One in seven Americans under age 65 went without prescribed medicines in 2007 as drug costs spiraled upward in the United States, a nonprofit research group said on Thursday.

The Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C., studied the issue, and Laurie E. Felland, a senior health researcher at the center and lead author of the study, said a number of factors contributed to the trend, including rising drug prices, the tendency of physicians to prescribe drugs more frequently, the introduction of expensive new specialty medications, and skimpier drug coverage that shifts a greater share of costs onto patients.

Health Care Opinion Leaders Express Overwhelming Support for Expanding Coverage While Simultaneously Addressing Quality, Efficiency and Costs

New York, NY, Leaders in health care and health care policy feel strongly that President-elect Barack Obama should pursue an ambitious health care reform agenda that expands coverage while also improving quality and efficiency, and controlling costs. In fact, two-thirds (66%) of those surveyed in the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey said that the new administration should pursue these goals simultaneously.

go here for the link to the story:
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=84910

“Off-label promotion of pharmaceutical drugs is a serious crime because it undermines the FDA’s role in protecting the American public by determining that a drug is safe and effective for a particular use before it is marketed,” said Gregory G. Katsas, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division. “This settlement demonstrates the Department’s ongoing diligence in prosecuting cases involving violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and recovering taxpayer dollars used to pay for drugs sold as a result of off-label marketing campaigns.”

link to Department of Justice report of the settlement:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/January/09-civ-038.html

Industrial powerhouse General Electric Co. hopes a push into medical electronic records and information with some of the top health care institutions in the nation will put it at the front of what is expected to be a rapidly growing market.

The Fairfield, Conn.-based company’s health care unit plans to spend $200 million over the next five years to develop electronic systems for medical information and patient records. Its partners are among top medical institutions, including the Mayo Clinic and Montefiore Medical Center.

The idea for better electronic access and portability with medical records is not new. For years, governments and health systems have been pushing for electronic medical records that could easily be shared between different hospitals and physicians.

The goal of such a system is to boost efficiency and quality within the system, while cutting time and costs. But no two hospitals or medical institutions are alike, and a system for sharing information has been elusive.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310ap_general_electric_health_records.html

The same characteristics of hospitals that lead to high nurse-staffing levels may be associated with better experiences for patients, and offers evidence that hospitals can provide both a high quality of clinical care and a good experience for the patient.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/18/1921?query=TOC

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), making his second appearance on Capitol Hill since he began treatment for a malignant brain tumor in June, told reporters yesterday that he would advance a bill early next year calling for universal health care.

Some Democrats, including members of President-elect Barack Obama’s circle, have begun to view expanded coverage as a longer-term goal.

The brief appearance by Kennedy, who made a surprise return in July to vote on a Medicare bill, represented an opportunity for him to show colleagues that he remains energetic and engaged, and that he intends to reclaim his committee post in January and take charge of the Obama health-care agenda. Some Democrats had speculated that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) would attempt to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

link to the story here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703214.html?sub=AR

New USA Today/Kaiser/Harvard Poll Finds the Public Sees Real Benefits From Prescription Drugs, But Feels that They Cost Too Much and that Drug Companies Care Too Much About Profits
A new poll, the third in a series conducted jointly by USA Today and public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, finds Americans greatly value prescription drugs’ potential benefits for their families, but most believe they cost too much money and many struggle to pay for needed medicines.

for results of the poll, copy and paste this link:
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/pomr030408pkg.cfm

By 2017, consumers and taxpayers will spend more than $4 trillion on health care, accounting for one of every $5 spent, the federal government projects.

The 6.7 percent annual increase in spending — nearly three times the rate of inflation — will be largely driven by higher prices and an increased demand for care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday. But other factors in the mix include a growing and aging population. The first wave of baby boomers become eligible for Medicare beginning in 2011.

With the aging population, the federal government will be picking up the tab for a growing share of the nation’s medical expenses. Overall, federal and state governments accounted for about 46 percent of health expenditures in 2006. That percentage will increase to 49 percent over the next decade.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5569497.html

The prices of brand-name medications have continued to increase despite calls from all three major presidential candidates for pharmaceutical companies to make their products more affordable, the Wall Street Journal reports. Wholesale prices for the 50 brand-name medications with the most sales increased by an average of 7.82% in 2007, compared with increases of 6.73% and 6.22% in the previous two years, according to Delta Marketing Dynamics. The overall U.S. economy had an inflation rate of 4.1% in 2007.

In some cases, pharmaceutical companies have increased the prices of brand-name medications scheduled to lose patent protection to prompt patients to switch to similar, newer products that will have patent protection for a number of years. William Little, president of Delta, said, “Companies are under great pressure to deliver revenue, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do so as generics displace profitable brands.”

for full story, copy and paste this link:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/health2008dr.cfm?DR_ID=50532

One in every 10 patients admitted to six Massachusetts community hospitals suffered serious and avoidable medication mistakes, according to a report being released today by two nonprofit groups that are urging all hospitals in the state to install a computerized prescription ordering system.

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The report is the first large-scale study of preventable prescription errors in community hospitals, and its author, Dr. David Bates of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said he was surprised that these mistakes were so frequent in these community hospitals. Previous studies in large academic hospitals that also lacked computerized systems found such medication errors occurred less than half as often, he said.

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/14/1_in_10_patients_gets_drug_error/