The Virginia Quality Healthcare Network is a statewide coalition of nearly 50 voluntary health associations, patient advocacy groups and professional associations representing millions of Virginia citizens. Our mission is to educate and advocate to achieve quality healthcare for all Virginia citizens. Read the articles below for important information on our advocacy efforts on behalf of Virginia consumers.



Concierge healthcare company to aid Virginia’s uninsured/ Press Release
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The Virginia Community Healthcare Association & Members Mark National Health Center Week 2008 - Our Valley
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Children's-health bill likely to die
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GOVERNOR KAINE ANNOUNCES $400,000 FEDERAL GRANT
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Flu cases appear to be leveling off in Virginia   12/30/2003
State health officials are cautiously optimistic over preliminary reports from physicians statewide that indicate Virginia's flu epidemic may have peaked or hit a plateau, a spokeswoman said Tuesday More >>>

Brain's Insulation Key to Alzheimer's   12/30/2003
A UCLA neuroscientist says a possible key to the onset of Alzheimer's disease could be the midlife breakdown of myelin, a fatty insulation coating the brain's internal wiring. More >>>

Poll: Americans Waver on New Medicare Law   12/28/2003
The American public initially supports Medicare legislation providing help with prescription drugs, but that support fades when presented with criticism of the bill signed into law this year, a poll released Saturday suggests. More >>>

Maine Universal Health Plan Takes Shape   12/27/2003
Maine took a bold step earlier this year to create one of the nation's most far-reaching health insurance plans, naming it Dirigo, Maine's motto and Latin for "I lead." Dirigo Health is expected to sign its first enrollees this summer. More >>>

Two Insureres Likely to get VA Business   12/25/2003
Virginia is readying to slice up the lucrative business of supplying health insurance for at least 200,000 public employees and their families. More >>>

FDA: Too Costly to Legalize Drug Imports   12/24/2003
In the international mail facility at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, packages of confiscated prescription drugs are stacked floor-to-ceiling. More >>>

Community Clinics Seek Insured Patients   12/24/2003
Around the country, government-funded community clinics that normally tend to the poor are trying to attract more paying patients like Meyer to help them cover their expenses. More >>>

New Method for Detecting Alzheimer's   12/24/2003
-- Researchers studying Down syndrome patients believe they have found a way to detect Alzheimer's disease before symptoms of dementia appear. More >>>

Japanese firm aims to find 18 types of cancers with single blood test   12/23/2003
Japan's largest clinical testing firm, SRL Inc, said it aimed to commercialise tests by 2007 that would find nearly all types of existing cancers with a single blood test. More >>>

HHS Issues National Reports on Quality and Disparities in the Use of Health Care Services   12/23/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today released two reports that represent the first national comprehensive effort to measure the quality of health care in America and differences in access to health care services for priority populations. More >>>

Seniors Find New Medicare Law Confusing   12/22/2003
Eugene Obermier takes eight pills a day and a dim view of the new Medicare law, with its prescription drug benefit More >>>

States Cut Health Spending on the Poor   12/20/2003
More than 1.2 million low-income Americans, including 500,000 children, have lost health coverage as a result of state cutbacks in programs for the poor, according to a new study by a liberal Washington think tank. More >>>

Accrediting Body Outlines Pap Procedures   12/20/2003
Putting a physician's electronic signature on a Pap test report even when the doctor didn't review the results is common, the nation's leading lab accrediting body said Friday, a day after two women sued a Pittsburgh hospital alleging fraud. More >>>

CBO Issues Warning on Rising Health Care Costs   12/20/2003
- The Congressional Budget Officewarned on Friday that an aging U.S. population and rising health care costs threaten to burden future generations with sky-high taxes and a mountain of debt if Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits stay the same. More >>>

Drug Combo Can Ease Enlarged Prostate   12/18/2003
Two workhorse drugs can be combined to strike a doubly powerful blow against symptoms of an enlarged prostate, an irritating and occasionally dangerous condition widespread in older men, a study found More >>>

Acting U.S. Medicare Administrator Named   12/18/2003
- An interim head of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was named on Wednesday after the controversial resignation of Tom Scully earlier this week. More >>>

Singapore Quarantines 70 on SARS Fears   12/17/2003
Singapore's health ministry on Wednesday ordered 70 people who may have come into contact with a Taiwanese SARS patient to be quarantined. More >>>

Medicare Drug Benefit May Reach Fewer Than Expected   12/17/2003
- The Medicare prescription drug law signed by President Bush last week could provide more than $190 billion over the next 10 years to help an estimated 14.1 million low-income seniors and disabled individuals pay for their medications. More >>>

Fed Panel Backs Easier Morning-After Pill    12/17/2003
Women may soon have an easier way to help prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex now that government advisers have recommended that morning-after birth control should be sold without a doctor's prescription. More >>>

HHS PURCHASES ADDITIONAL 375,000 DOSES OF FLU VACCINE   12/16/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the purchase of 375,000 additional doses of flu vaccine. The vaccine should arrive in January. Secretary Thompson also announced that HHS had negotiated a contract for 3 million doses of FluMist that state and local health departments can purchase if needed. The FluMist is available immediately. More >>>

New Medicare Law Boosts Chronic Care   12/15/2003
A diabetic in Ohio sends basic medical information each night to a nurse who may be a thousand miles away. If a significant condition change is detected, the nurse calls to find out why and contacts the patient's doctor and pharmacist. More >>>

Health Care Spending Growth Slows   12/12/2003
Health care spending growth slowed to its lowest level in three years as people had higher out-of-pocket costs for medicines and services previously covered by insurance, a new study found. More >>>

Employers passing on burden of health-care increases to employees   12/11/2003
Employers were able to slow runaway health-care costs in 2003 by having their employees pay more for their own care, a new survey said. More >>>

Drug-Resistant Bacteria Spreads in France   12/11/2003
A strain of bacteria that is resistant to many antibiotics has infected 112 people in French hospitals since this summer and killed 18 people, health authorities said Wednesday. More >>>

HHS ANNOUNCES IMMEDIATE STEPS TO MAKE MEDICARE-APPROVED DISCOUNT DRUG CARDS AVAILABLE NEXT SPRING   12/11/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced an interim final regulation for the Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Card Program, designed to help people who are covered by Medicare with the cost of prescription drugs. Individuals will be able to enroll in a Medicare approved prescription drug discount program beginning in spring of 2004. More >>>

Ohio Lawmakers Move to Approve Drug Bill   12/10/2003
Only weeks after church groups, unions and drug makers announced a deal to lower prescription drug prices for the poor, Ohio lawmakers are on the brink of passing a bill giving those discounts. More >>>

Official on aging offers initiatives for revamped funding to caregivers    12/10/2003
The nation’s highest-ranking official for aging saluted Hampton Roads caregivers Thursday and outlined federal initiatives to give them more support. More >>>

New Grant.Gov Web Site Offers One-Stop Shopping for Information on Applying for All Federal Grants   12/10/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today unveiled a single, comprehensive Web site that will contain information about finding and applying for all federal grant programs. More >>>

