Posted by James
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the United States, affecting over 4 million individuals, with a prevalence of approximately 1.6%. Recent reports have suggested that up to two thirds of newly diagnosed chronic liver disease in the United States results from HCV. Most individuals exposed to HCV during adulthood develop chronic infection, and up to 20% may progress to end- stage liver disease. Consequently, chronic HCV infection has become a major source of liver-related mortality. The prevalence of HCV-associated advanced liver disease is expected to rise over the next several decades. HCV is currently the most frequent indication for liver transplantation, comprising approximately 40-50% of all cases.
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Posted by James
These results are exploratory and are limited by the small number of participants and managed care organizations represented. No attempt was made to obtain a random or representative sample of managed care decision-makers, so the findings cannot be generalized beyond the study participants. However, a number of the findings are consistent with results reported by other investigators.
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Posted by James
To obtain the target of 10 focus group participants, 29 prospective participants from the conference pre-registrant list were identified and contacted. Although eight men and three women met the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate, three of them were unable to attend, leaving a total of eight (i.e., six men and two women) focus group participants. These participants were on P&T committees that made pharmaceutical benefit decisions for over 500,000 enrolled lives.
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Posted by James
To fulfill the research objectives, two focus groups with five participants each were planned. Potential participants were identified, based on their job titles, from among pre-registrants of a conference sponsored by the University of Arizona’s Center for Health Outcomes and PharmacoEconomic Research. They were contacted by telephone to determine interest in participation and eligibility. Specific inclusion criteria required that they: 1) be 18 years of age or older; 2) be in a position in which they make pharmaceutical benefit decisions; 3) be able to successfully communicate in English in a group setting; and 4) have signed written informed consent to participate. This project was conducted under the auspices of the University of Arizona’s Human Subjects Committee. The participants were provided with an honorarium.
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Posted by James
The pattern of illness in the U.S. has shifted from mostly acute disease to one in which chronic conditions predominate. Although there are many diseases that can shorten life expectancy, it is more likely that a disease will have adverse health consequences that result in dysfunction and decreased well-being. Hence, patient self-reports of functioning and well-being, or health-related quality of life (HRQOL), are increasingly viewed as important measures of therapeutic outcome. Sanders and colleagues found that the reporting of quality-of-life therapeutic endpoints in randomized controlled trials increased more than 650% between 1980 and 1997.
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Posted by James
Despite all the brave political talk at the start of May, the GOP leadership in the House was unable to bring a Medicare prescription drug bill to the House floor by the end of the month. A bill might yet pass the House. But what is becoming clearer is that too many Republicans and Democrats are taking exaggerated positions for political gain.
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Posted by James
Dozens of times each day, drug information specialists at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJUH) contact physicians to suggest changes in their pharmaceutical product-related orders. These can be minor changes, such as sorting out misspellings, or they might be potentially life-saving changes, as in correcting the dose of an aminoglycoside, or alerting a physician to a possible drug interaction. On an annual basis, our drug information specialists contact physicians nearly 10,000 times per year (and we have been tracking these data for some time). It is fair to say that these numbers increase every year along with the number of products on our formulary and the complexity of the conditions of the patients who receive care at TJUH.
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