By Shirley S. Wang
There’s lot of action these days aimed at curbing the abuse of prescription drugs. The FDA is working on a plan to make it harder for people to get access to unauthorized prescription painkillers, pain specialists have come out with guidelines to help doctors manage pain-drug-abusing patients and drug companies have been developing abuse-resistant drugs.
Today, the National Institute on Drug Abuse jumped … Continue Reading
By Jacob Goldstein
The Senate just killed that bill that would have blocked Medicare pay cuts to doctors. All of the Republicans opposed the bill, along with a handful of Dems. But that doesn’t mean the looming 21% pay cut is going to take effect next year.
Instead, Congress will likely do what it almost always does: Pass another short-term fix that blocks the pay cuts for the immediate future but leaves in place plans … Continue Reading
By Jacob Goldstein
There were some heated words on the Senate floor today as Congress debated what to do about planned Medicare pay cuts for doctors. We’ll get to the rhetoric in a minute, but first a bit of the back story.
Under current law, Medicare payment rates for doctors will fall by 21% next year. Nobody seems to want to let the cuts take effect, and Congress has repeatedly blocked similar pay cuts in recent years. … Continue Reading
By Jacob Goldstein
Catch cancers early and treat them before they become deadly. That’s the idea behind cancer screening, and that’s clearly how it works with pap smears for cervical cancer and colonoscopy for colon cancer.
But in some cases screening can lead to aggressive treatment of slow-growing tumors that would never have caused a problem if left alone — and the treatment itself can carry serious side … Continue Reading
By Jacob Goldstein
Merck yesterday became the latest company to tell the world something about its payments to doctors. Specifically, the company published this list of doctors (along with a few nurses and pharmacists) paid by the company to give speeches.
All told, the company paid a total of more than $3 million, spread among 1,078 people. Providers get paid about $1,500 for a typical speech. “Increasing the visibility … Continue Reading