Seniors Face Choices in New Medicare Law   12/09/2003
Elderly patients are about to confront numerous and sometimes difficult choices as a result of the most far-reaching changes to Medicare in four decades, including a new prescription drug benefit More >>>

Nurses Use Web to Choose Shifts and Pay   12/08/2003
Registered nurse Julie Hill picks her own hours and pay by bidding on work shifts over the Internet - a kind of employment eBay that some hospitals are using to ease a growing nursing shortage. More >>>

Report: Drug Firms Paying Health Monitors   12/08/2003
Some of the National Institute of Health's top officials have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from drug companies whose products they were responsible for monitoring, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. More >>>

Drug Shows Promise Vs. Breast Cancer   12/06/2003
-- An experimental chemotherapy drug called Abraxane was more effective in treating advanced cases of breast cancer and carried fewer side effects than its widely used cousin Taxol, according to a study More >>>

DHEA May Raise Heart Disease Risk   12/06/2003
DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone), a supplement popular with men for its possible anti-aging effects, seems to increase the formation of certain cells that contribute to blood vessel "plaques," Australian researchers report. More >>>

New Test May Help Breast Cancer Patients    12/05/2003
A first-of-its-kind genetic test will soon be available to help women with breast cancer make one of their most crucial decisions: whether to undergo the rigors of chemotherapy. More >>>

Study: Some Give Up Drugs As Prices Jump   12/04/2003
A study found that when employers switch to a three-tier prescription drug plan that charges a lot extra for brand-name medications, a disturbing number of people simply stop taking their blood pressure and cholesterol pills, instead of switching to cheaper varieties. More >>>

HHS NEWS -- STATEMENT ON PEDIATRIC RESEARCH EQUITY ACT OF 2003   12/04/2003
HEADLINE: STATEMENT BY THOMMY G. THOMPSON, Secretary of Health and Human Services On the Signing of the Pediatric Research Equity Act of 2003 More >>>

Virtual Colonoscopy Praised in Research   12/02/2003
A procedure that lets doctors find abnormal growths in the colon through three-dimensional, computer-generated images is at least as accurate and less invasive than conventional colonoscopy, research presented Monday suggests. More >>>

Care Questioned for Dialysis Patients   12/02/2003
Some 300,000 Americans with failed kidneys stay alive by getting their blood cleaned three times a week at dialysis centers. But a new report says too many of those facilities provide inadequate treatment More >>>

Prescription Drug Cards Coming in April   11/27/2003
A new prescription drug discount card the Bush administration says could save the elderly as much as 25 percent on their medicines could be available for purchase by April 1. More >>>

Medicare Bill Headed to Bush    11/26/2003
Congress yesterday enacted landmark legislation offering the nation's 40 million Medicare recipients federal help in paying for prescription drugs and opening the program to powerful new market forces. The Senate's 54 to 44 vote culminated a six-year quest on Capitol Hill to redefine Medicare and embraced changes in health care for all Americans that many conservatives have long sought. More >>>

Analysts: Medicare Drug Costs Will Rise   11/26/2003
-- Seniors will face annual increases in premiums and deductibles - and a growing gap in coverage - for the prescription drugs they buy under the new Medicare law, budget analysts say. More >>>

Speciality Hospitals Face Clampdown   11/26/2003
The Medicare bill that President Bush plans to sign into law clamps down on physician-owned hospitals that specialize in heart and orthopedic surgery and take away a growing share of lucrative Medicare patients from full-service hospitals More >>>

U.S. Approves New Prostate Cancer Drug   11/26/2003
U.S. health officials said on Tuesday they approved a new injectable drug for patients with advanced prostate cancer who have no other treatment options. More >>>

Medicare Drug Bill Nears Final Approval   11/25/2003
The nation's 40 million older and disabled Americans would see the biggest changes to Medicare since its creation in 1965, including a new prescription drug benefit, under legislation awaiting final congressional approval. More >>>

Medicare Bill May Harm Cancer Care, Doctors Say   11/25/2003
The Medicare legislation pending in the U.S. Congress may hinder senior citizens' access to cancer treatment next year by cutting payments for chemotherapy drugs, oncologists warned on Monday. More >>>

House Passes Medicare Bill    11/22/2003
A divided House, in a dramatic vote before dawn, approved the most fundamental transformation of Medicare in the program's history, adopting legislation that would add a prescription drug benefit and create a large new role for private health plans in caring for the nation's elderly. More >>>

Rural Doctors Welcome Medicare Overhaul   11/22/2003
The Medicare bill before Congress contains help for rural health care providers that would significantly strengthen service in those areas, hospital administrators and doctors say. More >>>

Lawmakers Sweeten Drug Benefit in Medicare Bill    11/21/2003
Landmark legislation to restructure Medicare headed toward final congressional votes yesterday, perhaps as early as today in the House, after negotiators slightly sweetened a proposed prescription drug benefit in hopes of winning over skeptical lawmakers. More >>>

People Eligible for Medicaid Personal Care Services Get More Home Care and Use Nursing   11/20/2003
Arkansas Medicaid enrollees who had the opportunity to direct their own personal care services using a cash allowance were much more likely to actually receive such services than were enrollees who were eligible for services but had to get them in the usual way, from an agency, according to the results of a study published online today by the journal Health Affairs. Furthermore, even those who did obtain care from agencies received only about two-thirds of the hours of care to which they were entitled, the study found. More >>>

NICHD FUNDS MAJOR EFFORT TO DETERMINE EXTENT AND CAUSES OF STILLBIRTH   11/20/2003
One of the National Institutes of Health has begun a concerted effort to determine the extent and causes of stillbirth -- the death of a fetus at 20 or more weeks of pregnancy. Each year, more than 26,000 American women are reported to experience a stillbirth. More >>>

HMOs, Generic Drug Makers Back Medicare Bill   11/19/2003
- Health plans, generic drug makers and pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) are lining up to support a bill that provides Medicare coverage for prescription drugs under a bipartisan bill More >>>

AARP Gives Republican Medicare Bill Its Blessing    11/18/2003
Congressional Republicans' drive to redesign Medicare gained momentum yesterday when the nation's preeminent organization representing older Americans strongly endorsed the legislation. But the battle over the bill, which would add prescription drug benefits to the program, escalated as nearly all the Democratic presidential candidates, plus leading Senate Democrats, denounced the plan. More >>>

New Medicare Drug Benefit Is Complicated by Limits    11/17/2003
For the first time, seniors would be eligible for a drug benefit that would cover a portion of their annual prescription costs under a Medicare reform package unveiled yesterday by House and Senate Republican leaders. More >>>

Skin Cancer, More Serious Cancers Linked    11/17/2003
Women with common, usually nonfatal forms of skin cancer face double the risk of having unrelated cancers, according to a large study, suggesting that the initial diagnosis may be more worrisome than previously thought. More >>>

U.S. Releases Comprehensive Look at Cancer Rates   11/14/2003
-- A new report on cancer rates across the United States inches closer to the goal of complete numbers that can help hone state-by-state prevention and treatment efforts, federal epidemiologists say. More >>>

