The United States spends more on healthcare but lags behind the rest of the industrialized world in life expectancy and childhood mortality because the government "chronically" underfunds public health systems, the Institute of Medicine argues in a new report out Tuesday. The report calls for doubling federal spending on public health from $11.6 billion to $24 billion a year "as a starting point to meet the needs of public health departments." The report points out that Americans spent $8,086 per person in medical care in 2009 versus $251 in public health spending.
Johnson & Johnson must pay more than $1.1 billion in fines, a judge ruled after an Arkansas jury found the company's officials misled doctors and patients about the risks of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. Judge Tim Fox in Little Rock, Arkansas, today found J&J and its Janssen unit committed more than 238,000 violations of the state's Medicaid fraud laws by illegally marketing Risperdal over an almost four-year period starting in 2002. The penalty is the largest of the three handed down so far against New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J in state cases alleging the second-biggest maker of health products hid Risperdal's risks and tricked Medicaid regulators into paying more than they should have for the medicine.
The coming knock-down battle in Monroeville for patients—and insurance dollars, physicians and ambulance service—between West Penn Allegheny Health System's Forbes Regional Hospital and the new UPMC East hospital might appear unseemly to some, but it's also reflective of the fierce suburban competition going on across the country. A paper, written by the Center for Studying Health System Change and published this month in Health Affairs journal, says that the competition has the potential to lead to "duplicative services and higher costs" even though hospitals claim "expansion strategies will lead to greater efficiency and improved care."
A majority of young doctors feel pessimistic about the future of the U.S. healthcare system, with the new healthcare law cited as the main reason, according to a survey released to Reuters on Wednesday. Nearly half of the 500 doctors surveyed think the Affordable Care Act will have a negative effect on their practices, compared with 23 percent who think it will be positive. The survey was commissioned by The Physicians Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the work of practicing doctors through grants, research and policy impact studies.
As St. Jude Medical defends itself against reports of deaths and injuries linked to problems with an implanted heart device, it finds itself in familiar territory. Since 2005, two competitors, Medtronic and Guidant, have faced similar scrutiny about critical flaws in their products. But St. Jude is distinguishing itself with what doctors and others say is a rare response—a scorched-earth defense of its policies and products. The company's chief executive, Daniel J. Starks, has led that charge, accusing Medtronic of trying to undercut St. Jude to gain business. He and other company executives have also gone after a prominent researcher.
The battle over Jefferson County's hospital for the poor has spilled over into its Chapter 9 bankruptcy case, illuminating another financial hardship facing Alabama's biggest county. Against threats that the 319-bed facility may one day close, a patient of Cooper Green Mercy Hospital has asked the county's bankruptcy judge to protect the stream of money that is supposed to flow to the facility. But the inner city hospital's finances have come under scrutiny as state and county leaders question whether the facility has made enough financial sacrifices while other county departments such as the sheriff's office and the public works department are pressed with steep cuts. The county has laid off more than 1,000 employees in recent years.