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Family Insurance Tops $12K
Employer-sponsored insurance for a family of four in 2008 cost employers and workers an average of $12,298, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The employees' contribution averaged $3,394 for family-of-four plans and $882 for single workers, the agency reported. Employers paid the entire premium for 22% of workers with single-coverage plans, for 11% of workers with family-of-four plans, and for 9% of employees with one covered family member. About 31 million of the more than 62 million workers enrolled in employer-based insurance in 2008 had single plans, while 20 million had family-of-four coverage.
Information Tech Is Growing
The electronic exchange of health information among physicians, hospitals, health plans, and patients has increased substantially in the past year, the nonprofit group eHealth Initiative (eHI) found in its annual survey of 150 community-based “health information electronically” initiatives. Respondents reported a nearly 40% increase in the number of initiatives that were advanced enough to be exchanging information. According to eHI, these groups said that information technology is cutting redundant tests, avoiding some medication errors, and reducing staff time spent handling lab results and doing clerical tasks. The federal government is to spend at least $300 million on health information technology over the next 2 years as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
HHS Allocates Training Funds
The Department of Health and Human Services has released $200 million to support grants, loans, loan repayments, and scholarships for health care professionals focusing on primary care. According to the HHS, the funds will train about 8,000 students and credentialed health professionals by the end of fiscal year 2010. More than $47 million of the funds will support primary care training for residents, medical students, physician assistants, and dentists. Another $10.5 million will support training of other public health workers. Meanwhile, about $80 million will go toward scholarships, loans, and loan-repayment awards, while about $50 million will help various primary care training programs purchase equipment needed to improve their quality and capacity. Some funds also will go to increasing racial diversity in the workforce and to reducing barriers to telemedicine, the HHS said. The $200 million is part of $500 million that the federal economic stimulus package allotted for the Health Resources and Services Administration to address health workforce shortages.
Free Rx Program Will Expand
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP has expanded its prescription drug savings program and will enable people who were recently laid off or have had their incomes reduced to receive free medications more quickly. The program also will help more patients who have experienced changes in marital status or family size, the drug maker said. Previously, some people with recent drops in income or increases in family size had problems applying for free medications because their W2 statements didn't indicate that they qualified. But AstraZeneca said it now will accept other documentation showing current income and family size. The AZ&Me Prescription Savings program provides AstraZeneca medicines at no cost to individuals who make up to $30,000 per year and to families of four making up to $60,000 per year, if they have no other prescription drug coverage.
Medicine in Big Easy Isn't
Federal funding has helped provide primary care in the hurricane-pummeled greater New Orleans area, but grant recipients continue to face significant challenges, the Government Accountability Office reported. Primary care providers in the area have had increasing trouble hiring and retaining staff, as well as referring patients outside their practices, the GAO said. In 2007, the HHS awarded $100 million in grants to restore primary care for low-income people in the New Orleans area. Grant recipients have used the funds to hire or retain staff, to add primary care services, and to open new delivery sites in underserved neighborhoods. However, it's still not clear how many of the primary care organizations will survive, the GAO said.
Biosimilars Market: $45 Million
A research firm pegs the U.S. market for generic versions of biotechnology products, called biosimilars or biogenerics, at $45 million by 2015 if the federal government clears a regulatory path for such products. The major health reform bills now making their way through Congress would do so. Kalorama Information said that biosimilars of human growth hormone, insulin, and some protein- and recombinant DNA-based therapies would probably be the first generics available. Early sales aren't likely to be robust, partly because the brand-name manufacturers will defend their turf, the Kalorama report predicted. Nevertheless, a few generic makers “will hit the ground running” once approval of biosimilars is granted, Kalorama's Bruce Carlson said in a statement.
Family Insurance Tops $12K
Employer-sponsored insurance for a family of four in 2008 cost employers and workers an average of $12,298, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The employees' contribution averaged $3,394 for family-of-four plans and $882 for single workers, the agency reported. Employers paid the entire premium for 22% of workers with single-coverage plans, for 11% of workers with family-of-four plans, and for 9% of employees with one covered family member. About 31 million of the more than 62 million workers enrolled in employer-based insurance in 2008 had single plans, while 20 million had family-of-four coverage.
Information Tech Is Growing
The electronic exchange of health information among physicians, hospitals, health plans, and patients has increased substantially in the past year, the nonprofit group eHealth Initiative (eHI) found in its annual survey of 150 community-based “health information electronically” initiatives. Respondents reported a nearly 40% increase in the number of initiatives that were advanced enough to be exchanging information. According to eHI, these groups said that information technology is cutting redundant tests, avoiding some medication errors, and reducing staff time spent handling lab results and doing clerical tasks. The federal government is to spend at least $300 million on health information technology over the next 2 years as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
HHS Allocates Training Funds
The Department of Health and Human Services has released $200 million to support grants, loans, loan repayments, and scholarships for health care professionals focusing on primary care. According to the HHS, the funds will train about 8,000 students and credentialed health professionals by the end of fiscal year 2010. More than $47 million of the funds will support primary care training for residents, medical students, physician assistants, and dentists. Another $10.5 million will support training of other public health workers. Meanwhile, about $80 million will go toward scholarships, loans, and loan-repayment awards, while about $50 million will help various primary care training programs purchase equipment needed to improve their quality and capacity. Some funds also will go to increasing racial diversity in the workforce and to reducing barriers to telemedicine, the HHS said. The $200 million is part of $500 million that the federal economic stimulus package allotted for the Health Resources and Services Administration to address health workforce shortages.
