A growing number of health care providers are trying to learn from aviation accidents and, more specifically, from what the airlines have done to prevent them. In the last five years, several major hospitals have hired professional pilots to train their critical-care staff members on how to apply aviation safety principles to their work.

They learn standard cockpit procedures like communication protocols, checklists and crew briefings to improve patient care, if not save patients’ lives. Though health care experts disagree on how to incorporate aviation-based safety measures, few argue about the parallels between the two industries or the value of borrowing the best practices.

For remainder of story, go to:  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/health/31safe.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Doctors are exhausted. They’re burned out. The stress of their work is causing marital and family discord. And more than half of the physicians who participated in a recent survey are so fed up that they have considered leaving the practice of medicine altogether.
Those are just a few of the findings of the 2006 American College of Physician Executives’ Physician Morale Survey. The survey findings are being reported in the November/December issue of The Physician Executive Journal of Medical Management. the survey found:

  — Nearly 60 percent of the 1,205 physicians who participated in the
     survey have considered leaving the practice of medicine because
     they’re discouraged over the state of U.S. health care today.

  — Almost 70 percent said they actually knew of at least one doctor
     who stopped practicing medicine due to low morale.

  — The top 5 factors contributing to low morale were identified by
     the survey respondents as: low reimbursement, loss of autonomy,
     bureaucratic red tape, patient overload and loss of respect.

  — How is the low morale affecting physicians? The doctors in the
     survey listed fatigue as the number one problem, coming in at 77
     percent. Emotional burnout, 66 percent, was a close second. Both
     marital or family discord and depression were experienced by about
     32 percent of the respondents and 4 percent have had suicidal
     thoughts.

Some physicians who took the survey are resigned to the idea that low morale is here to stay.
“I think that it is safe to say that no physician is optimistic about the future of medicine at this point,” one participant wrote.
Others seemed downright hopeless:
“One thing that rarely gets mentioned is that, unlike other industries that are cyclical, the practice of medicine continually gets worse and worse, more intolerable, more onerous, with absolutely no hope or reason for any optimism either in the near or remote future.”

To receive a copy of the ACPE Physician Morale Survey results, including more than 300 comments posted by the doctors and links to articles about the survey, please email Bill Steiger, ACPE’s VP-Communications, at bsteiger@acpe.org.

Decision Resources, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, forecasts that the restless legs syndrome drug market will exceed $1 billion in 2015 up from $200 million in 2005.
According to the new Pharmacor report entitled Restless Legs Syndrome, the market will be driven by increases in the diagnosed population and the launch of three new drugs from Schwarz, XenoPort, and Serono. Each of the three new agents will launch successfully for restless legs syndrome on the strength of product differentiation: Schwarz’s rotigotine CDS (Neupro) will boast a transdermal formulation; XenoPort’s XP-13512 will possess improved pharmacokinetics; and Serono’s safinamide will offer new mechanisms of action.
“The approval of Schwarz’s rotigotine CDS, and XenoPort’s XP-13512 will drive a four-fold increase in the drug-treated population and a six-fold increase in total market sales by 2015,” said Julie Kerner, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources. “The most successful emerging agent in the restless legs syndrome market will be rotigotine CDS, sales for which will account for 46% of the total restless legs syndrome market growth by 2015.” For the rest of the story, go here

http://www.decisionresources.com/press_releases/pr_10_30_2006.htm

While many seniors are stuck in the middle of the doughnut hole without Medicare drug coverage, paying their monthly premiums and 100% of the cost of drugs, Humana announces its profits more than doubled from its Medicare Part D plans. The Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network (ACP*CN) is troubled that Congress continues to sit back and watch pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and private health insurers, like Humana, continue to run away with taxpayers’ money at the expense of real savings to America’s seniors.
“The administration said there wasn’t enough money to fund the Medicare drug benefit unless Congress created a doughnut hole or no coverage period where seniors paid 100% of the drug cost,” said Mike James, Vice-President, Governmental Affairs, ACP*CN. “As PBMs and private insurers trickle out these earnings reports each quarter, bragging about huge profits borne from offering Medicare D coverage, the benefit looks more and more like a very profitable giveaway to the drug companies and drug insurers,” concluded James.
Humana reported its third quarter profits more than doubled increasing to $159.2 million up 64% per share compared to $46.8 million a year ago. The country’s second largest provider of Medicare D plans said revenues from the third quarter 2006 rose 48% to $5.65 billion from $3.82 billion in the third quarter of 2005. “These increases were primarily the result of higher enrollment in the company’s Medicare Advantage plans and new 2006 revenues from stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs) for Medicare beneficiaries,” noted Humana. 

