Living with Crohn ’s disease: Recognizing and managing flares
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory condition that can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Together with ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s is one of the two main types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Crohn’s affects approximately 500,000 Americans and is a chronic, lifelong condition that typically alternates between periods of relatively stable or absent symptoms (remission) and periods of symptom flare-ups that can last for days, weeks, or even months.
The goal of treatment is to induce remission and then to maximize the chance that patients stay in remission. However, almost everyone with Crohn’s diseas...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 26, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Garber, MD Tags: Digestive Disorders Health Source Type: blogs
Reducing Healthcare Costs; Surgery at a Selected Hospital and Pharma Tourism
Individuals and self-insured companies have adopted various strategies to reduce the rising cost of healthcare for themselves and their employees. A recent article discussed howWalmart was flying employees who were candidates for particular surgical procedures to selected, distant hospitals for evaluation (see:Walmart Flies Employees to Top Hospitals for Surgeries in a Bid to Cut Healthcare Costs). Below is an excerpt from it:Walmart ’s answer [to rising healthcare costs] is its six-year-oldCenters of Excellence (COE) program. In partnership with third-party administrator Health Design Plus (HDP), Walmart directly contra...
Source: Lab Soft News - July 15, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Healthcare Innovations Healthcare Insurance Medical Consumerism Pharmaceutical Industry Public Health Quality of Care Source Type: blogs
Wheat Belly and Autoimmune Diseases
The Wheat Belly lifestyle begins with elimination of the worst and most dominant of all grains in the diet, semi-dwarf wheat products, followed by elimination of its closely-related brethren in other grains. This alone is a powerful start in reversing the 200-some diseases of autoimmunity.
We now know that the gliadin protein of wheat and related proteins in other grains trigger increased intestinal permeability that initiates the process, as highly inflammatory compounds, such as lipopolysaccharide from bacterial cell walls, are permitted entry into the body. We also know that gliadin itself gains entry into the bloodstr...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - January 11, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates autoimmune Gliadin gluten-free grain-free grains Inflammation wheat belly Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 38-year-old man with ulcerative colitis
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 38-year-old man is evaluated in follow-up after a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. Ten days ago he was started on prednisone, 60 mg/d, but his symptoms have not improved. He has six to nine bloody bowel movements per day and moderate abdominal pain. He has decreased his oral intake because eating exacerbates his pain and diarrhea.
On physical examination, temperature is 37.0 °C (98.6 °F), blood pressure is 110/56 mm Hg, and pulse rate is 96/min. He is pale but in no distress. The abdomen is diffusely tender ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 5, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Gastroenterology Source Type: blogs
UnitedHealthcare Will Share Rebates with Patients
On March 6, 2018, UnitedHealthcare announced that beginning in 2019, the company will expand its pharmacy discounts to the seven million enrollees who are in fully insured commercial group plans at the point of sale for drugs, if a rebate is offered by the manufacturer.
The savings will apply to plan participants who are filling a prescription for a drug where the manufacturer provides a rebate. The savings from the rebates will be applied upfront, at the time of the sale, to ensure that patients are paying the lowest amount possible under their insurance plan. UHC notes that currently, rebates are used to keep premiums l...
Source: Policy and Medicine - March 16, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Screening Recommendations Based on Doctor Personal Experiences
Recently in JAMA," ...a research letter... explores howsocial interactions with friends, family and colleagues who have been diagnosed with breast cancer may affect a physician ’s recommendations to patients. "What it found was that a doctor ' s personal experiences impact what they recommend for their patients. They did not necessarily follow the current guidelines. " Physicians familiar with someone with a poor prognosis who was not diagnosed via screening were much more likely to recommend routine checks for women between 40 and 44 years old and those over 75. "“Describing a woman whose breast cancer was not di...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - December 19, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: arthritis treatment cancer history cancer screening medical history Source Type: blogs
The Six Worst U.S. Health Disasters of the Last 50 Years
Up until the first half of the twentieth century, large-scale health disasters were mostly due to natural causes (earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, etc.) or infections (e.g., smallpox, influenza epidemics, cholera). But something peculiar happened as we entered the second half of the century: Health disasters due to natural causes became dwarfed by large-scale health disasters that are man-made.
Here’s a list of the Six Worst U.S. Health Disasters of the Last 50 Years, mostly man-made phenomena that have exacted huge tolls: widespread disease, premature death, poorly managed (though nonetheless highly profitable fo...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - December 2, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Undoctored Wheat Belly Lifestyle autoimmune gluten grain-free grains Inflammation low-carb Weight Loss Source Type: blogs
FDA Approves Sixth United States Biosimilar
Recently, the FDA announced that it approved Boehringer Ingelheim’s Cyltezo (adalimumab-adbm), the second biosimilar to AbbVie’s blockbuster Humira and sixth biosimilar in the United States. “Cyltezo is the first biosimilar from Boehringer Ingelheim to be approved by the FDA and marks an important step towards our goal of providing new and more affordable treatment options to healthcare providers and patients,” said Ivan Blanarik, Senior Vice President and Head of Therapeutic Area Biosimilars at Boehringer Ingelheim. “Chronic inflammatory diseases collectively affect 23.5 million people in the U.S., and Cyltezo h...