HHS Releases 2003 National Diabetes Estimates   11/14/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced that the number of Americans with diabetes rose to an all-time high with an estimated 18.2 million people in 2003. More >>>

Most Newly Hired Nurses Are Over 50   11/13/2003
Hospitals hired 100,000 new nurses last year, the vast majority over age 50 or foreign-born - easing but not ending a severe, nationwide nursing shortage, a new analysis found. More >>>

AP: Medicare Stung by Wheelchair Scam   11/13/2003
U.S. authorities have launched 50 separate investigations to stop unscrupulous power wheelchair suppliers from defrauding Medicare and causing anxiety to beneficiaries like 85-year-old Euralda Clodomar More >>>

Public Defibrillators Boost Survival Rate   11/13/2003
The first major test of public-access defibrillators found that placing the devices in office buildings and shopping malls and training ordinary people to use them can double the chances of surviving cardiac arrest. More >>>

New Drug Shows Promise Against Arthritis    11/13/2003
An experimental new drug designed to shut down the body's misguided assault on its own joints is showing promise against rheumatoid arthritis, relieving its crippling effects with few if any side effects. More >>>

Pfizer Donating 135 Million Doses of Anti-Blindness Drug    11/12/2003
The pharmaceutical maker Pfizer Inc. will donate 135 million doses of its best-selling antibiotic azithromycin to the global fight against trachoma, a disease that has blinded about 6 million people in poor countries, company officials said yesterday. It is the largest donation of a patented drug to charity on record. More >>>

Cost-Containment Seen as Undermining Medicare   11/12/2003
- Lawmakers continue to negotiate behind closed doors to come up with a bill that would both add prescription drug coverage to the Medicare program, and also shore up the program's finances for the future. More >>>

How Alzheimer's May Unfold   11/11/2003
New information about how free radicals may contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease has been uncovered by Ohio State University researchers More >>>

Judge Orders Rx Depot Closed    11/08/2003
More than 80 Rx Depot stores across the country abruptly shut down yesterday under orders from a federal judge who said they had been illegally delivering lower-cost prescription medications from Canada. But a host of other companies and nonprofits vowed to continue distributing Canadian drugs. More >>>

Groups Pledge Support for Medicare Bill   11/08/2003
Influential conservative groups are pledging to support a Medicare bill so long as it contains a health-related tax break, a signal to Republicans that they can yield ground on other unresolved issues in the Medicare prescription drug bill without alienating their base More >>>

Migraine? Take 'Triptan' Sooner Rather Than Later   11/08/2003
For migraine sufferers, the new "triptan" drugs like Imitrex or Zomig have been a boon. But "the sooner the better" should be the mantra for those who also experience abnormally sensitive skin on the face and scalp during attacks. More >>>

Telemedicine links doctors, patients   11/08/2003
FCC to offer help to rural providers More >>>

Medicare plan prompts concern   11/07/2003
Medicare could be dramatically altered by congressional conferees in a way that will force millions of elderly and disabled families to compete for the basic coverage they now rely on, budget watchdogs said yesterday. More >>>

Autoantibodies Precede Disease in Lupus Patients   11/06/2003
A new study funded largely by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) reveals that people diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) — an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks its own tissues — have autoantibodies in their blood years before the symptoms of lupus appear. The early detection of autoantibodies — proteins that attach to the body's healthy tissues by mistake — may help in recognizing those who will develop the disease and allow physicians to monitor them before they might otherwise be noticed. More >>>

Nurses Need Better Working Conditions - Report   11/05/2003
- Tired and grumpy nurses forget to wash their hands, give the wrong drugs to patients, and waste hours on paperwork, a panel of experts said in a report calling for shorter hours and better working conditions for the profession. More >>>

WOMEN’S SYMPTOMS ARE NEW OR DIFFERENT PRIOR TO A HEART ATTACK   11/04/2003
A study of women’s symptoms prior to heart attack indicates that about 95% said they knew their symptoms were new or different a month or more before experiencing their Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). This was true even when the symptoms were common ones and varied in severity. The most frequently reported symptoms were unusual fatigue (70.7%), sleep disturbance (47.8%), and shortness of breath (42.1%). Notably, fewer than 30% of the women reported chest pain and discomfort prior to AMI, and 43% did not experience chest pain during AMI. Most clinicians continue to consider chest pain as the most important AMI symptom for both women and men. More >>>

NIH Establishes Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network   11/04/2003
o address the challenges inherent in diagnosing and treating rare diseases, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today the establishment of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network. With $51 million in grant funding over five years from several NIH components,* the network will consist of seven Rare Diseases Clinical Research Centers (RDCRCs) and a Data and Technology Coordinating Center (DTCC). More >>>

Supreme Court to Rule on Patients' Rights   11/04/2003
The Supreme Court said Monday it will use the case of a Texas woman whose HMO gave her only one day in the hospital to recover from a hysterectomy to clarify when patients can sue health insurers for denying treatment that a doctor recommends. More >>>

Study Focuses on Thorny Medicare Issue    11/04/2003
A new study concludes that forcing traditional Medicare to compete with private insurance plans could make it unaffordable to lower-income seniors, highlighting the thorniest issue facing lawmakers who are trying to craft a Medicare prescription drug benefit. More >>>

HHS Launches New Effort to Reach People With Diabetes Who Are Undiagnosed   11/04/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced a new community-based effort to identify persons with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and refer them for follow-up blood testing and treatment if appropriate. The focus of this initiative is to help Americans better understand their diabetes risk and take appropriate actions based on those risks. More >>>

HHS Launches National Home Health Quality Initiative    11/04/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today released new data about the quality of care provided by home health agencies across the country as part of an expanding initiative to improve the quality of care given to the millions of Americans who receive home health care. The initiative combines information for consumers and their families about the quality of care provided by individual home health agencies with important resources to assist home health agencies working to improve the quality of care in their facilities. More >>>

Web site has home health-care comparisons   11/04/2003
Senior Connections gets about 19,000 calls annually on its information and referral hot line. One frequent request: help with choosing a home health agency More >>>

Critics Mull Medicare Drug Benefit Plan   11/02/2003
For older Americans wondering how much help they would get from a Medicare prescription drug benefit, the answer depends on their income and annual pharmacy bills. And, it seems, on who's asked More >>>

Senior citizens question state’s cuts   11/01/2003
Senior citizens throughout Hampton Roads questioned state officials about budget cuts that have eroded services for the older generation at a Tuesday town hall meeting. More >>>

No Deal Reached on Health Savings Accounts   10/31/2003
Lawmakers failed to agree on tax-free health savings accounts, one of several major unresolved issues in negotiations on a Medicare prescription drug bill. More >>>

More Clues to Genetic Underpinnings of Parkinson's   10/31/2003
Research into a rare familial form of early-onset Parkinson's disease reveals that too much of a normal form of the alpha-synuclein gene may cause Parkinson's. More >>>

Health official resigns over state funding frustrations   10/30/2003
Dr. Lawrence Gernon arrived at the Western Tidewater Health District in 2001, fresh from private practice and eager to find ways to make his community safer. More >>>

