Well it appears that healthcare reform may come to a head next week. President Obama has said that he wants a vote on March 18th before he leaves for an overseas trip. Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid has sent a letter to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell outlining the Democrats plan to use the much talked about budget reconciliation plan to pass healthcare reform. That means that they can pass it with a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes needed for a supermajority to prevent a Republican filibuster. The Democrats no longer have the needed 60 votes due to the election of a republican to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy.

To complicate matters the day before Senator Reid sent his letter the 41 Senate Republicans signed a letter condemning the use of the reconciliation process to pass a partisan bill that represents one sixth of the economy. They say that the Senates “Byrd Rule” prevents the use of reconciliation to do anything other than revise the federal budget.

It’s heating up and we may all have our answer next week. It doesn’t seem to matter to many in Washington that it appears that the majority of Americans want healthcare reform, just not the one that they may be getting ready to vote on.  bjmdjd

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Healthcare Reform · reconciliation process · Senator Harry Reid · Senator Mitch McConnell

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the use of Botox for the treatment of increased stiffness and tightness in certain muscles of the upper extremities in patients with conditions like traumatic brain injury, stroke, and progressive multiple sclerosis.

They also reiterated that the treatment is not meant to be a substitute for physical therapy and rehabilitation and that there are many possible serious side effects with its use.  bjmdjd

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It looks like Medicare patients and the physicians that see them may be safe again for a while. The Senate today voted to delay the 21.2% Medicare physician pay cut until October 1, 2010. It will take effect if the House approves it and President Obama signs it. Both which will probably occur.

This is the same bill with extending unemployment benefits attached to it and extension of premium subsidies for those who are out of work under the COBRA program. Most Democrats voted for it in the Senate and most Republicans voted against it under the guise of not wanting to increase the deficit.

As I wrote earlier, I understand and agree with the deficit problem but the unemployed need some money to exist and Medicare patients need to be able to get an appointment to see their doctors. Hopefully Congress will finally create a permanent fix for the Medicare physician reimbursement problem that they have had to frequently cover with a band aid.  bjmdjd

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The results of two different studies that were scheduled to be presented today at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons detail the high rate of severe injuries to children who ride all terrain vehicles (ATVs). These injuries include spinal injuries, amputations, and even death.

A pediatric emergency medicine specialist at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital who was not involved in the studies said that ATV associated deaths increased almost 60% from 2000 to 2005 and non fatal accidents increased 48%. People, kids and adults, love them but these studies only reiterate what those of us in medicine already knew.  bjmdjd

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all terrain vehicles · American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons · ATVs · Botox · Food and Drug Administration · health · Medicare physician pay cut · muscle tightness and stiffness · Senate · wellness

For you gazillion men who are taking Flomax to treat your enlarged prostate you will be pleased to know that the first generic form has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

A California based company will be producing the first generic version of Flomax and the prescribing information and side effects will be the same as for the brand name version. You will notice one big difference though…the price! While the new price has not been announced you can bet it will be drastically cheaper.

Even though the patent for Flomax does not expire until April 2010 the new generic version is expected to be on the market this month.  bjmdjd

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Food and Drug Administration · generic Flomax · health · wellness

The heartburn drug Kapidex was approved for use in the United States in January 2009 for patients suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease and has become very popular. However, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pharmacists are frequently confusing Kapidex with the prostate cancer drug Casodex and the narcotic pain reliever Kadian.

For this reason starting next month Kapidex will be renamed and called Dexilant. The FDA said that they have no other problems with the drug other than the confusion caused by its name.  bjmdjd

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Casodex · Dexilant · Food and Drug Administration · health · Kadian · Kapidex renamed · wellness

As I predicted the Medicare disaster that I wrote about on 2/27/10 was averted when President Obama signed a bill postponing the physician pay cut of 21.2% until April 1st. Kentucky Senator Bunning had the bill held up along with several important attachments (like the unemployment benefits extension) until the Democrats could prove to him that they had a way to pay for it.

Organized medicine is still not pleased. There is something called the sustainable growth rate formula that is used to determine Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians. This formula is the reason that these pay cuts come up frequently and the congress has to waste time repealing or postponing them which is always what they end up doing. While this is responsible on their part and needs to be done, they could avoid the entire issue by permanently repealing the formula. Organized medicine has begged for this for some time.

Anyway all is well for the time being and hopefully congress will come up with a more permanent fix to the problem before April 1st. And hopefully Medicare patients will be able to get doctors appointments between now and then.  bjmdjd

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health · Medicare physician pay cut · President Obama · Senator Bunning · sustainable growth rate formula · wellness

All the talk now is how expensive healthcare has become and the costs seem to be rising every day. The National Heart, Lung, and  Blood Institute has released some numbers that are staggering.

Below are the estimated direct and indirect 2010 costs (in billions…that’s with a “B”) in  the United States for the five most expensive diagnostic groups:

• $324.1 billion     Cardiovascular Diseases
• $225.2 billion     Digestive System
• $177.7 billion     Mental Health
• $175.4 billion     Nervous System
• $172.9 billion     Injury and Poisoning

As Healthcare Reform possibly looms in our future it’s important to remember what the real numbers are!  bjmdjd

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health · healthcare is expensive · Healthcare Reform · National Heart Lung and Blood Instutute · wellness