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Compliance And Cost: Bitter Pills To Swallow In The Age Of Oral Chemotherapy
Though the growing shift toward oral chemotherapy agents offers cancer patients greater freedom and independence during their treatment, physicians say use of the new medications also poses more chances for patients to skip doses, miss prescription refills, and take their drugs in a dangerous way. An increasing number of cancer patients who receive chemotherapy now do so at home, with the click of a pill bottle each day rather than the drip of an IV medicine that must be delivered in a doctor"s office or hospital.
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Emergent BioSolutions Meets With FDA To Review Regulatory Strategy For Recombinant Anthrax Vaccine
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) announced that it has met with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review Emergent"s regulatory strategy for the development of its recombinant anthrax (rPA) vaccine. Emergent recently submitted to FDA, among other documents, its rPA Development Plan in response to the Department of Health and Human Services" (HHS) amendment to its request for proposal (RFP) to develop and deliver up to 25 million doses of an rPA vaccine for the Strategic National Stockpile. In amending the RFP, HHS required that all bidders deemed to be in the competitive range submit to FDA a comprehensive plan outlining the regulatory strategy for their rPA vaccine. Emergent completed that submission on May 12, 2009 ahead of the June 15, 2009 submission deadline.
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New Maryland Law Requires Insurers To Provide Incentives For EHR Adoption
Maryland Gov. Martin O"Malley (D) on Tuesday signed a bill making the state the first to require private insurance companies to offer physicians financial incentives for adopting electronic health records, the Baltimore Sun reports. Starting in 2011, insurers will have to provide physicians who adopt EHRs with increased reimbursements, a single sum payment or in-kind services that have monetary value. According to the Sun, physicians who do not adopt EHR systems by 2015 could face penalties. The bill also requires Maryland to establish a health information exchange that eventually will link all the state"s physicians, hospitals, medical laboratories and pharmacies. Last summer, the Maryland Health Care Commission asked two state physician groups to develop and launch pilot health information exchange programs in an effort to see how a state system should work. Groups wanting to design the statewide system have until June 12 to submit applications to the commission, which will award the contract in August. The seed money for the system will come in part from stimulus funds and from hospitals fees. According to state Health Secretary John Colmers, the network is likely to be gradually phased in with the first elements coming online as early as fall. Colmers said that he expects "fairly rapid adoption" of the information exchange system, adding that "with the incentives in the stimulus package and in this bill beginning to go into effect in 2011, it will be important for it to be certainly ramped up and ready to operate by then." O"Malley said, "This is where government and private health care providers can come together to really improve not only the quality of care but also, hopefully, create some cost savings as well." Colmers said, "The goal here in Maryland was to assure that all of the payers pull their oars in the same direction," adding that the promise of EHRs "comes when it"s done in a coordinated fashion, across all payers" (Brown/Brewington, Baltimore Sun, 5/19).
Cardiovascular

Obama Issues Directive To Enact New Embryonic Stem Cell Research Rules

President Obama on Thursday issued a directive to federal agencies to begin following new NIH guidelines on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, Reuters/New York Times reports (Reuters/New York Times, 7/30). NIH announced the final guidelines earlier this month. The guidelines assess whether newly created embryonic stem cell lines can be used for federally funded research, as well as clarify how old lines will be evaluated (Daily Women"s Health Policy Report, 7/7).In March, Obama overturned President George W. Bush"s policy limiting federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. In a statement Thursday, Obama said, "I hereby direct the heads of executive departments and agencies that support and conduct stem cell research to adopt these guidelines, to the fullest extent practicable in light of legal authorities and obligations" (Reuters/New York Times, 7/30). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women"s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women"s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company. © 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.


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