Not that I'm ranting, but the two week delay CMS has instituted for Medicare claims doesn't really help us docs much.  the issue is that Congress couldn't reach an agreement to reverse the cuts scheduled for March 1, so CMS holds the claims until there is some sort of agreement.  It's easier for them to retoactively pay claims than it is for them to figure out how to make a cut whole again after p

What amazes me is that there is official funding for homeopathic remedies and even hospitals (!) in the British healthcare system, the NHS.

I applaud the NHS for issuing a strongly-worded statement about homeopathy.  Perhaps they are still smarting over the Wakefield MMR autism scandal, and looking for low-hanging fruit to go after.

Homeopathy is founded on several non-rational tenets such as the law of similars, and the concept of "miasms." 

WSJ today has the 2009 number on healthcare expenditures in the US: $2.4 trillion.  They check it in t

There's the soft rationing of managed care, and then there's "quality."

Mark McClellan, now at a think tank, chooses the latter option. He's not just another yahoo in the healthcare debate. He's an MD, and he headed up the FDA and CMS during the 2000s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_McClellan

He wrote about healthcare reform here:

http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/experts-skeptical-heal...

The response is this:

Every so often, the media trots out that old warhorse, "Docs are not honest enough with terminal patients." I get to this conflict all the time as an oncologist.

The latest fuel for the ongoing discussion is a paper published in this months' journal Cancer. Researchers found docs were reluctant to address end of life issues with terminal patients.

This post started out about Waxman vs. Tauzin but turned into Walmart hospitals and docs versus pharma. Indulge me if you will. The big healthcare debate has a few new key players: Mr. Billy Tauzin Hon. Henry Waxman Now you may remember Mr. Tauzin as a US Rep from Louisiana but since 2005 he has been working as a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry. He started working for them the day he left office and had an instrumental role in the passage of prescription drug coverage for Medicare recipients in that year. Hon. Mr.

Spending would mean substantial cut of all revenues. Reuters estimates that the US drug industry the world's largest took in $315 billion in sales in 2007. Today AP reported that the drug industry agreed to contribute $80 billion towards healthcare reform. So we're supposed to believe that the industry is contributing 25% of sales (not profits) to reduce the cost of healthcare in America? Somehow I doubt the shareholders of these publicly traded companies will let this happen.

Let the third party payers rejoice: Avastin for postoperative colon cancer is no better than conventional chemo. The results were released by Genetech in a news release. Never mind that ASCO is next month and would have made a better venue to release the results. Our astute Andrew Pollack highlighted the results in NYT today--perhaps Genentech was trying to float one under the radar only to be called out by NYT! This would have added $20 000 to the price tag of treating every Stage III colon cancer patient in this country.

Salt Lake City April 8 2009 -- Myriad Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today that the FDA has approved an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to begin a Phase 1 clinical study with its Hsp90 inhibitor MPC-3100 for the treatment of cancer. The clinical development plan for MPC-3100 is designed to expedite the drug candidate through the clinical development path. The Phase 1 trial will assess the safety and pharmacokinetics profile of MPC-3100.

Patient Advocate Foundation’s 10th Annual Patient Congress June 24-25 2009 Washington DC Join us and EDUCATE yourself on healthcare topics EMPOWER yourself to take control of your own healthcare and encourage yourself to ENACT this education and empowerment to make a difference in the nation's healthcare system.