Source: Policy and Medicine - November 17, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
A Pill to Replace Needles: Interview with Mir Imran, Chairman and CEO of Rani Therapeutics
Operating within InCube Labs, a multi-disciplinary life sciences R&D lab based in Silicon Valley, Rani Therapeutics is developing a novel approach for the oral delivery of large-molecule drugs such as basal insulin, which is currently delivered via injections. By replacing painful injections with a painless, easy-to-take pill, the technology has the potential to drastically improve the lives of millions of patients suffering from diabetes, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and many other chronic conditions.
The idea is that the pill allows biological drugs, such as proteins, that would otherwise b...
Source: Medgadget - July 5, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Medicine Oncology Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
Did Big Pharma BUY Big Media?
Healthcare is at the top of the list of societal problems in the U.S.
Healthcare interactions are unsatisfying to most people, costs are out of control and cost every American nearly $10,000 per person per year while bleeding 17.5% of GDP, more than any other nation on earth for a system that ranks low or last in quality compared to other developed countries. For a problem as big as healthcare, big enough to cripple the entire economy in addition to bankrupting more and more Americans, you would think that media reporting would be filled with debate, criticisms, and in-depth coverage about the problems in healthcare.
But...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - May 2, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Undoctored abc bias big pharma cbs cnn drug industry fox gluten grains health healthcare illness media nbc pharmaceutical tv wheat Source Type: blogs
Surrogacy ? or donor egg ?
I just received this email from a patientMy date of birth : 24/7/73 (43 years old)My partner date of birth : 11/3/76 (41 years old)Trying to conceive 4 years, since May 2013One previous pregnancy in June 2013, first month of trying, ended in early miscarriage at 5.5 weeks.Started IVF in September 2014 and have had 7 failed cycles to date. Details below:Cycle 1: October 2014Gonal F - 600 units4 eggs retrieved1 fertilised with icsi1 top grade 8 cell embryo (no fragmentation) was transferred on Day 3No pregnancyCycle 2: April 2015Fostimon - 600 unitsEarly ovulation before egg collection meant I lost at least 1 mature egg...
Source: Dr.Malpani's Blog - April 30, 2017 Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: blogs
R & D Costs For Pharmaceutical Companies Do Not Explain Elevated US Drug Prices
That pharmaceutical companies charge much more for their drugs in the United States than they do in other Western countries has contributed to public and political distrust of their pricing practices. When these higher US prices (which are sometimes cited as being two to five times the prices in Europe) are challenged, the pharmaceutical industry often explains that the higher prices they charge in the US provide them with the funds they need to conduct their high-risk research.
This claim—that premiums earned from charging US patients and taxpayers more for medications than other Western countries funds companies’...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 7, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Nancy Yu, Zachary Helms and Peter Bach Tags: Costs and Spending Drugs and Medical Innovation Payment Policy Big Pharma drug pricing Source Type: blogs
2017 Biosimilar Update
We have taken an interest in the growing biosimilars market in the United States. Recently, we covered the Friends of Cancer Research event, “The Future of the U.S. Biosimilars Market: Development, Education, and Utilization,” a half-day forum that brought together clinicians, originator and biosimilar drug sponsors, advocates, regulators, and payers in an attempt to tackle uncertainty surrounding the future of the United States biosimilars market. With now several biosimilars approved in the United States, there is an ever-growing interest in their approvals and further development. But heading into a new year, uncert...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 7, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Updated Medicare and Medicaid Drug Spending Data Released
On November 15, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released updated Medicare and Medicaid drug spending data, to include information for calendar year (CY) 2015 through its online interactive dashboards for Medicare and Medicaid. The inclusion of the Medicaid drug spending data on the public dashboard is new this year, as is the addition of high-level (aggregated) Medicare drug rebate data.
CMS noted that “there is significant growth in spending on prescription drugs, representing a significant burden.” In CY 2015, total prescription drug costs amounted to roughly $457 billion – an estimated ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - December 14, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Tandem Price Increases: Legal or Price Fixing?
An article by reporters at Bloomberg recently highlighted the way United States prosecutors are beginning to crack down on generic drug companies, conducting a “sweeping criminal investigation into suspected price collusion,” which adds a new challenge to an industry that has been the focus of public outrage for quite some time now.
The antitrust investigation, which began roughly two years ago at the Department of Justice, now spans more than a dozen companies and two dozen drugs. The grand jury probe is examining whether some executives worked together to raise prices, and the first charges could potentially be made...
Source: Policy and Medicine - December 12, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
