A Woburn compounding pharmacy has recalled more than a dozen products it made and distributed since Jan. 1, after regulators found "foreign matter" in vials of injectable drugs. The state board that regulates compounding pharmacies ordered Pallimed Solutions, Inc., on March 22 to stop producing drugs that were supposed to be made using sterile processes and to quarantine those in its possession. The company announced Monday morning that it also would recall such drugs that it had distributed since Jan. 1. The pharmacy will continue making non-sterile compounded products.
The Affordable Care Act turns 3 on Saturday, and it seems just as divisive as the day President Obama signed it. "This law expands our competitiveness, promotes wellness and prevention, and enhances the economic security of the middle class," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Friday. "It enables Americans to pursue their dreams, start a business, change jobs or care for their families with the certainty and security of affordable, quality health insurance." Among other things, the poll found the public less informed about things that are — and are not — part of the law now than when it passed in 2010.
Republican leaders in Congress regularly denounce the 2010 Affordable Care Act and vow to block money to carry it out or even to repeal it. Those political attacks ignore the considerable benefits delivered to millions of people since the law's enactment three years ago Saturday. The main elements of the law do not kick in until Jan. 1, 2014, when many millions of uninsured people will gain coverage. Yet it has already thrown a lifeline to people at high risk of losing insurance or being uninsured, including young adults and people with chronic health problems, and it has made a start toward reforming the costly, dysfunctional American health care system.
A telephone study of nearly 700 Kern County residents last year found that people head outside the county seeking treatment for a variety of aliments. The study was funded by The Californian along with a local hospital and health insurance provider. Survey participants listed cancer, orthopedic issues and learning disabilities as the conditions for which they most frequently venture outside the county to find care. Nearly 30 percent said their family has sought care for cancer elsewhere, though one doctor said that number seems unrealistically high. "Compared to before, the trend has turned. There are so many people staying here," said Dr. Ravi Patel, managing partner and medical director of the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center in Bakersfield. "Very few people will think about actually going elsewhere."
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Nearly two decades after a court takeover of California's prison mental health system, a federal judge is set to consider this week whether the billions of dollars invested by California taxpayers have improved conditions enough that he can return control to the state. Gov. Jerry Brown argues that the state has done enough to improve inmates' care. Yet inmates' attorneys and the court's own supervisors say conditions remain so poor that they still violate prisoners' basic rights.
NASHVILLE — Two nights a year, Tennessee holds a health care lottery of sorts, giving the medically desperate a chance to get help. State residents who have high medical bills but would not normally qualify for Medicaid, the government health care program for the poor, can call a state phone line and request an application. But the window is tight — the line shuts down after 2,500 calls, typically within an hour — and the demand is so high that it is difficult to get through. There are other hurdles, too. Applicants have to be elderly, blind, disabled or the "caretaker relative" of a child who qualifies for Medicaid, known here as TennCare.