(Reuters Health)—When one person in a household gets prescribed opioids, the other people who live with them are more likely to get their own prescriptions for these narcotic painkillers, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined data on about 12.6 million people living in a household where someone was prescribed opioids and 6.4 million individuals in…
Articles by Natasha Yetman
Safety, Tolerability & Pharmacodynamics of ABT-122 in Patients with RA
The introduction of biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) has greatly expanded the treatment options for managing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In many patients, biologic DMARDs improve clinical symptoms, improve function and slow disease progression. Biologic DMARDs are recommended as add-on treatment to conventional synthetic DMARDs, such as methotrexate (MTX) in patients who experienced an incomplete response…
Patients Have Different Hospital Outcomes When Regular Doctors See Them
(Reuters Health)—Many outcomes for hospital patients—including how long they stay and their survival odds after they go home—may depend on whether or not they’re cared for by their primary care physician, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined data on 560,651 admissions nationwide for patients covered by Medicare, the U.S. health program for the elderly and…
CVS Health to Acquire Aetna for $69 billion
(Reuters)—U.S. drugstore chain operator CVS Health Corp said on Sunday it had agreed to acquire U.S. health insurer Aetna Inc. for $69 billion, seeking to tackle soaring healthcare spending through lower-cost medical services in pharmacies. This year’s largest corporate acquisition will combine one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) and pharmacy operators with…
Healthcare Prices Hard to Find Online
(Reuters Health)—Consumers who search online for prices of common medical procedures may be disappointed by what they find, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers used the search engines Google and Bing to check the cost of common services like cholesterol tests, hip replacements and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in 8 cities: New York; Los Angeles;…
Consumers with High-Deductible Health Plans Could Be Smarter Shoppers
(Reuters Health)—Even when consumers have health plans that require them to pay a high amount out-of-pocket for care, they often don’t talk to doctors about the price of treatments or shop around to get the best deal, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers focused on high-deductible health plans, which typically have lower monthly premiums than other…
Patient Satisfaction Plummets When Doctors Say ‘No’ to Requests
(Reuters Health)—Patients may become less satisfied with their care when doctors refuse their requests for things, such as prescriptions or lab tests, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined data on 1,141 patients with a total of 1,319 doctor visits. Overall, about two-thirds of these visits included at least one patient request for the doctor to…
Obesity’s Effects on Inflammatory Markers in Patients with RA
New research has examined the effect of obesity on inflammatory markers, specifically C-reactive protein (CRP) level and erythrocyte sedimentation rate, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Researchers found higher BMIs were associated with higher CRP levels in women both with and without RA, suggesting the phenomenon is related to adiposity and not an indication of disease activity. For men with RA, low BMI was associated with higher CRP levels, which proved to be RA-specific but not a direct causal effect of adiposity…
Trump Administration Proposes Medicare Rules Aimed at Opioids, Drug Costs
(Reuters)—The Trump administration on Thursday proposed changes to Medicare drug plans including limits on opioid prescriptions and rules aimed at reducing drug costs for seniors, such as requiring health insurers to pass on discounts to consumers. To help combat overprescription and abuse of addictive painkillers, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said…
U.S. Approves Digital Pill that Tracks When Patients Take It
(Reuters)—U.S. regulators have approved the first digital pill with an embedded sensor to track if patients are taking their medication properly, marking a significant step forward in the convergence of healthcare and technology.1 The medicine is a version of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co Ltd’s established drug Abilify for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, containing a tracking…
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