For the posting by the Association of Community Pharmacists, go here: www.acpcn.org/archive_content.asp?aid=128

 

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National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) today announced the publication of America’s Best Health Plans, the annual rankings of commercial, Medicare and Medicaid health maintenance organizations and point-of-service plans. Millions of Americans who are choosing their health insurance coverage for 2007 can now take advantage of the information and national rankings featured in the November 6th issue of U.S. News, available on newsstands today.
America’s Best Health Plans ranks health plans in every state in the nation based upon their clinical performance, patient experience and satisfaction as well as their NCQA Accreditation status. The top 50 commercial and top 25 Medicare and Medicaid plans are listed in the magazine, and information for all plans is available online at http://www.usnews.com/healthplans.

The NAMSR announced today that the future of medical sales is promising as technology in medicine continues to advance and the amount of sales jobs to increase by 24% in 2007. Regardless of the economy, jobs in the medical industry continue to remain strong due to the constant need for health care.

for rest of announcement: http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/9962/

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced that that its 93 stores in Virginia will begin participating in Wal-Mart’s $4 generic prescription program starting today.
“No one in Virginia should have to cut pills in half, decide between taking medicine and putting food on the table, or go without medicines altogether,” said Wal-Mart President and CEO Lee Scott. “We are proud to be leading this effort to make sure our nation’s seniors, working families and uninsured get the medications they need at a price they can afford.”
Today’s announcement brought 12 new states with a total of 1,008 stores into the $4 generic program. The new states are: Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota and Virginia.
The program, which was launched in 1,499 pharmacies in 15 states during the past month, was originally slated to begin in states outside of Florida no earlier than January 2007. Customer demand, however, prompted Wal-Mart to accelerate the program’s launch. The other states already participating include: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Vermont.
The $4 generic program includes 314 generic prescriptions available for up to a 30-day supply at commonly prescribed dosages. The list of 314 generic prescriptions is made up of as many as 143 compounds in 24 therapeutic categories.
Wal-Mart estimates that the list of $4 prescription medications represents nearly 25 percent of generic prescriptions currently dispensed in its pharmacies nationwide. According to the www.rxlist.com, the list also represents 14 of the top 20 prescribed medications in the United States. Generic medicines have an estimated cost that is 30 to 60 percent lower than an equivalent brand name product.
In making this announcement, Bill Simon, executive vice president of Wal-Mart’s Professional Services Division, indicated that the customer response has been significant. Within four days of the October 19 roll out announcement, more than 152,000 new prescriptions were filled by Wal-Mart pharmacies in all 14 states.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH News Release (2006/0343) issued by The Government News
Network on 26 October 2006
Patients entitled to “opt out”

Health Minister Lord Warner today set out key details of what patients
and the public could expect from the NHS Care Records Service (electronic
patient records).

Speaking at a Health Service Journal Conference in London, he talked about the
need to properly inform patients about changes to the way their information
might be held and shared under the care records service.

He said:

“Patients will be informed in advance about new ways in which their information
will be held and shared and they will be told they have the right to dissent -
or “opt out” – of having information shared.

“If patients do not “opt out” they will be deemed to have given implied
consent to the sharing of their information, under strict controls between
those legitimately treating them.”

Whilst speaking about the implied consent model of the NHS Care Records
Service, the Health Minister also highlighted how:

“It’s worth bearing in mind that patients will be able to see their summary
record and note any issues they wish on an electronic Healthspace.”

The NHS Care Records Service will enable detailed patient records to be held
locally, with a summary of the detailed record available nationally.

As it’s implemented locally, rigorous safeguards are being put in place
to protect patient confidentiality. Anyone wanting to access a record that
identifies a patient will need to have a smartcard and passcode (chip and
pin). The level of information that is seen will be determined by the role
of the staff member. There will also be an audit trail of access to records
and alerts will be triggered if there is inappropriate access.

for more, go here:

http://www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=237651&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False

According to the article, we lack a systematic approach to identifying possible pre-marketing drug-safety problems and translating them into high-quality post-marketing studies. Without an organized system to identify potential safety signals, the studies needed to resolve them may not be performed. The post-marketing commitments that are requested by the FDA are often hastily assembled by sponsors, who may not have a symmetric interest in safety and efficacy. Even so, once a drug is approved, we lack the authority to force sponsors to complete agreed-upon post-marketing commitments or to require sponsors to initiate new studies. As a result, hundreds of agreed-upon studies remain “pending” in perpetuity. Since we lack the resources to conduct studies, when a new drug is launched, the current regulatory system creates “an evidence-free zone.”

for more:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/17/1753?query=TOC

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday examined how pharmaceutical companies are “pouring millions of dollars” into congressional campaigns in close races, “giving some Republicans a financial edge.” According to the Journal, “with a Democratic victory increasing likely, few recent elections have been so critical” for pharmaceutical companies, in large part because Democrats have promised to revise the Medicare prescription drug benefit to “take away most of the advantages it handed to pharmaceutical companies.”   See link below for the rest of the story:

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/print_report.cfm?DR_ID=40666&dr_cat=3