Diabetes Management at Chrysler
A pilot program designed to improve the health of Chrysler employees with diabetes has been deemed a success. The company enrolled 126 employees in its Auburn, Mich., headquarters in the program, which consisted of individual coaching sessions with certified diabetes educators. More than three-quarters of enrollees completed at least four coaching sessions. After 6 months, 77% of enrollees had reduced their HbA1c level to less than 7%. At the program's start, 68% had HbA1c levels at or below 7%. Participants' cholesterol levels improved slightly, with 42% having LDL cholesterol values less than 100 mg/dL at the program's end, compared with 39.5% at the study's start. Knowledge of diabetes and its management improved by more than 18%. “We love the direction this program is taking us,” said Cyndy Parker, Chrysler's healthy people initiatives manager. No word yet on whether the program saved money.
Part D Formulary Override Form
A new one-page form allows physicians to request a prior authorization or coverage of a nonformulary drug under Medicare Part D. The form can “easily communicate to drug plans why a patient needs a specific drug when similar drugs are covered by the plan,” American Medical Association board member Dr. Edward Langston said in a statement. AMA led a coalition of groups that developed the form. The form, which is used to explain the need for an alternative drug or dose, or why the formulary drug is not acceptable, is available at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' site:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNProducts/Downloads/Form_Exceptions_final.pdf
Generics Boost Medicare D Savings
At least 14 brand name drugs are due to go off-patent in the next 5 years, representing $23 billion in potential savings to Medicare Part D, claims the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association in a new report. PCMA's members—managed drug benefit plans—negotiate discounts with drug makers on behalf of employers and insurers. The organization says that this year alone, $1.5 billion could be saved due to lost exclusivity on four drugs: Zoloft (sertraline), Zocor (simvastatin), Proscar (finasteride), and Pravachol (pravastatin). The savings assume that 90% of Medicare prescriptions would be switched to generics, and that the generic would cost 60% less than the brand. In 2007, Norvasc (amlodipine besylate), Ambien (zoldipem tartrate), Zyrtec (cetirizine), Lotrel (amlodipine/benazepril), Coreg (carvedilol), and Lamisil (terbinafine) are due to lose patent protection, which could lead to $700 million in savings that year.
Maryland Passes Stem Cell Bill
The Maryland legislature passed a bill establishing a $15 million fund to promote stem cell research in the state. The measure, which passed by a vote of 90–48 and was signed by Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, will establish procedures for reviewing research projects involving either adult or embryonic stem cells. An independent commission—including representatives from the patient advocate, biotechnology, and ethics communities—will administer grants to universities and private sector researchers.
FDA Names Drug Safety Spokesman
The Food and Drug Administration has appointed Dr. Paul Seligman as associate center director for safety policy and communication in the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). According to CDER director Dr. Steven Galson, “This step will help to provide a more standardized and predictable approach to ensuring drug safety and enhance the effectiveness and timeliness of the information we provide to the health care community and the public.” But Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said in an interview that the appointment was just more window dressing. Dr. Seligman “will be reporting directly to Dr. Galson and will lack the independence necessary to free up the Office of Drug Safety from its second-class position in FDA.” At a telephone conference, Dr. Seligman said that he still works for FDA, but “there are many important policy questions that go well beyond the FDA” when deciding whether to change labeling or pull a drug from the market. “Those issues will continue to be with us and will be decided on a drug-by-drug basis.”
Report Critical of HRSA
The Health Resources and Services Administration needs to do a better job of making workforce projections, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. “HRSA has in the past decade published national supply and demand projections for the nurse and pharmacist workforces but no national projections for the physician and dentist workforces,” the GAO said in its report. In its response, HRSA stated, “we believe that the legislated goal of providing 'health workforce information and analysis, … such as shortages of registered nurses, shortages of pharmacists, and the distribution of health care workers in underserved areas,' is broader than what GAO's exclusive focus on supply and demand projections for physicians, nurses, and dentists would allow.”