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Misdiagnosis Of Disorders Of Consciousness Still Commonplace
A sixteen-month study of consensus-based diagnosis of patients with disorders of consciousness has shown that 41% of cases of minimally conscious state (MCS) were misdiagnosed as vegetative state (VS), a condition associated with a much lower chance of recovery. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neurology have demonstrated that standardized neurobehavioral assessment is more sensitive than diagnoses determined by clinical consensus.
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Sixteen States, DOJ Join Whistle-Blower Lawsuits Alleging Wyeth Defrauded Medicaid Programs
The U.S. Department of Justice and 16 states have joined two whistle-blower lawsuits filed in federal District Court in Massachusetts alleging that Wyeth defrauded the government by not offering the same discounts on two medications to Medicaid that it offered to hospitals, the Wall Street Journal reports. The lawsuits were initiated following a grand-jury investigation by the U.S. Attorney"s Office in Massachusetts (Johnson, Wall Street Journal, 5/19). The other states included in the lawsuits are California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New York, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia (Barrett, AP/Austin American-Statesman, 5/18).According to the lawsuits, Wyeth from 2000 to 2006 sold hospitals a bundled package called the Protonix Performance Agreement, which included its acid-reflux drugs Protonix Oral and Protonix IV. The suits allege that Wyeth gave hospitals up to a 94% discount for the oral version under the deal, with the understanding that when patients were released from hospitals they would be switched from the intravenous version of the drug to the oral version. According to the complaint, Wyeth hoped to gain an edge in a competitive market for acid-reflux pills by taking advantage of its standing as the only company offering an IV acid-reflux drug. The Journal reports that Wyeth charged hospitals $20 per vial for the IV version of Protonix and $3 for the oral version.Medicaid rules stipulate that the program is entitled to the lowest price on prescription drugs, and drugmakers are required to pay states rebates if they offer discounts to any other entities. The lawsuits state that Wyeth avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars to state Medicaid programs because it did not offer the programs the same discounts or provide rebates (Wall Street Journal, 5/19).The lawsuits are seeking financial penalties against Wyeth of up to three times the amount lost by Medicaid. Assistant Attorney General Tony West said, "By offering massive discounts to hospitals, but then hiding that information from the Medicaid program, we believe Wyeth caused Medicaid programs throughout the country to pay much more for these drugs than they should have." Wyeth spokesperson Doug Petkus said that Wyeth "believes that its pricing calculations were correct and intends to defend itself vigorously in these actions" (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 5/18).
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Thyroid Journal: First Comprehensive Guidelines For Managing Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma
New guidelines designed to standardize and optimize the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of patients with Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC), an uncommon and challenging form of thyroid cancer, have been developed by the American Thyroid Association and published online ahead of print in Thyroid, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The guidelines are available free online at http://www.liebertpub.com/thy.
Endocrinology

Dying At Home: A Trend That Could Make Hospitals More Efficient

Hospitals across Canada are seeking ways to free up beds. University of Alberta researcher Donna Wilson has a suggestion: people should be encouraged to die at home rather than in hospital. She looked at statistics dating back to 1950 and has found that there"s been a dramatic change in the location of death of Canadians. Up until 1994, about 80 per cent of people dying each year were passing on in hospital. Now that number is down to 61 per cent, and Wilson is hoping the trend continues. She"d like to see only 40 per cent of people passing on in hospital because, with an aging baby boom population, this could reduce wait lists and free up hospital beds for those who need life-saving treatment or surgery. In most cases, she says, it"s also a much more dignified death for a family member. Wilson says in the next 20 years the number of people dying could double and if death rates in hospital stay at 80 per cent. those numbers mean a potential tie-up of every single bed in Canada for three days of the year, because each person takes up a bed for an average of 10 days. The professor in the Faculty of Nursing wants to see governments put more money into developing hospices, nursing homes and training for home care. Quinn Phillips University of Alberta


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