Bush Spurs on Medicare Bill Negotiators   10/30/2003
At the end of another lengthy negotiating session on a Medicare prescription drug bill, Rep. Billy Tauzin reported there was at least some agreement. More >>>

FDA Cautions on Antidepressants and Youth    10/28/2003
Concerned about studies that showed antidepressants may be leading some adolescents and children to suicidal activity, the Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory yesterday telling doctors to be especially careful in prescribing the drugs. More >>>

Smoking Increases Risk of Multiple Sclerosis -Study   10/28/2003
- Smokers are up to three times as likely to develop multiple sclerosis than nonsmokers, researchers said on Monday. More >>>

Drug Offers Help for People With Lupus    10/25/2003
A drug used to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients works as well as chemotherapy for treating kidney failure from lupus but with fewer side effects, a study shows. More >>>

Medicare Will Cover Bexxar Treatment   10/25/2003
A cancer therapy approved earlier this year will now be available to Medicare patients. More >>>

Insured Patients Use of ERs Increasing   10/23/2003
People with insurance are increasingly using emergency rooms, even for non-urgent care, a new study found - perplexing experts who believed the uninsured were the chief reason for emergency room overcrowding More >>>

GOP Leaders Push Medicare Bill Settlement   10/23/2003
Congressional negotiators have yet to resolve some of the most contentious issues blocking a Medicare prescription drug bill, with time dwindling this year on a Bush administration priority. More >>>

Researchers Isolate Degenerative Eye Gene    10/23/2003
In what may be an important step toward preventing blindness in old age, scientists have identified a gene believed to be responsible for a degenerative eye disease that could strike millions of baby boomers as they grow older. More >>>

Pharmaceutical Roulette : The Shadow Market and Counterfeit Drugs    10/22/2003
She had made peace with the indignities of chemotherapy: the baldness and the vomiting. And she had learned to brace for the pain that broke in waves during the end stages of her breast cancer. But the bone-deep fatigue that settled over Maxine Blount was different and troubling. More >>>

New Device May Aid in Stroke Recovery   10/22/2003
A new device is generating excitement among brain experts who say the technology might finally offer hope for the most devastating strokes. More >>>

Researchers tag gene that determines onset age for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's   10/22/2003
- US researchers said they have identified the gene that determines the age at which a person first exhibits symptoms of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases. More >>>

HHS Provides $844 Million to States to Help Low-Income Households With Energy Costs   10/22/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the release of $844 million to states to help low-income citizens with their heating bills during October, November and December of this year. These funds represent grants to states, tribes and territories under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). More >>>

House, Senate Discuss Medicare Compromise   10/21/2003
House and Senate negotiators are discussing a compromise that would guarantee the elderly access to a government prescription drug benefit under Medicare if they lack a choice of private plans in their region of the country, a senior lawmaker said Monday More >>>

Smoking Can Be Lethal to Breast Cancer Patients   10/21/2003
-- Kicking the smoking habit can extend the lives of breast cancer patients who've been treated with lumpectomies and radiation, says a study by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. More >>>

Poll: Public Supports Health Care for All   10/20/2003
The public's growing unease with the current health care system has built support for a new approach that would mean care for all Americans and changes in laws governing prescription drugs, a poll suggests. More >>>

U.S. Prescription Drug System Under Attack    10/18/2003
For half a century Americans could boast of the world's safest, most tightly regulated system for distributing prescription drugs. But now that system is undercut by a growing illegal trade in pharmaceuticals, fed by criminal profiteers, unscrupulous wholesalers, rogue Internet sites and foreign pharmacies. More >>>

Success Halts Tests of Novartis Breast Cancer Drug   10/18/2003
One of a new class of breast cancer drugs was so successful in a major international trial that scientists stopped the test half way through to allow all the patients to take advantage of the stunning success rate, the lead author of a new medical report said on Thursday. More >>>

FDA Approves New Alzheimer's Drug   10/17/2003
The government on Friday approved a new option for sufferers of Alzheimer's disease, the first treatment specifically for late stages of the mind-robbing illness. More >>>

Wealthy May Have to Pay More for Medicare   10/16/2003
Lawmakers negotiating a Medicare prescription drug bill report a growing consensus for higher-income seniors to pay more than other Medicare beneficiaries for their health coverage. More >>>

Medicare Costs to Increase 13.5 Percent   10/16/2003
Medicare premiums will rise next year by 13.5 percent to $66.60 a month for about 40 million Americans in the program, the third-largest increase in its history, the government said Wednesday. More >>>

Pap Smears Good for Three Years, Researchers Say   10/16/2003
Most women under 65 may only need to have a Pap smear once every three years instead of undergoing the test for cervical cancer annually, a team of researchers said on Wednesday More >>>

Feds Seek Way to Stop Counterfeit Drugs   10/15/2003
With Americans increasingly seeking less costly prescription drugs, often from other countries, federal regulators are turning their attention to stopping potentially dangerous counterfeit products. More >>>

New Centers Boost Muscular Dystrophy Research   10/15/2003
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), parts of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have funded three new cooperative research centers for the muscular dystrophies (MD), a group of genetic diseases that result in muscle weakness and wasting. The three institutes will fund the centers at up to $1 million in direct costs per center per year for 5 years. The NIH expects to fund up to two additional centers in future year More >>>

NIH-Funded Centers to Seek Early Environmental Exposures That May Lead to Breast Cancer   10/15/2003
irector Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., today announced the funding of four new Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers to study the prenatal-to-adult environmental exposures that may predispose a woman to breast cancer. More >>>

Lawmakers Work to Keep Retirees' Benefits   10/13/2003
Fearing a political backlash, lawmakers at work on a Medicare drug bill are ready to spend billions of dollars to discourage companies from dropping or reducing coverage for retirees when a new federal benefit begins. More >>>

Study: Drug Cuts Breast Cancer Recurrence   10/10/2003
-- Researchers were so encouraged by early results from a study on preventing breast cancer recurrence that they halted their work so more women can benefit from the findings. More >>>

Lawmakers' New Medicare Rules Defy Bush   10/09/2003
Influential lawmakers are drafting ground rules for a new era of health care competition under Medicare that rejects major recommendations of the Bush administration, congressional sources said Wednesday. More >>>

Study: Early-Onset Asthma Likely to Stay   10/09/2003
The earlier asthma begins in youngsters, the less likely they are to outgrow it by adulthood, according to a 17-year New Zealand study. More >>>

Study: Antibiotics May Help Stave Off Alzheimer's   10/09/2003
- A combination of two common antibiotics may help delay symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, researchers said on Thursday. More >>>

Retiree Health Plans Loss Seen with Medicare Bill   10/08/2003
Both the versions of a bill to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare passed by the U.S. House and Senate last summer would accelerate the trend of employers dropping existing health coverage for their retirees, analysts said Tuesday More >>>

U.S. Life Expectancy, Health Spending Rise    10/05/2003
Americans are living longer, becoming more health-conscious and yet more chronically ill all at the same time, according to the National Center for Health Statistics annual report of the nation's health. More >>>

