New NIH Neuroscience Group
The National Institutes of Health announced last month that it had established the Emerging Neuroscience and Training Integrated Review Group. The new group is designed to “provide advice and recommendations to the [NIH] Director … on the scientific and technical merit of applications for grants-in-aid for research,” as well as advice on contracts related to neuroscience research and training. The committee will continue indefinitely, according to an announcement in the Federal Register. For more information, visit
http://cms.csr.nih.gov/PeerReviewMeetings/CSRIRGDescription/ETTNIRG/
Data on Elderly Glossed Over
Food and Drug Administration regulations for drugmakers conducting clinical trials encourage the inclusion of elderly participants and the reporting of data by age, but the agency is not effective in getting its medical officers to include data on elderly patients in new drug application (NDA) reviews, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. The report was based on a review of 36 NDAs submitted from January 2001 to June 2004 for drugs to treat diseases that could affect elderly patients. All the NDAs had at least one trial that included elderly participants, but a third of the agency's NDA reviews had no documentation on safety or efficacy for that age group. In addition, reviewers are not required to establish whether there was a sufficient number of elderly patients in a trial, and if they do address sufficiency, they do not have to document their methods.
E-Prescribing Reduces Errors
Electronic prescribing significantly reduced medication errors, according to data from the Southeast Michigan ePrescribing Initiative (SEMI), a coalition of automakers, health plans, health care providers, a drug manufacturer, and a pharmacy benefits manager. The SEMI results show that among a sample of 3.3 million e-prescriptions, a severe or moderate drug-to-drug alert was sent to physicians for about 33%, resulting in a change to or cancellation of 41% of those scripts. In addition, more than 100,000 medication allergy alerts were presented, of which 41% were acted upon. And when a formulary alert was presented, the physician changed the prescription 39% of the time to comply with formulary requirements. “The benefits of e-prescribing are overwhelming in terms of reducing medication errors, lowering prescription drug costs for patients and plans, and decreasing physician practices' administrative costs,” said Marsha Manning, General Motors' manager of Southeast Michigan Community Health Care Initiatives, in a statement.
Low Health Literacy Is Costly
Researchers found that 87 million adults, or 36% of the adult U.S. population, have basic or less-than-basic health literacy skills. Using data from the 2003 Department of Education National Assessment of Adult Health Literacy, they estimated that low health literacy costs the U.S. economy between $106 billion and $236 billion a year. “Our findings suggest that low health literacy exacts enormous costs on both the health system and society,” lead author John A. Vernon, Ph.D., said in a statement. The report, “Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy,” was supported by a grant from Pfizer Inc.
One-Third of Americans Uninsured
Almost 35% of Americans had no health care coverage for at least part of 2006–2007, up from 30% in 1999–2000, Families USA reported. Of these, 19% were uninsured for longer than 1 year; more than half were uninsured for longer than 6 months. Of the 89.6 million people who lacked coverage, 71% had full-time jobs and another 9% were working part time; only 17% were unemployed. The numbers are substantially larger than those published by the U.S. Census Bureau (which cites 47 million uninsured in 2006, or 16%), because those statistics include only those who were uninsured for a full year. The report is at
Medicare Out-of-Pocket Spending Up
The percentage of income that Medicare beneficiaries spend on out-of-pocket health care costs is rising, according to a study published in the November/December issue of Health Affairs. The median amount of income that Medicare beneficiaries spent out of pocket was 12% in 1997, but rose to 16% in 2003. Study authors Patricia Neuman, Sc.D., of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and colleagues noted that in 2003, the 25% of beneficiaries with the highest out-of-pocket expenses spent at least 30% of their income on health care, whereas the top 10% spent at least 58%. “Our findings suggest that giving elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries more 'skin in the game' could make health care less affordable and accessible for all but the highest-income beneficiaries,” the researchers said.