Hospitals Attack High Drug Prices
Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based, not-for-profit system of 22 hospitals, a Medical Group with more than 1,600 physicians and advanced practice clinicians at about 180 clinics. Generic drugs account for 85% of the drugs Intermountain’s hospitals and clinics administer. The generic drugs account for one-third of Intermountain’s cost. As is the case for all healthcare providers, the […]
The Future of Flu Vaccine
It seems we like to shorten a name to make it more friendly: Rosemary becomes Ro, Timothy becomes Tim, and influenza become the flu. As I enter my fourth day with the flu, I can attest there is nothing friendly about it. I am hardly alone. My wife has it also, and there are more […]
Smoking Tobacco Kills 1,200 Americans Every Day
I started smoking experimentally when I was 16, and then more while in college. When I graduated in 1967, a much older, but close family friend, told me he was diagnosed with emphysema. His doctor said if he didn’t stop smoking, he would die. He quit, me too. I began to realize smoking was harmful […]
Drug Makers Putting Profit Before The Elderly
The Medpage Today staff reported this week on a CNN investigation of Nuedexta, a drug approved for PseudoBulbar Affect (PBA). The investigation found PBA is being marketed aggressively to the elderly as a therapy for dementia. Even though independent studies indicate PBA is only rarely associated with dementia, Avanir, the drug’s manufacturer, has spent millions of dollars promoting […]
Big Pharma and Politics
At a rally in Kentucky, President Donald Trump said drug prices were “outrageous”. The next day, according to Kaiser Health News, the pharmaceutical industry donated more money to political campaigns than any other day this year. On March 21, eight pharma political action committees made 137 contributions to 77 politicians totaling nearly $280,000. Both Republicans and […]