Free Rx Program Will Expand
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP has expanded its prescription drug savings program and will enable people who were recently laid off or have had their incomes reduced to receive free medications more quickly. The program also will help more patients who have experienced changes in marital status or family size, the drug maker said. Previously, some people with recent drops in income or increases in family size had problems applying for free medications because their W2 statements didn't indicate that they qualified. But AstraZeneca said it now will accept other documentation showing current income and family size. The AZ&Me Prescription Savings program provides AstraZeneca medicines at no cost to individuals who make up to $30,000 per year and to families of four making up to $60,000 per year, if they have no other prescription drug coverage.
Medicine in Big Easy Isn't
Federal funding has helped provide primary care in the hurricane-pummeled greater New Orleans area, but grant recipients continue to face significant challenges, the Government Accountability Office reported. Primary care providers in the area have had increasing trouble hiring and retaining staff, as well as referring patients outside their practices, the GAO said. In 2007, the HHS awarded $100 million in grants to restore primary care for low-income people in the New Orleans area. Grant recipients have used the funds to hire or retain staff, to add primary care services, and to open new delivery sites in underserved neighborhoods. However, it's still not clear how many of the primary care organizations will survive, the GAO said.
Biosimilars Market: $45 Million
A research firm pegs the U.S. market for generic versions of biotechnology products, called biosimilars or biogenerics, at $45 million by 2015 if the federal government clears a regulatory path for such products. The major health reform bills now making their way through Congress would do so. Kalorama Information said that biosimilars of human growth hormone, insulin, and some protein- and recombinant DNA-based therapies would probably be the first generics available. Early sales aren't likely to be robust, partly because the brand-name manufacturers will defend their turf, the Kalorama report predicted. Nevertheless, a few generic makers “will hit the ground running” once approval of biosimilars is granted, Kalorama's Bruce Carlson said in a statement.
Family Insurance Tops $12K
Employer-sponsored insurance for a family of four in 2008 cost employers and workers an average of $12,298, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The employees' contribution averaged $3,394 for family-of-four plans and $882 for single workers, the agency reported. Employers paid the entire premium for 22% of workers with single-coverage plans, for 11% of workers with family-of-four plans, and for 9% of employees with one covered family member. About 31 million of the more than 62 million workers enrolled in employer-based insurance in 2008 had single plans, while 20 million had family-of-four coverage.
Information Tech Is Growing
The electronic exchange of health information among physicians, hospitals, health plans, and patients has increased substantially in the past year, the nonprofit group eHealth Initiative (eHI) found in its annual survey of 150 community-based “health information electronically” initiatives. Respondents reported a nearly 40% increase in the number of initiatives that were advanced enough to be exchanging information. According to eHI, these groups said that information technology is cutting redundant tests, avoiding some medication errors, and reducing staff time spent handling lab results and doing clerical tasks. The federal government is to spend at least $300 million on health information technology over the next 2 years as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
HHS Allocates Training Funds
The Department of Health and Human Services has released $200 million to support grants, loans, loan repayments, and scholarships for health care professionals focusing on primary care. According to the HHS, the funds will train about 8,000 students and credentialed health professionals by the end of fiscal year 2010. More than $47 million of the funds will support primary care training for residents, medical students, physician assistants, and dentists. Another $10.5 million will support training of other public health workers. Meanwhile, about $80 million will go toward scholarships, loans, and loan-repayment awards, while about $50 million will help various primary care training programs purchase equipment needed to improve their quality and capacity. Some funds also will go to increasing racial diversity in the workforce and to reducing barriers to telemedicine, the HHS said. The $200 million is part of $500 million that the federal economic stimulus package allotted for the Health Resources and Services Administration to address health workforce shortages.
Free Rx Program Will Expand
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP has expanded its prescription drug savings program and will enable people who were recently laid off or have had their incomes reduced to receive free medications more quickly. The program also will help more patients who have experienced changes in marital status or family size, the drug maker said. Previously, some people with recent drops in income or increases in family size had problems applying for free medications because their W2 statements didn't indicate that they qualified. But AstraZeneca said it now will accept other documentation showing current income and family size. The AZ&Me Prescription Savings program provides AstraZeneca medicines at no cost to individuals who make up to $30,000 per year and to families of four making up to $60,000 per year, if they have no other prescription drug coverage.
Medicine in Big Easy Isn't
Federal funding has helped provide primary care in the hurricane-pummeled greater New Orleans area, but grant recipients continue to face significant challenges, the Government Accountability Office reported. Primary care providers in the area have had increasing trouble hiring and retaining staff, as well as referring patients outside their practices, the GAO said. In 2007, the HHS awarded $100 million in grants to restore primary care for low-income people in the New Orleans area. Grant recipients have used the funds to hire or retain staff, to add primary care services, and to open new delivery sites in underserved neighborhoods. However, it's still not clear how many of the primary care organizations will survive, the GAO said.
Biosimilars Market: $45 Million
A research firm pegs the U.S. market for generic versions of biotechnology products, called biosimilars or biogenerics, at $45 million by 2015 if the federal government clears a regulatory path for such products. The major health reform bills now making their way through Congress would do so. Kalorama Information said that biosimilars of human growth hormone, insulin, and some protein- and recombinant DNA-based therapies would probably be the first generics available. Early sales aren't likely to be robust, partly because the brand-name manufacturers will defend their turf, the Kalorama report predicted. Nevertheless, a few generic makers “will hit the ground running” once approval of biosimilars is granted, Kalorama's Bruce Carlson said in a statement.