Last week, AAHF contacted the Senate Finance Committee, which is working on proposals to improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs. We asked committee members to look at two sections in particular: Health Information Technology (HealthIT), and Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER).
Dr. David Blumenthal has been named the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology as part of the economic stimulus package allocating more than $20 billion for a massive move to electronic medical records (EMRs). Dr. Blumenthal recently published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine noting, as he starts his Washington job, that […]
In 2007 a deal was struck between the British National Health Service (NHS) and drug manufacturer Johnson and Johnson (J&J). NHS had decided not to pay for J&J’s cancer drug, Velcade, so J&J gave NHS a money-back guarantee.
The Obama administration is making a huge financial commitment to preventive care. But will it be targeted toward “early detection,” with its inherent risks, or will its focus be on true preventive care?
AAHF Legislative Director Tami Wahl has corresponded with the sponsors of the legislation in North Carolina designed to protect the due process rights of physicians during disciplinary hearings. State Rep. Michael Wray has introduced HB1352, and State Sen. Jerry Tillman has introduced SB958.
Eighteen percent of Americans say they or a loved one have acquired a dangerous infection following a medical procedure. One in three Americans report that they have been victims of some kind of medical error in everyday medical procedures.
According to Peter Chowka of NaturalHealthLine, the first two months of President Obama’s administration “have set the stage for the greatest transformation of American healthcare since the country declared its independence from Great Britain 233 years ago.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has been quoted as saying Congress hopes to enact a mandate that […]
A new Wall Street Journal article reveals that even though heart disease is among the most studied illnesses in all of medicine, only 11% of more than 2,700 recommendations approved by conventional (non-integrative) cardiologists for treating heart patients are supported by high-quality scientific testing.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) has introduced the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act, S.525, and twenty-four other senators have already become co-signers. A similar House bill has also been introduced. Both bills allow for the re-importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. American drug manufacturers sell medicines to foreign countries for […]
Columnist George Will first sounded the alarm on January 28. As he reported, the stimulus legislation now approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama “create(s) a council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. This is about medicine but not about healing the economy. The CER would identify (this is language from the draft report […]