Lawmakers to Defray E-Prescription Costs   10/05/2003
Faced with the prospect of having to write Medicare prescriptions electronically, the nation's doctors protested the expense, with one group warning that the burden could "tip many practices into financial ruin." More >>>

Flu Vaccine Safe for Asthma Patients   10/04/2003
- A shot of the flu vaccine doesn't seem to cause serious side effects in patients with asthma or with another lung condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), new research suggests. More >>>

Most Asthma Drugs Safe for Moms-to-Be   10/03/2003
(HealthDayNews) -- Pregnant women with asthma can breathe easy about using mild or moderate medications to control their symptoms -- doing so isn't likely to harm your baby. More >>>

Medicare Bill Negotiators Report Progress   10/02/2003
Lawmakers struggling for compromise on a prescription drug bill reported general agreement Wednesday on a plan to give low-income and disabled seniors pharmaceutical coverage through Medicare, rather than through Medicaid programs that can vary from state to state. More >>>

NIGMS Chemistry Center Grants To Expand Drug Discovery Toolkit   10/02/2003
o invigorate the drug development pipeline and to broaden opportunities and resources for biomedical research, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) announces support for two new Centers of Excellence in Chemical Methodologies and Library Development (CMLD). More >>>

HHS AWARDS $11.7 MILLION TO STATES TO DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO HEALTH INSURANCE   10/02/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced $11.7 million in grants to support projects in 30 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands to develop plans to provide affordable health insurance for uninsured residents. More >>>

HHS SECRETARY URGES CONGRESS TO APPROVE UNINSURED PACKAGE   10/01/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said the release of today's uninsured numbers show that while the number of Americans with health insurance continued to rise, the nation must do more to increase access to health care. Secretary Thompson also urged Congress to approve President Bush's comprehensive plan to reduce the number of uninsured in America. More >>>

HHS AWARDS $200 MILLION IN BONUS PAYMENTS TO STATES FOR WELFARE-TO-WORK   10/01/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the awarding of $200 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) bonuses to 40 states and the District of Columbia for success in employment and other program achievements during fiscal year 2002. Today's awards are in addition to the fiscal year 2001 awards announced last week. More >>>

Census Finds Many More Lack Health Insurance    09/30/2003
The number of Americans who lack health insurance climbed by 5.7 percent in 2002, to 43.6 million, the largest single increase in a decade, according to figures to be released today by the Census Bureau. More >>>

Daily Press Editorial: Medicaid   09/28/2003
Pay me now or, well, pay me now. More >>>

Medicare Plan Could Boost Some Premiums   09/27/2003
Negotiators on a Medicare drug bill are discussing a proposal to require higher-income seniors to pay a bigger premium for doctor and other out-of-hospital services than other beneficiaries, according to an internal working document and Republican officials. More >>>

Va. fails to meet mandate on mentally disabled   09/24/2003
Thirteen years after Congress ordered the states to provide needed treatment for mentally disabled people in their communities, thousands of Virginians are still unable to get it, a state task force has reported More >>>

The Selling of the Stent    09/18/2003
Over the past 25 years, she's had almost every procedure cardiology can offer. Surgeons first cut open her chest on three separate occasions to perform open-heart surgery, grafting vessels from her legs to bypass clogged ones. When her arteries began to fill in again a few years later, cardiologists used tiny tools to ream out the blockages. Then, as technology improved and angioplasty developed, they opened the vessels with small balloons. In 2001, when the blockages re-formed, stents were implanted. These tiny metal scaffolds kept her vessels propped open for another year. More >>>

Charity-care compliance not full    09/15/2003
As a group, Virginia hospitals and outpatient surgery centers are required to provide millions of dollars of free or reduced-cost cardiac catheterizations, MRIs, CT scans and other medical services to low-income, uninsured people. More >>>

Virginia Biotechnology Assn. Summit Special Policy Track   09/15/2003
Dear Fellow Patient Advocates,

I am pleased to announce that VQHN has negotiated with Virginia Biotechnology Assn. to create a special policy track at their Summit in McLean on October 14th. The schedule is very exciting and may be seen at the following link http://www.vabio.org/2003/summit_home.htm. Look for the "Policy Track." Due to some targeted sponsorships, they have created a reduced registration for that one day just for patient advocates or only $100. (The normal one day registration fee is $199). This entitles you to all events that day including the luncheon. The only thing that is not covered is the dinner for which you can purchase a separate ticket if you desire.

To register you need to FAX or mail the attached special registration form. You cannot register online for this special rate. Spaces are filling up quickly, so please register right away. Since Maryland Biotech is not having a state meeting this year, they will be attending this event as well. Therefore, Maryland patient advocates are included in this special deal. PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO YOUR NORTHERN VIRGINIA ADVOCATES WHO ARE MOST LIKELY TO ATTEND. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend this event where they will be discussing the very latest in cutting edge treatments and medications for the diseases many of you are dealing with on a day to day basis.

Click on "more" to go to the registration form.

Judy Castleman, Executive Director Va. Quality Healthcare Network 804-649-7722 804-854-1750 (cell) 804-643-1127 (FAX)

e-mail: vqhn2@aol.com More >>>

GOP Joins Dems, Vets Against Benefit Cuts   09/13/2003
Senior Republicans on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee have joined Democrats and veterans groups in a chorus of protest against proposals being considered by the Bush administration to shrink the number of military personnel who qualify for disability benefits More >>>

HHS AWARDS $26.6 MILLION IN NEW PROGRAM TO PROVIDE BIOTERRORISM TRAINING   09/13/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced $26.6 million in new grants to strengthen bioterrorism training and education for the nation's health professions workforce. The grants are the first in HHS' Bioterrorism Training and Curriculum Development Program. Today's grantees are in 23 states. More >>>

MENTAL HEALTH IG RESIGNING   09/12/2003
Dr. Anita Smith Everett, the first and only inspector general for the state's mental health system, is resigning to take a job with the federal government. More >>>

Health Care Premiums Soaring, Study Says   09/10/2003
Health care premiums for families in employer-sponsored plans soared 13.9 percent in 2003, the third year of double-digit growth and the biggest spike since 1990, a new study found. More >>>

Local seniors hurt by cuts    09/10/2003
Senior citizens in Isle of Wight County and Suffolk will receive fewer hot meals and fewer rides to senior centers or to medical appointments starting this fall. More >>>

Mental health care plan raises eyebrows    09/09/2003
Key senators said Monday that the Warner administration should pay more attention to its sales pitch when it comes to a controversial plan to downsize Eastern State Hospital. More >>>

Indigent care shortfall slams UVa   09/08/2003
The University of Virginia Medical Center is facing a projected $28 million shortfall in indigent-care funding in its next two-year budget, likely leading to cuts in equipment and services if the problem isn’t remedied. The looming financial crisis is outlined in a new report being presented to a Senate committee today. The report was prepared by a task force established by Gov. Mark R. Warner in December to address the financial problems facing Virginia’s teaching hospitals. More >>>

