug plan. ...

Australian trade agreement to start Jan. 1, but battles loom.(Pharmaceuticals and Trade Agreements)
December 6, 2004... On Nov. 18, the U.S. and Australian governments announced that their new bilateral free-trade agreement will take effect Jan. 1. The AUSFTA includes provisions affecting negotiations between brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers and...

QI-1 program extended without offsets, but effort to save SCHIP money fails.(In Other News)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... In a Nov. 19 voice vote, the House acted to retroactively extend a program that pays the Medicare Part B premium for low-income seniors. S 2618, which the Senate passed Nov. 16 by unanimous consent, keeps the QI-1 program in operation until...

GAO says cancer drug payments will stay above costs.(In Other News)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Even under the new "average sales price" methodology mandated in the Medicare Modernization Act, designed to reduce overpayments for anti-cancer drugs and other medications, drug reimbursements to oncologists will exceed their acquisition costs...

Only one-fifth of eligible beneficiaries signed up for drug-card low-income assistance.(In Other News)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Around 1.4 million--or about 20 percent of Medicare beneficiaries believed to be eligible--are now signed up for the $600 of so-called transitional assistance that accompanies Medicare's prescription-drug discount card for low-income...

Arnold & Porter LLP.(People)(Brief Article)
December 6, 2004... Dara Corrigan, former acting inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, has joined the Washington office of Arnold & Porter LLP as a partner. Corrigan will be co-leader of the firm's pharmaceutical and medical-device...

Middling number of regions leaves plan participation in doubt.(Medicare Private Plans)
December 13, 2004... Saying that its key goal was to maximize insurer participation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dec. 6 announced the map of regions that private regional preferred provider organizations and prescription drug plans will serve...

Analysts want to buy value, but public may not be ready.(In Medicine & Health Perspectives this week ...)
December 13, 2004... This is the second in a Perspectives series on policy issues related to covering new services and technologies. The first was published Nov. 1. How can new--and virtually always expensive--health technology be made available to patients...

Geographic care variation rears its head in new programs.(Medicare Private Plans)
December 13, 2004... Many competing goals played into the thinking of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials as they drew the map of new Medicare regions that private regional preferred provider organizations and prescription drug plans will serve...

Omnibus zeroes out health info tech chief.(Appropriations)
December 13, 2004... The Bush administration requested a modest $50 million in fiscal year 2005 funding for its health information technology chief coordinator, David Brailer. In its spending legislation, the House provided an even more modest $25 million. But...

P4P: data not a problem; specialties might be.(MedPAC)
December 13, 2004... The panel won't vote until next month, but the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission looks poised to make major new recommendations on adopting pay-for-performance programs in Medicare in its March 2005 report. At its Dec. 9 meeting, the panel...

U.S. to import flu vaccine.(Influenza)
December 13, 2004... On Dec. 7, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced that the United States will buy up to 4 million German-made doses of GlaxoSmithKline's flu vaccine, Fluarix, with 1.2 million doses arriving this month and the remainder...

Barton pushing reforms for Medicaid drug payments.(Medicaid)(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... House Energy and Commerce chair Joe Barton (R-TX) wants the 109th Congress to rid Medicaid of the Average Wholesale Price method of prescription drug reimbursement. Taxpayers "could save hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars a...

Omnibus delays 75 percent rule, but not for long.(In Other News)(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... * Omnibus Delays 75 Percent Rule, But Not For Long. The fiscal year 2005 omnibus spending bill gives the hospital industry some delay in implementation of the so-called 75 percent rule, but not the lengthy delay the industry hoped for. The...

Don't know much about history ...(In Other News)
December 13, 2004... * Don't Know Much About History... It's not clear how much American voters know about history in general, but a new survey reveals that they know next to nothing about 2003's Medicare Modernization Act. Most senior voters also don't see...

Catholic Health Association of the United States.(People)(Brief Article)
December 13, 2004... Rev. Michael Place has announced that he will resign as president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States. He'll leave his CHA post in February after seven years on the job.