Controlling Health Care Costs: U.S. Versus England
ISSUE: SEPTEMBER, 2010
As leaders argue about how to control the skyrocketing costs of cancer care, some say it is worthwhile to look at how other countries, such as England, cope. Over the past year and a half, England’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has rejected a number of cancer drugs for certain indications, concluding that patients would derive minimal benefits at an excessively high cost.
read more |
Vandetanib Active Against Metastatic Thyroid Cancer
ISSUE: SEPTEMBER, 2010
The first Phase III trial with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor in advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer has revealed that vandetanib (Zactima, AstraZeneca) can significantly improve progression-free survival.
read more |
Experts Debate Use of Maintenance Therapy for NSCLC
ISSUE: SEPTEMBER, 2010
Should maintenance therapy become the standard of care for advanced non-small cell lung cancer? This question was the topic of a lively debate at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Although some believe maintenance therapy is a must, others say it only is valuable in certain patients and may be cost-prohibitive.
read more |
Public Protest Leads CMS to Redefine EMR ‘Meaningful Use’
ISSUE: SEPTEMBER, 2010
Hospitals and physician practices have been promised financial incentives if they can demonstrate “meaningful use” of their certified electronic health records. Now, due to a public outcry, practices will have far greater flexibility in demonstrating “meaningful use” under a final rule recently issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
read more |
