ONC Designs a Roadmap for Health IT Interoperability
June 13th 2014The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) outlined a 10-year plan that will strengthen the nation's health IT infrastructure by 2024. This interoperable system would promote a "continuous learning" environment that would enforce higher-quality data standards, improve population health, better engage patients, and lower care delivery costs.
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HHS Fights Back to Keep Expanded 340B Drug Discounts
June 13th 2014The drug industry scored a victory last month against the Obama administration's plans to give hospitals millions of dollars in discounts through the 340B program on orphan drugs. But HHS is sticking to its position that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act promises breaks on the expensive drugs when they're used for non-orphan indications.
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Ventana and MedImmune to Develop a PD-L1 Assay To Aid Patient Enrollment in Immunotherapy Trials
June 12th 2014Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. and MedImmune today announced they are jointly developing a PD-L1 (SP263) immunohistochemistry assay to enroll patients in clinical trials for MedImmune's MEDI4736 anti-PD-L1 therapy for non-small cell lung carcinoma. This includes the recently commenced MEDI4736 ATLANTIC trial that will enroll only patients who express PD-L1 as determined by the VENTANA assay.
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CYRAMZA Meets Secondary Endpoints in Phase 3 REACH Trial for HCC
June 11th 2014CYRAMZAâ„¢ (ramucirumab)did not meet its primary endpoint; overall survival favored the CYRAMZA arm but was not statistically significant, in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, but meaningful improvements in key secondary endpoints of progression-free survival, overall response rate and time to progression were observed.
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Federal Views Diverge on Proper Use of Painkillers
June 11th 2014The recent conversation regarding the abuse of prescription drugs that provide pain relief has some federal government officials calling this epidemic a "growing national crisis". While prescriptions such as Vicodin, OxyContin and other opioid drugs help patients with chronic pain, the White House is asking doctors to curtail their use of prescription opioids.
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Michigan To Reward Medicaid Enrollees Who Take 'Personal Responsibility'
June 11th 2014After an exceedingly high Medicaid enrollment this spring, Michigan became the second state to offer incentives and rewards for participants who agree to do health risk assessments with their physicians once a year as well as work to take the proper steps that improve their overall health.
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Study Identifies Substantial Variability in the Cost of Prostate Cancer Surgery
June 10th 2014Patients who want to compare prices for prostate-cancer surgery may find it rough going: a study has found a 13-fold difference in prices quoted by 100 hospitals across the United States. Moreover, most provided little more than broad estimates, and only three gave a hard copy of the charges.
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Multiple Studies Show Medicaid Patients Receive Worse Cancer Care
June 9th 2014New studies suggest that privately insured patients may receive better cancer care than Medicaid beneficiaries. Although a variety of factors impact patient access to cancer treatment, low-income patients were found to have greater difficulty with navigating health systems.
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