Analysis of:
Blue Shield of California to pay $31M in quality bonuses to state medical groups (www.fiercehealthcare.com)
Pay for performance is here, and being used in actual reimbursements. This is an example of this in the private payor model.
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Poniard Pharmaceuticals Announces Initiation of Picoplatin Phase 2 Trial in First-line Treatment of Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer in Combination with Docetaxel and Prednisone (money.cnn.com)
Taxotere with prednisone is the standard first line chemotherapy for hormone refractory prostate cancer based on the results of the TAX 327 trial. The ongoing phase II trial looks to see if the addition of a platinum based agent to taxotere improves outcomes in hormone refractory prostate...
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Phase I intravenous trial for anti-cancer drug achieves primary objectives (www.pipelinereview.com)
Cytopias new agent CY997 has met it's phase I goal to determine MTD and DLT - not a hard task to have done. Either it's tolerable and safe or not tolerable and not safe. In this case, the former holds true. However, without more significant clinical data - phase II and III -...
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By 2008, Medicare won't pay for hospital errors (www.fiercehealthcare.com)
Well....we know CMS doesn't have enough money to fund healthcare in perpetuity. Physicians have been taking reimbursement cuts or lack of raises over the last 5 years. Realizing you can't squezze enough money out of the physicians, Medican now brilliantly plans to...
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NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals Receives FDA Clearance Of Antimicrobial Barrier Topical Cream (www.medicalnewstoday.com)
+ Novel antimicrobial barrier will have broad implications for both prophylaxis post-operatively as well as for dermatologic conditions that are suceptible to superinfection (i.e. atopic dermatitis)
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Oncoscience AG, the european partner of YM BioSciences, announces completion of patient enrollment in phase III brain cancer trial of nimotuzab (www.pipelinereview.com)
Glioblastomas and diffuse pontine gliomas in adults and children are agressive, and nearly universally fatal. The standard of care today for GBMs is concurrent chemoradiotherapy with Temodar, based on the results of the NCIC trial (Stupp, et al., NEJM, 352:987-96, 2005). For diffuse...
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Recurrence of Spider Angiomas After Laser Treatment (dermatology.jwatch.org)
+ Recurrence rates for outdated lasers are a mute point. + The current generation of lasers for vascular lesions are standard of care and deliver as promised.
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Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Investigational New Drug Application for SPI-1620 Cleared by U.S. Food & Drug Administration (www.pipelinereview.com)
There are many theories out there about how angiogenesis affects tumor growth. One theory is that anti-angiogenic agents emilinate the leakiness of blood vessels, improving flow of blood and chemotherapy to the tumor, essentially getting more of a cytotoxic agent to the target.
SPI-1620...
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Hand Hygiene Promotion Decreases Healthcare-Associated Infections in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Neonates (www.medscape.com)
It's not a surprise that washing your hands frequently reduces the spread of infections. This study verifies what we already know - frequent hand washing between each patient encounter reduces the spread of infections in very low birthweight babies. With aggressive intervention, we...
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MDs offer new services, for $3,600 yearly fee (www.boston.com)
Primary care physicians, often overworked and underpaid for their efforts are seeing a new way to return to the traditional practice style of physcians many years ago, offering appointments lasting more than 6 minutes, and a host of personal touches. By charging a premium for this service...