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Senate clears hurdle to open debate on healthcare
Seth Sandronsky Healthcare AdministrationSenators voted, 51-50, Tuesday afternoon on a motion to proceed with debate on a healthcare bill when Vice President Mike Pence broke a tie with the decisive vote. Along with all 48 Democrats, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted against the motion to proceed with debate. The duo's dissent from Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) illustrates the tip of a GOP iceberg that is rife with splits between conservative and moderate lawmakers.
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Will Senate’s healthcare failure open the door to bipartisanship?
Seth Sandronsky Healthcare AdministrationA week ago, the Republican Party's efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act came to a crashing halt when two key Senators refused to back the repeal-and-replace plan. But in Washington, D.C., the GOP's efforts to end Obamacare — due in part to its insurance mandates, prices and taxes — continue.
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Pharmacists and the $1.3 billion Medicare fraud case
Jason Poquette PharmaceuticalOn July 13, the federal government announced the largest takedown by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in U.S. history. The agency charged 412 defendants — including doctors, nurses and pharmacists — with $1.3 billion in fraudulent billing schemes to Medicare, Medicaid and other private insurers. Groups of these defendants were spread across 41 federal districts.
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Senate healthcare bill crashes as procedural votes vanish
Seth Sandronsky Healthcare AdministrationCrash goes Senate Republicans' seven-year mission to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). Just ask Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful," McConnell said in a prepared statement.
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Change may not be easy in healthcare, but it is possible
Joan Spitrey Healthcare AdministrationHealthcare is one of the most dynamic industries. Not only are new discoveries, modalities, equipment or medications being introduced at a rapid pace, but the unpredictability of taking care of humans and their uniqueness also creates an extra challenge.
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FDA strikes back against opioid abuse with Opana ER decision
Dr. Abimbola Farinde PharmaceuticalThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently added another drug to its growing list of medications that have been removed from the market due to concerns over risk outweighing the clinical benefit of the drug. Typically, drugs are pulled because of harmful side effects, but Opana ER (oxymorphone hydrochloride) is the first drug to be recognized by the FDA as causing harm related to the potential for abuse and addiction. This was largely the result of the increasingly prevalence of the opioid epidemic in America.
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Saving lives with a novel antibacterial wound cover
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareSkin wounds — and the infections that come with them — pose a big challenge for medical professionals. Bacterial skin infections are the 28th most common diagnosis in hospitalized patients, and treating them is becoming more difficult with the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. But researchers have developed a new type of wound dressing that may help treat these difficult cases.
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Walgreens, Rite Aid plans add to pharmacy career stress
Jason Poquette PharmaceuticalThe pharmacy school curriculum doesn't typically include a course devoted to stress management, but maybe it should. The plan for Walgreens to acquire Rite Aid, first announced in late 2015, has been abandoned. The news pushed RAD stock prices further downward, but this has been the general trend over the past year anyway.
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BCRA support falters: GOP governors, insurers and public oppose bill
Seth Sandronsky Healthcare AdministrationBacking for the Better Care and Reconciliation Act (BCRA), Senate Republicans' version to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, is faltering. In one sign of party disunity, President Donald Trump recently tweeted a "repeal then replace" Obamacare message that Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) quickly dismissed.
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The impact of pharmaceutical reps on physician prescribing
Dr. Abimbola Farinde PharmaceuticalThe practice of "detailing" is designed to provide physicians with an incentive to prescribe certain drugs or at least give consideration of the latest drugs on the market. For many years, this has been an observed standard of practice across the U.S.
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