Latest California Healthline Stories
NIH Issues Revised Ethics Guidelines for Agency Employees
As expected, NIH Director Elias Zerhouni on Tuesday announced an overhaul of agency ethics guidelines that will restrict all 18,000 NIH employees’ outside consulting activities for pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, insurers and health providers “in an effort to restore luster” to NIH’s “tarnished reputation,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
CalOPTIMA, the managed care program that provides benefits to Orange County’s Medi-Cal beneficiaries, on Tuesday announced that it will extend a deadline requiring pharmacies to comply with a new antifraud requirement, but 28 pharmacies in Little Saigon that “strongly oppose” the requirement said they will not participate in the program, the Orange County Register reports.
San Diego Union-Tribune Profiles CMA President Hertzka
The San Diego Union-Tribune on Tuesday profiled California Medical Association President Robert Hertzka, a “physician by training and politico by nature” who has “helped drive the direction of the medical community through his activity in state and national medical societies.”
Bill To Call for Medicare Price Negotiations With Pharmaceutical Companies
A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday “revived” a proposal from the previous Congress that would authorize the HHS secretary to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, CQ Today reports.
Congressional Budget Office, Experts Warn About Medicare, Medicaid Financial Situations
Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin on Monday at the World Health Care Congress warned that cost growth in Medicare and Medicaid is “unsustainable” and will require major policy changes in the near future, Reuters/Arizona Daily Star reports.
Newly Released Study Shows Link Between Pfizer’s Celebrex, Cardiovascular Problems
Pfizer recently “quiet[ly]” released a previously unpublished study conducted in 1999 that found patients taking its COX-2 inhibitor Celebrex were 3.6 times as likely to have a cardiovascular event as those taking placebos, according to a Public Citizen analysis of the results, the Boston Globe reports.
Navigant Issues Final Recommendations for King/Drew
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors should transfer oversight of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center from the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services to a “more independent and knowledgeable board” as soon as possible, according to final recommendations issued Monday by Navigant Consulting, the Los Angeles Times reports.
NIH To Announce Consulting Restrictions To Curb Conflicts of Interest
In an effort to end “lucrative deals that have led to conflict-of-interest inquiries,” all NIH staff scientists will be banned from accepting consulting fees or other income from pharmaceutical companies, according to revised ethics guidelines to be announced Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Viagra, Other ‘Lifestyle Drugs’ To Be Covered Under Medicare Drug Benefit
CMS officials on Monday confirmed that the Medicare prescription drug benefit will cover impotence drugs such as Viagra, the Los Angeles Times reports.
ValleyCare Health System, Others Set To Implement Health IT Applications
The Contra Costa Times on Tuesday looked at the information technology plans at ValleyCare Health System, which will include computerized medical records and electronic access to test results.