I may be cynical but in my opinion rarely does the government do anything sensible and in the order in which it should be done. For instance, Medicare in the past has only covered smoking cessation counselling if the patient had already been diagnosed with a tobacco related disease or already had symptoms of such a disease. Seems a bit backwards to me.

But alas, the Dept. of Health and Human Services has announced that Medicare will now begin covering counselling for smoking for all Medicare patients! They must have done this by mistake but we’ll all hope that they don’t notice. This will be an excellent partner to the fact that Medicare Part D prescription drug plans already cover prescription smoking medications. bjmdjd

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Medicare · Medicare Part D · smoking cessation

Once again McNeil, Inc. has expanded their voluntary recall of various Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl products. You can go to www.mcneilproductrecall.com/page.jhtml?id=/include/prd_all.inc to find the various lot numbers that are affected.

This is an expansion of a recall of 60 million products made by McNeil during late 2009 and into early this year. The chances of becoming ill by using any of these products is felt to be remote but if you have them you should contact the company for instructions on what to do. To do so, visit the web site, www.mcneilproductrecall.com, or call 888-222-6036 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time and weekends, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time. bjmdjd

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Benadryl · Inc. · McNeil · Motrin · Tylenol · voluntary drug recall

A recent survey released by the American Medical Association found that it is getting harder for Medicare patients to get an appointment with a doctor. According to the physicians surveyed it’s because Congress failed to pass a permanent fix for the Medicare reimbursement crisis.

The crisis is due to calculating physician pay rates by using what is called the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. This calculation causes each scheduled pay cut to be greater than the last and recent pay cuts which were postponed were scheduled to be 21.3%.

17% of the physicians surveyed, 31% of primary care physicians, have cut back on the number of Medicare patients that they treat. Even though the scheduled physician pay cuts have been postponed by Congress every year since 2003 (4 times already in 2010) they have yet to pass a permanent solution to the problem.

Physicians feel that Medicare is an “unreliable payer” due to the fact that their rates are too low and that there are still threats of future pay cuts. The AMA is launching an advertising campaign urging Americans to contact their representatives and asking them to consider a permanent solution to the problem.

Until something is done to reassure physicians concerning their Medicare reimbursements seniors may find it challenging to get a doctor’s appointment especially if they don’t already have a regular physician.  bjmdjd

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American Medical Association · Medicare patients · Medicare reimbursement · sustainable growth rate formula

Drop side cribs may finally be meeting their waterloo. For many years several child advocate groups and government agencies have complained about the strangulation dangers of these cribs. There have been numerous infant and toddler deaths associated with these cribs in the last ten years.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been working on the problem for some time and now they have a senator from New York involved. Legislation was introduced this week that would ban the manufacture, sale, and resell of the cribs. They would also be banned in hotels and day care centers.

Seven million of these cribs have been recalled since 2005 and many stores have already stopped selling them. With what appears to be solid evidence that these cribs are definitely a strangulation danger for small children and infants, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is to be applauded for trying to accomplish something worthwhile in Congress. Now that’s a change for Congress.  bjmdjd

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Consumer Product Safety Commission · drop side cribs · Senator Kirsten Gillibrand · strangulation danger

An advisory panel recommended to the Food and Drug Administration last month that a ban on the use of tanning beds by anyone under the age of 18 be implemented. They stated that tanning beds are classified as class I medical devices which puts them in the same category as tongue depressors and elastic bandages which allows for very little over-site and regulation.

The American Academy of Dermatology has taken a strong stance against the use of tanning beds stating that skin cancer used to be a disease of older men but now it is becoming more common in young women in their teens and twenties. The exact sex and age group using tanning beds the most.

The tanning bed industry was well represented at the meeting saying that they were already well regulated and that there is much misinformation about tanning beds and their dangers.  Other recommendations concerning the use and regulation of tanning beds were also suggested. The FDA doesn’t have to take the advisory groups recommendations but they usually do. I guess that there are still plenty of smokers and cigarette industry reps who claim that there is no evidence that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer.  bjmdjd

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American Academy of Dermatology · Food and Drug Administration · tanning beds and skin cancer

I noticed that Katie Couric had a story on the salt/sodium intake of Americans on the “Evening News” last night.

The Institute of Medicine has asked the Food and Drug Administration to set new federal guidelines as to how much salt can be added to foods by restaurants, food and beverage service companies, and food manufacturers. The FDA is expected to make their decision soon after reviewing various information.

All parties concerned feel that as a country the U.S. has not had much luck in lowering the amount of salt/sodium intake in our foods. It is hoped that by requiring less salt in prepared meals and processed foods that total salt consumption will be greatly reduced.  bjmdjd

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Food and Drug Administration · Institute of Medicine · salt/sodium intake

Once again it appears that I am in the wrong business. Prescription drug sales in the U.S. climbed to $300.3 billion in 2009. Here are some interesting facts surrounding that number:

• 75% of all dispensed prescriptions were generic, up from 57% five years ago
• When a product goes generic almost all (around 90%) of the prescriptions are dispensed in their generic form
• Anti psychotics were the top selling class of drugs in the U.S. in 2009
• Acid reflux drugs were the second biggest selling class
• Lipid regulators (like Lipitor and Crestor) were the third biggest selling class
• Antidepressants were fourth

The move toward generics is expected to grow even more by 2012 when two huge selling drugs, Lipitor and Plavix, will become available in generic form.  bjmdjd

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acid reflux drugs · antidepressants · antipsychotics · generic drugs · lipid regulators · prescription drug sales in 2009

Frankly I’m so disgusted that I just don’t have anything to say  right now! I had plenty to say (not about reform) but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.  bjmdjd

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Healthcare Reform

On March 9th ABC news ran a story about the long term use of Fosamax or its generic forms causing sudden femur fractures just below the hip joint. The next day the Food and Drug Administration reported that it had no evidence to support this belief.

While the ABC report only mentioned the drug Fosamax and the generic forms called alendronate there are several other drugs marketed in this class of medications called biphosphonates for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The FDA recommended that patients not quit taking these drugs unless told to by their medical provider.  bjmdjd

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ABC News · alendronate · biphosphonates · Food and Drug Administration · Fosamax · health · wellness

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