Frist: Medicare Bill Will Pass This Year   09/05/2003
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Thursday he was "absolutely confident" the Congress would pass Medicare drug legislation before adjourning for the year, but key GOP lawmakers quickly ran into disagreements at a private strategy session a few hours later. More >>>

Hospital Rules Change Faulted    09/04/2003
Patient advocates accused the Bush administration yesterday of easing hospital regulations at the expense of uninsured Americans, but federal officials said the new rules simply clarify how free emergency care should be delivered. More >>>

Health-care tax credits urged    09/04/2003
Incentives encouraging Virginians to buy long-term care insurance are needed to hold down the state's soaring costs of Medicaid, Republican legislators said yesterday. More >>>

Cancer Deaths Leveling Off, Report Says   09/03/2003
There's sobering news from the cancer front: Deaths appear to be leveling off after several years of decline. For several types of cancer, black patients are increasingly less likely to survive than whites. More >>>

VA hospitals set new safety bar   09/03/2003
Supermarkets have used bar-code scanners to monitor their merchandise for years. Now, nurses at the VA Medical Center in Hampton use similar technology to prevent overdoses. More >>>

Price of Heart Device May Mean Rationing   09/02/2003
The high price of a new heart device called a HeartMate may lead to rationing with perhaps one of every 15 people who need it actually getting it. More >>>

Report: Rural Areas Need Drug Benefit   09/02/2003
A Medicare drug benefit is most needed in rural areas, where recipients are twice as likely as those in the city to lack any such coverage, according to a report prepared for a think-tank run by President Clinton's former chief of staff. More >>>

Selling Their Take On Medicare Plans    09/01/2003
Barely 100 miles apart, two House members stood before dozens of gray-haired constituents in small, Rust Belt towns on the same muggy day, delivering their pitches on the issue that has dominated their weeks home from Washington this summer. More >>>

CANADA AND U.S. LAUNCH COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS FOR CIRCULATORY AND RESPIRATORY   08/29/2003
The leading federal health research agencies in Canada and the United States – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – have formed a partnership to advance research of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. More >>>

New Anti-Rejection Drug for Heart Transplant Patients    08/28/2003
In a potential breakthrough for heart transplant patients, an experimental drug appears to prevent or reduce a common, deadly side effect: the overgrowth of cells in the blood vessel walls of the new heart. More >>>

Community Health Centers in Virginia Awarded $1,541,500 in Federal Grant Funding   08/28/2003
Media Release: Virginia Primary Care Association

Four Virginia based Community Health Centers (CHC) have been awarded grants totaling $1,541,500 to increase access to primary health services for Virginians in medically underserved areas. More >>>

Study: Zoloft Helps Depression in Kids   08/27/2003
The anti-depressant Zoloft works in children, too, according to the biggest study ever to look at the question. More >>>

Women Turn to New Breast Cancer Treatment   08/26/2003
Thousands of breast cancer patients are opting for a week of radiation instead of the usual six weeks, thanks to new methods that target cancer-killing beams at the tumor site instead of the whole breast. More >>>

NIH Announces 2003 Medicine for the Public   08/26/2003
Lectures cover latest developments in medicine Do certain biological traits mean early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease? Are we prepared for SARS, smallpox or whatever comes next? How is research unraveling the mysteries of sickle cell disease? What promise does stem cell transplantation hold for cancer treatment? Why can too much iron be bad for you? More >>>

Enzymes Found to Delay Aging Process    08/25/2003
Scientists have found for the first time a way to rev up a potent "anti-aging" enzyme in living cells, an advance they said could speed the development of drugs to extend human life span and prevent a wide range of geriatric diseases. More >>>

NIEHS Study Identifies Gene for Hydrocephalus in Mice   08/21/2003
Scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences have identified a gene called RFX4 that is responsible for the birth defect hydrocephalus in mice. Loss of a single copy of this gene in mice leads to a failure of drainage of cerebrospinal fluid from the brain cavity which causes the skull to swell. More >>>

New Prevalence Study Suggests Dramatically Rising Numbers of People with Alzheimer’s   08/19/2003
Scientists project that some 13.2 million older Americans will have Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by 2050 unless new ways are found to prevent or treat the disease. According to these latest estimates of the current and future prevalence of AD, reported by Denis A. Evans, M.D., and colleagues of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, the numbers of older people with AD -- now at 4.5 million – will grow dramatically as the population ages. The most notable increases will be among people age 85 and older, when by mid-century 8 million people in that age group may have the disease. More >>>

FDA Issues Warning on Asthma Drug   08/15/2003
Some patients using a popular asthma medication called salmeterol may actually face a small increased risk of severe, and occasionally fatal, asthma attacks, the Food and Drug Administration warned Thursday More >>>

Health center in city schedules FAMIS drive    08/15/2003
At health centers such as the Vernon J. Harris Community Health Center in Richmond, outreach workers see it time and time again. Parents bring in their children for medical care. The children are eligible for the state's child-health-insurance program, FAMIS, but are not enrolled More >>>

CareFirst Is Target of Federal Investigation    08/15/2003
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the Washington area's largest health insurer, is the target of a federal criminal investigation that appears to center around the Maryland-based company's attempt to sell itself to a California-based carrier, according to sources familiar with the probe. More >>>

AMERICA'S DOCTORS   08/14/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson is sending the nation's top doctors on a cross-country "Better Benefits Tour" this week to promote the need for strengthening Medicare with better benefits and more choices, including coverage for prescription drugs and preventive care. More >>>

HHS AWARDS $12.5 MILLION TO EXPAND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE DEMONSTRATIONS   08/14/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced more than $12 million in grants to develop innovative approaches to provide care for people with Alzheimer's disease and support for their family caregivers More >>>

Lipids Get the Spotlight in New NIGMS 'Glue Grant'   08/12/2003
While genes and proteins have long held starring roles in biomedical research, lipids—fats and oils—often have a more direct effect on human health. A new grant from the National Institutes of Health puts lipids at center stage in an ambitious scientific project that promises to shed light on heart disease, arthritis and other major illnesses. More >>>

New Compound That Acts on Peripheral Receptors May Be Promising Treatment for Some   08/12/2003
Results of a new study in mice and rats show that a compound which acts on a specific type of cell receptor found only outside the central nervous system decreases the animals' pain responses. But the researchers caution that studies investigating the safety and efficacy of this compound in humans have yet to be done. The scientists hope this approach may lead to the development of pain-relief drugs that lack the debilitating central nervous system side effects limiting the effectiveness of currently available pharmaceuticals. More >>>

Study: Some Medicare HMO Costs to Rise   08/11/2003
Out-of-pocket costs will jump 10 percent in 2003 for people enrolled in Medicare health maintenance organizations, a new study found. More >>>

Fewer resources for mentally ill    08/11/2003
The man sits patiently on the steps of the Daily Planet, waiting his turn to ease his troubled mind. Once a month, he comes for counseling to dispel depression and thoughts of suicide. He is physically and mentally disabled. He has no job and no home, but he hopes for a room with assisted living once he gets federal aid for the disabled. More >>>

