(Reuters Health)—Technology makes it possible for patients to access medical records online, but a thicket of legal issues may still keep people from always seeing everything in their chart, some doctors say. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) gives U.S. patients the right to access their medical records and control who else has…
Articles by Natasha Yetman
TNF Blocking Drugs Persist in Infants after Exposure In-Utero
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Babies born to mothers who took anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents during pregnancy have detectable drug in their bodies up to 12 months of age, new findings show. These infants should therefore not receive live vaccines during their first year of life, Dr. Mette Julsgaard of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and…
Drug Company Gifts Linked to Doctors’ Prescribing Habits
(Reuters Health)—Doctors who receive payments or gifts from pharmaceutical companies are more likely to prescribe brand name medications, a new study suggests. Dr. James Yeh, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues write May 9 online in JAMA Internal Medicine that some states require doctors to report what they receive from drug companies….
U.K. Cost Body Finally Approves Limited Use of GSK’s Lupus Drug
LONDON (Reuters)—Britain’s healthcare cost watchdog has finally approved GlaxoSmithKline’s lupus drug Benlysta (belimumab) for limited use, after rejecting it since 2011 on the grounds that it failed to offer good value for money. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said on Tuesday that the drug would be made available under a managed…
U.S. Probes Contracts Between Drugmakers, Pharmacy Benefit Managers
(Reuters)—The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is investigating contracts between drugmakers and companies that manage prescription benefits, according to regulatory filings. Federal prosecutors have approached at least three companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. and Endo International Plc., demanding information about their contracts with pharmacy benefit managers. Pharmacy…
Inefficient Prescribing Costs Billions of Healthcare Dollars
(Reuters Health)—In the U.S. between 2010 and 2012, nearly $73 billion was spent on brand name medications instead of less expensive alternatives, according to a new study. A large portion of that money was spent by patients, the researchers found. “Prescription drug prescribing during the time of this paper was not efficient and still isn’t…
Medicare Telemedicine Underuse May Not Be Due to Reimbursement Policies
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Contrary to previous research, mandating commercial insurance reimbursement of telemedicine was not associated with faster growth in Medicare telemedicine use, according to a newly published study. Dr. Ateev Mehrotra of Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues examined trends in telemedicine utilization by Medicare from 2004–2013 using claims from a 20% random sample…
Golimumab Effective as Maintenance Treatment for Active Ulcerative Colitis
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Subcutaneous golimumab every four weeks provides effective long-term maintenance for patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC), according to results from the PURSUIT-SC extension study. The main PURSUIT-M study showed that golimumab treatment maintained clinical responses through Week 54. For most patients, maintenance therapy for UC is required long term. Dr. Peter R….
Antibodies Can Spot RA in the General Population
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA), particularly high anti-CCP2 titers, can diagnose rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the general population with a high degree of accuracy, a Swedish study suggests. ACPA are highly specific for RA, but until now the diagnostic accuracy of ACPA in the general population has not been “thoroughly assessed,” note Dr….
Foot Orthoses vs. Rocker-Sole Footwear: Which Treatment Is More Effective for Reducing Pain in First MPT Joint OA?
Foot osteoarthritis (OA) of the first metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint is thought to have biomechanical factors, but its treatments have not been comprehensively tested in clinical trials. In the first study to explore the efficacy of mechanical interventions, researchers compared the effectiveness of foot orthoses and rocker-sole footwear in reducing pain. Both interventions were effective, but the foot orthoses group wore the intervention for significantly more hours than the footwear group…
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