The treatment setting for alcoholism is in for a major shift from specialize clinics to primary care offices because of new research and medications, according to a report in the December 5 Journal of the American Medical Association. But if the promise of office-based treatment of alcoholism is to become a reality, the nation's 337,000 general-practice physicians--and the healthcare system as a whole--will have to undergo some transformation themselves, addiction experts say.
A Friday funeral was set for the Northridge, CA, teenager who died last week after her insurer refused to pay for a liver transplant and then reconsidered. Cigna HealthCare, the girl's health plan, stood by its initial decision. In a memo distributed the media, the president of Philadelphia-based Cigna said the company has a record of approving coverage for more than 90 percent of all transplants requested by its members, as well as more than 90 percent of the liver transplants.
A year that began with great ambition for major expansions of health insurance in Sacramento and in other state capitals is ending with considerable uncertainty. The governors of California, Illinois and Pennsylvania proposed sweeping plans to restructure healthcare this year. But none will finish 2007 with bills passed and signed. In each state, the initiatives confronted entrenched opposition from insurance and other business lobbies that made it far more difficult to build a consensus for change than in the smaller New England states that acted in recent years.
Medical centers are rushing to add the latest weapons against cancer--nuclear particle accelerators, formerly used only for exotic physics research. Experts say the push reflects the best and worst of the nation's market-based healthcare system. Critics say these medical centers are pursing the latest, most expensive treatments without much evidence of improved health, even as soaring costs add to the nation's economic burden. Nuclear particle accelerators are said to be more precise than the X-rays that are typically used for radiation therapy, with fewer side effects and potentially a higher cure rate.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee has another union representation victory after nurses at the 171-bed Whittier Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area voted to join the union. The CNA will now now represent 300 Whittier Hospital RNs in contract negotiations.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas has ended an 11-year legal dispute by agreeing to a $4.5 million settlement that includes $500,000 for indigent care to three hospitals.