Progress Reported Vs. Lou Gehrig's Disease   08/08/2003
A new type of gene therapy doubled the life of mice with a laboratory form of Lou Gehrig's disease and researchers said they are the planning to test the technique on human patients. More >>>

HHS AWARDS MORE THAN $30 MILLION TO STRENGTHEN RURAL HOSPITAL   08/08/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced more than $30 million in grants to states to improve health care for rural Americans by strengthening rural hospital networks, supporting State Offices of Rural Health and encouraging rural health care coalitions. More >>>

CDC: No 2-Drug Therapy for Latent TB   08/08/2003
Doctors should stop prescribing a two-drug combination to treat latent tuberculosis patients because it can cause severe liver damage and even death, the government said Thursday. More >>>

Despite Downside, Some Women Resume Hormone Use    08/07/2003
Like millions of other women, Donna Packard quit taking hormones after hearing that they increased her risk for heart attacks and breast cancer. But three miserable months later, Packard was back on them. More >>>

Study Links Hormone Pills to Heart Risks   08/07/2003
Women who take hormone replacement pills after menopause nearly double their risk of heart attacks during the first year of treatment, a landmark study concludes. More >>>

Nursing-home costs soar    08/07/2003
Nursing-home costs in the Richmond area rose nearly 26 percent last year to an average of $176.60 a day, dramatically eclipsing the national 8 percent rate increase, a national study finds. More >>>

Hill Negotiators Report Progress On Medicare Bill    08/06/2003
House and Senate negotiators striving for an agreement to reshape Medicare announced progress yesterday in resolving their differences over a temporary program to encourage older Americans to buy drug discount cards until the government begins to help pay for medicine. More >>>

A Fight for Free Access To Medical Research    08/05/2003
The family was poor, living on the Great Plains, and the child had a rare medical condition. "Here's what we can do," the family doctor told them. But it didn't work, recalled Michael Keller, who oversees the libraries at Stanford University. "So the family went to the Internet." More >>>

Nation's Govs. Want Medicare Compromise   08/05/2003
The nation's governors, facing large budget deficits, are pressing lawmakers to lift the states' $7-billion-a-year burden of paying for prescription drugs for the 6.2 million Americans who receive both Medicare and Medicaid. More >>>

HHS ANNOUNCES CAMPAIGN WITH HOSPITALS AND PHYSICIANS TO DISTRIBUTE INFORMATION ABOUT SAFER HEALTH CARE   08/05/2003
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association, today announced a campaign to help distribute valuable information about improving patient safety to health care providers and patients across the country More >>>

Mass. Committee Mulls Canada Drug Prices   08/04/2003
A group of Massachusetts lawmakers have proposed publicizing the prices of prescription drugs in Canada to help consumers find the best deals. More >>>

Possible Voter Backlash Feared on Drug Benefit Measure    08/03/2003
Only a few weeks ago, enactment of a Medicare benefit for prescription drugs looked like a big winning issue for next year's campaigns, and lawmakers worried mainly about punishment from voters if they failed to act. Now, with voters responding skeptically to details of bills approved by the House and Senate, lawmakers have another concern: punishment if they do act. More >>>

Anemia Elevates Risk of Physical Decline in Older People   08/02/2003
Anemia doubles the risk that an older person will develop serious physical declines that can erode the ability to live independently, according to a new epidemiological study supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and others*. It is the first longitudinal research to find an association between physical decline in later life and anemia, a blood condition that affects about 13 percent of older Americans. More >>>

PRESCRIPTION DRUG SPENDING WOULD BE CUT IN HALF   08/02/2003
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said most American seniors without prescription drug coverage would see their drug spending cut in half, according to a new department analysis of Medicare modernization legislation passed by the House and Senate. More >>>

Group Sues for Access to Experimental Drugs    08/02/2003
An advocacy group for terminally ill patients sued the Food and Drug Administration in U.S. District Court yesterday in an attempt to get more experimental anti-cancer drugs into the hands of people who want to try promising new remedies. More >>>

Virginia progressing on health insurance for needy kids   08/02/2003
-- Virginia has made dramatic progress in providing health insurance to lower-income children, a national survey has found. More >>>

2 health-care companies seek to create local cancer centers   08/02/2003
NORFOLK – Two of the region’s most powerful health-care companies – Sentara Healthcare and Virginia Oncology Associates – are teaming up in an effort to build South Hampton Roads’ first free-standing cancer centers. More >>>

WARNER SIGNS TWO HEALTH CARE BILLS    08/02/2003
Gov. Mark R. Warner visited the Arlington Free Clinic on Friday and signed two bills aimed at improving health care for the state's poor. More >>>

Congress Passes Medication Bill    07/26/2003
The House approved legislation early Friday allowing Americans to purchase prescription medicine abroad, voting 243-186 after a clash that pitted the hope of lower prices against the fear of counterfeit drugs. More >>>

FDA Chief Protests Bill On Drug Reimportation    07/23/2003
In a strongly worded letter to Congress, the Food and Drug Administration has come out swinging against proposed legislation that would legalize reimportation of lower-cost pharmaceutical drugs from Canada and other countries. More >>>

Report Challenges Medicare Reform Bills    07/23/2003
Landmark Medicare legislation is unlikely to prompt older Americans to sign up for private health plans, a central goal of bills passed last month to transform the nation's insurance program for the elderly, the Congressional Budget Office told lawmakers yesterday. More >>>

Medicare Bills Exceed Bush Spending Limit   07/23/2003
The rival Medicare prescription drug bills that cleared the two houses of Congress last month both exceeded President Bush's spending limits, officials said Tuesday in disclosures likely to complicate efforts to reach a compromise. More >>>

Report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health   07/23/2003
STATEMENT BY TOMMY G. THOMPSON Secretary of Health and Human Services More >>>

Senators Move to Safeguard Retirees' Drug Benefits    07/21/2003
A push is starting in the Senate to ensure that federal retirees keep their prescription drug benefits in the event the Medicare program adds drug coverage. More >>>

Law May Add Adult Day Care to Medicare   07/21/2003
Patricia Smith of Louisville, Ky., has relied on Medicare to pay for home nursing care in the past, but she now gets additional attention at an adult day-care center - an option that soon might be more widely available to older Americans. More >>>

FDA OKs Blood Test for Heart Disease Risk   07/20/2003
Doctors are getting a new blood test to help predict which people with low cholesterol are at risk for heart disease. More >>>

Medical center ranks highest in Va.   07/18/2003
Ten departments at the University of Virginia Medical Center are among the nation’s best, according to new rankings from U.S. News & World Report. More >>>

House, Senate Lawmakers Meet on Medicare   07/16/2003
Divided along ideological as well as political lines, senior lawmakers from the House and Senate pledged their best efforts to find common ground Tuesday as they opened talks over Medicare prescription drug and modernization legislation. More >>>

Health & Human Services Weekly Report   07/15/2003
Weekly newsletter from the US Department of Health and Human Services More >>>

