FDA Hiring Experts
The Food and Drug Administration has begun a multiyear hiring initiative and plans to fill more than 1,300 positions within the next several months—nearly triple the number hired from 2005 to 2007, the FDA said. The agency said it is hiring hundreds of individuals with science and medical backgrounds, including biologists, chemists, medical officers, mathematical statisticians, and investigators, in part to implement the FDA's Food Protection Plan and the Import Safety Action Plan. Because of the critical need for scientific personnel, the federal Office of Personnel Management has granted authority to the FDA to expedite hiring of qualified candidates by eliminating certain rating and ranking preferences, making it possible for qualified candidates to start work in as little as 3 weeks.
RUC Recommendations Submitted
The American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) has submitted recommendations on the new Medicare medical home demonstration project to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The RUC recommendations are specific to the development of the reporting mechanism and underlying data that CMS will use to determine payments in the medical home demonstration project. These data include physician work relative value and practice expense input recommendations, such as electronic medical record costs and nurse care coordination. The 3-year medical home demonstration project, mandated by Congress in 2006, will begin on Jan. 1, 2009.
Report: Food Safety in Crisis
Approximately 76 million people in the United States—one in four—are sickened by foodborne illnesses each year, and of these, an estimated 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die, according to a report from the advocacy group Trust for America's Health. Medical costs and lost productivity resulting from foodborne illnesses in the United States are estimated to cost $44 billion annually, according to the report. The report blamed obsolete laws, misallocation of resources, and inconsistencies among major food safety agencies for leaving Americans vulnerable to foodborne illnesses. “We will not be able to adequately protect people from contaminated foods if we continue to use 100-year-old practices,” said Dr. Jeff Levi, executive director of the group. “We need to bring food safety into the 21st century. We have the technology. We are way past due for a smart and strategic upgrade.” The report noted that inadequate resources are spent on fighting modern bacteria threats. It also said that federal food safety efforts are fragmented and that no single agency has the ultimate authority or responsibility for food safety.
GAO: Prioritize Infection Control
The federal government is not doing enough to prevent hospital-acquired infections, and the Department of Health and Human Services needs to identify priorities and establish greater consistency in reporting rates, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found in a report. The report, titled “Health-Care-Associated Infections in Hospitals,” notes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has 13 guidelines for hospitals on infection control and prevention, but HHS has not prioritized these practices. In addition, although the CDC's guidelines describe specific clinical practices recommended to reduce infections, the infection control standards that the CMS and the accrediting organizations require of hospitals describe the fundamental components of a hospital's infection control program. The GAO concluded that the lack of department-level prioritization of CDC's large number of recommended practices has hindered efforts to promote their implementation.
Insurance Costs Rise Fast
Americans who get health insurance for their families through their jobs have seen their premiums increase 10 times faster than their incomes in recent years, according to an analysis of government data. The study, which was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota, showed that the proportion of insurance premiums that workers pay for family coverage has remained constant over the years, but the dollar amount that workers contribute has increased substantially. The amount that workers pay for family coverage nationwide increased by 30% (from $8,281 in 2001 to $10,728 in 2005), whereas employee income rose by only 3% during the same time period. Meanwhile, the average cost employers pay for their share of family coverage increased by 28% (from $6,360 to $8,143) during the same time period.
Part D Helps Adherence
The Medicare Part D drug benefit has made it less likely that elderly beneficiaries will forego basic needs such as food or housing in order to pay for medications, a study published in JAMA found. In addition, the study found a small but significant decrease in cost-related medication nonadherence (that is, beneficiaries who fail to adhere to their medication regimens because of cost) among patients with good to excellent health. However, there was no net decrease in cost-related medication nonadherence among the sickest beneficiaries, the study found. Overall, 14% of beneficiaries reported skipping medication doses in 2005, but that figure dropped to less than 12% in 2006 after Part D was introduced.