ANNOUNCEMENT

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Merrill Goozner

Merrill Goozner

Merrill Goozner is an award-winning journalist and author of "The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs" who writes regularly at Gooznews.com.

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Dear super committee: Please end ‘pay for delay’ deals

Dear super committee: Please end ‘pay for delay’ deals

November 8, 2011 8:54 pm by | 0 Comments

The deficit reduction “super committee” charged with coming up with $1.2 trillion in budget reductions over the next decade shouldn’t let this one pass. The Congressional Budget Office today estimated ... Read more
Glaxo isn’t alone in the unsafe, off-label promotion of prescription drugs

Glaxo isn’t alone in the unsafe, off-label promotion of prescription drugs

November 4, 2011 12:18 pm by | 2 Comments

The question arises in the wake of yesterday’s news that the government and GlaxoSmithKline settled a string of lawsuits charging the company with illegal promotion of prescription drugs for unapproved ... Read more
RUC should be opened up to be in line with federal agency rules

RUC should be opened up to be in line with federal agency rules

October 26, 2011 9:26 am by | 1 Comments

Whither CMS? That’s the issue raised by Brian Klepper and David Kibbe in their post on the Health Affairs website this morning. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services faces ... Read more
PSA test recommendation needed a little healthcare PR help

PSA test recommendation needed a little healthcare PR help

October 18, 2011 3:47 pm by | 0 Comments

Last Friday at 3 p.m., the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality held a telephone briefing to inform the press and public about the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation ... Read more
Why Medicare should adopt a ‘pay-for’ rule for physicians

Why Medicare should adopt a ‘pay-for’ rule for physicians

October 11, 2011 1:04 pm by | 2 Comments

The little-known American Medical Association committee that recommends physician pay scales to Medicare’s fee-for-service program today asked the agency to reimburse physicians for coordinating care for their chronically-ill patients. In ... Read more
Careful, but quick, crafting needed for physician disclosure database

Careful, but quick, crafting needed for physician disclosure database

October 4, 2011 12:44 pm by | 0 Comments

Don’t blame us, blame the Office of Management and Budget, officials at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Senators Charles Grassley (R-Ia.) and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) last week. ... Read more
Obamacare to blame for rising insurance premiums? Not so fast

Obamacare to blame for rising insurance premiums? Not so fast

September 28, 2011 3:24 pm by | 0 Comments

The press releases flew from various House committees yesterday afternoon (which double as Republican Party campaign offices). The charge: rising health care premiums are due to ’Obamacare.’ The latest Kaiser ... Read more
A deficit plan without much of a chance

A deficit plan without much of a chance

September 20, 2011 10:11 am by | 0 Comments

There’s a lot to like in the health care provisions of the Obama administration deficit reduction plan, which reduces Medicare and Medicaid costs by $320 billion over the next decade ... Read more
Million Hearts initiative: Good in thought, but lacking scope

Million Hearts initiative: Good in thought, but lacking scope

September 14, 2011 10:58 am by | 2 Comments

Here’s one cheer for the “Million Hearts” initiative launched yesterday by Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Donald Berwick, chief of the Centers for ... Read more
Unsuccessful Stryker brain stent shows flaws in device development, approval

Unsuccessful Stryker brain stent shows flaws in device development, approval

September 8, 2011 3:55 pm by | 1 Comments

A federal study of a new stent designed to prevent repeat strokes was stopped early because 2 1/2 times (14.7%) more people either died or had a repeat stroke after ... Read more
FDA accelerated approval makes for an expensive rare lung cancer drug

FDA accelerated approval makes for an expensive rare lung cancer drug

August 31, 2011 11:20 am by | 0 Comments

Pfizer last week won Food and Drug Administration “accelerated approval” for Xalkori (crizotinib) for a rare form of metastatic lung cancer that strikes about 3 percent of people — almost ... Read more
Healthcare spending is down. U.S. healthcare reform looks even better

Healthcare spending is down. U.S. healthcare reform looks even better

August 7, 2011 9:40 am by | 0 Comments

In a rare bit of good news for the Obama administration and budget policymakers, health care costs increased last year at their slowest pace since the advent of Medicare and ... Read more
The case of clueless patients, invasive cardiologists and unneeded stents

The case of clueless patients, invasive cardiologists and unneeded stents

July 6, 2011 10:14 am by | 0 Comments

Another day, another study showing that invasive cardiologists overuse angioplasty and insert unneeded stents in patients without acute symptoms of coronary artery disease. The latest study, which appeared in today’s ... Read more
Comparative effectiveness research has a place in drug testing process

Comparative effectiveness research has a place in drug testing process

June 17, 2011 12:20 pm by | 0 Comments

The Food and Drug Administration’s Prescription Drug User Fee Act is up for re-authorization next year, and so is the consumer and drug industry face-off over the contentious issue of ... Read more
Are expensive cancer drugs worth the cost to Medicare?

Are expensive cancer drugs worth the cost to Medicare?

June 9, 2011 10:44 am by | 0 Comments

The health care cost debate takes place on two stages using two languages, one scientific, the other economic. The net result is a failure to communicate.The scientific texts emanated over ... Read more