Content about Health care in the United States

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — So research indicates that the majority of consumers who would be eligible for new healthcare coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have never heard of the state-based healthcare exchanges, and many believe they will need help in understanding healthcare insurance terms and descriptions. Really?

Of course! That's because it's confusing!

NEW YORK — An article recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shed a highly positive light on the convenient care industry, and outlined significant ways in which retail-based clinics are playing an important role in today’s U.S. healthcare system by improving access, cost and coordination of care for patients.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Pharmaceutical wholesaler H. D. Smith will act as the exclusive supplier of various healthcare products for a buying group that serves independent pharmacies, the company said Monday.

Increases in the prices of prescription drugs have far outpaced the rate of general inflation over the years, as increases in the prices of branded and specialty drugs have offset decreases in the prices of generics, according to a new report by AARP’s research arm.


The study, conducted by AARP’s Public Policy Institute, found that the cumulative change in drug prices from 2005 to 2009 was almost double the rate of inflation. As a result, the average annual cost of drug therapy continued to rise.


PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Lowering health costs will require a greater understanding of differences between two distinct groups of patients, according to a new study, which also noted a growing availability of specialty drugs for complex and chronic conditions outside the hospital.

WASHINGTON — For every dollar spent on over-the-counter medicines, the U.S. healthcare system realizes a savings of between $6 and $7, or $102 billion all told, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association announced Tuesday with the release of this new study, "The Value of OTC Medicine to the United States."

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Prescribers, patients and specialty care centers no longer will be required to enroll in safety monitoring programs for two drugs used to treat low platelet counts, following changes to their risk evaluation and mitigation strategies.

WASHINGTON — The concept of medication therapy management has become more developed, and certain aspects of it have become established within the organizations providing and paying for it, according to a white paper published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Almost one-third of Americans who have not had enough money to pay for health care and/or medicine in the past 12 months are smokers, according to the October 2011 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. The percentage of smokers is cut in half (14.2%) when it comes to the population that can afford to pay for health care and/or medicine in the past 12 months. Of the Americans without a personal doctor, 27.5% smoke.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — One very quiet bit of news worthy of a bit more attention: MinuteClinic is up to 645 clinics. Clinic revenues were up more than 15% during the quarter, and the company expects MinuteClinic will break even as planned by the end of the year. That's important because the third quarter isn't exactly a big cold-and-flu month, which means that patients are starting to use clinics for more than just sick care. Third quarter is back to school, which suggests the clinics likely were busier doing other things, such as vaccinations and physicals.

ATLANTA — SoloHealth on Friday announced a nationwide rollout in 2012 of its next-generation health-and-wellness kiosks, the SoloHealth Station, with the goal of replacing many of the 25,000 outdated blood-pressure machines found today in retail locations nationwide.

How many times have we heard it said that one day in America there will be a nationwide health information network that will link patients, providers and payers seamlessly, efficiently and securely, across a universal standardized system? It’s been the dream of health information technology strategists and engineers for decades. And yet, when you take a look at the healthcare experience of the typical American consumer, you’d be hard-pressed to find evidence that we are any closer to achieving that dream today than we were in the days of the Carter administration.