Pilot Test Will Pay Hospitals For Quality    07/11/2003
In a pilot project the Bush administration says could spur improvements in American medicine and a more rational health care pricing system, officials announced yesterday that they intend to pay a total of $7 million a year in bonuses to hospitals that score well on 35 quality measures. More >>>

4 new members named to Va. Board of Medicine   07/10/2003
The founder of Chesapeake's free clinic and a Portsmouth lawyer are among four new members appointed to the Virginia Board of Medicine, Gov. Mark R. Warner announced Monday. More >>>

Fewer doctors accepting Medicare patients    07/08/2003
Physicians and patients nationwide are complaining that cuts in Medicare payments to doctors are making it harder for seniors to get medical care. More >>>

Will more seniors mean more doctors?    07/08/2003
-- At the Riverside Medical Arts building off Route 5 and Route 199, the receptionists are armed with the names of primary care doctors who will see new Medicare patients. Their own employers stopped taking new Medicare patients because the fees they received from the government couldn't cover the cost of caring for them. More >>>

Kaiser, diabetes group team up for online project   07/08/2003
The American Diabetes Assn. and Kaiser Permanente are developing a Web site that will let diabetics virtually predict their diabetic future, arming patients, the developers hope, with information that can be used to make better health care decisions. More >>>

Studies Challenge Breast Cancer Treatment   07/03/2003
An aggressive and grueling treatment for breast cancer that uses doses of chemotherapy so high that it destroys the patient's bone marrow offers little or no benefit over standard chemo for women who run the risk of a recurrence, two studies show. More >>>

Bye-Bye, Paper Rx?    07/01/2003
Filling a prescription for a sick child used to be an ordeal for Donna Driscoll. The Woodbridge mother of five would have to stand in the pharmacy line with one or another cranky youngster, then either wait half an hour or more for the medication -- or come back later to pick up the drug. More >>>

FDA Approves New Drug for Cancer Patients    07/01/2003
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that often starts in the lymph nodes and then spreads, manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Corixa Corp. said yesterday. More >>>

Prescription Drug Plan Faces Tests    06/30/2003
Congress's dramatic pre-dawn votes on Friday to add prescription drug benefits to Medicare were a political milestone, authorizing the biggest expansion of the program since its birth. But health policy analysts say that, even if the House and the Senate are able to resolve differences between their bills, it is far from certain the plan would work. More >>>

Medicare Bills Would Add Drug Benefits    06/27/2003
The House and Senate early today adopted the most far-reaching and most expensive changes to Medicare in its history, offering all 40 million people in the program help in paying for prescription drugs and expanding the role of private health plans in caring for the nation's senior citizens. More >>>

Medical Care Often Not Optimal, Study Finds    06/26/2003
Americans have a slightly better than 50-50 chance their medical problems will be addressed in an optimal way when they visit a doctor's office or enter a hospital, according to a new survey. More >>>

For Struggling Seniors, Medicare Drug Plan's Proof Is in the Purse    06/26/2003
As the Medicare drug package moving through Congress takes on an air of inevitability, Washington politicians are already jostling for credit. But in this working-class city 370 miles from Capitol Hill, prospects for the plan's eventual success may lie deep inside the handbags of women such as Marie A. Urban More >>>

For Biotech Firms, Outlook Brightens on Cancer Drugs    06/23/2003
After pouring billions of dollars into research over the past 27 years with scant profit to show for it, the American biotechnology industry is hot on the trail of a new class of drugs that could improve the treatment of cancer just as the baby-boom generation begins to contract it in large numbers. More >>>

Infant mortality rate increases in Richmond    06/22/2003
Cherrelle Hurt apologized to the sleepy mother, groggy after night-shift work, and stooped to hug the woman's son, who peeped around his mother to see who was at the door. More >>>

FDA Okays Asthma, Ulcer Drugs    06/22/2003
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the sale of Xolair, the first biotechnology treatment for asthma. More >>>

Senate Approves Generic Drug Measure    06/20/2003
The Senate yesterday sought to help Americans buy less costly medicines by making it harder for pharmaceutical companies that invent and manufacture brand-name drugs to fend off competition from makers of generic substitutes More >>>

Medicare Bill Defended in Senate    06/19/2003
The Republican-controlled Senate yesterday handily beat back a Democratic bid to boost the government's role in providing prescription drug coverage for elderly Americans, as legislation to revamp the Medicare program gained momentum in both chambers of Congress. More >>>

New MRI Able to Pinpoint Smaller Tumors   06/19/2003
-- An enhanced type of MRI can detect much smaller tumors than ever before - some tinier than a pea - in an advance that could open a new age in diagnosing cancer without surgery, researchers say. More >>>

Balancing care and costs    06/19/2003
Medicaid patients, some with low literacy skills and often lacking transportation, may not be able to easily return to the drug store if they face problems getting prescriptions filled. More >>>

Enrollment up for Va. child health insurance    06/19/2003
Enrollment in Virginia's child health-insurance program was up to 51,493 as of June 1, a 35 percent enrollment increase since last fall when changes were made to improve access. More >>>

Seniors May Find Drug Benefit Lacking   06/18/2003
-- Seniors expecting a generous Medicare prescription drug benefit from Congress are likely to be disappointed. Most will find the government paying only a fraction of their pharmacy bills and far less than most working Americans have come to expect from private insurance. More >>>

Toll of Health Insurance Gap Detailed    06/18/2003
Allowing millions of Americans to live without health insurance costs the nation between $65 billion and $130 billion every year, according to a report released yesterday. More >>>

Spray Vaccine For Flu Wins FDA Clearance    06/18/2003
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the first flu vaccine designed to be sprayed into the nose rather than injected into the arm, clearing the way for the product to reach doctors' offices and pharmacies in time for this year's flu season. More >>>

Cutting Pills, Cutting Costs    06/18/2003
At Grubbs Care Pharmacy on Capitol Hill, a pack of 10 Viagra tablets in 50-milligram doses costs $105.26. A pack of 100-milligram Viagra tablets also costs $105.26. So pharmacist Ed Dillon says it makes economic sense for someone prescribed the lesser dose to buy the higher-dose pills and cut them in half. More >>>

Senate Begins Debate on Medicare Drug Benefits    06/17/2003
The Senate opened debate yesterday on long-stalled legislation to help elderly Americans pay for prescription drugs amid widespread predictions that the legislation will pass both houses within two weeks. More >>>

Senate Panel Approves Medicare Plan With Prescription Coverage    06/13/2003
The Senate Finance Committee, after splintering over Medicare's future for years, approved legislation last night that would help all older Americans pay for prescription drugs while also expanding the role of private health plans in treating the nation's seniors. More >>>

Statin Drugs Touted for Many Diabetics   06/13/2003
Most adult diabetics should be taking cholesterol-lowering drugs even if they have healthy cholesterol levels and no evidence of heart disease, a major new study has concluded. More >>>

Study: Drug Has Limits Against Strokes   06/11/2003
An expensive drug approved during the 1990s works no better than ordinary aspirin at preventing recurring strokes in blacks, a study found. More >>>

Senators Propose Medicare Bill    06/11/2003
The drive in the Senate to redesign Medicare gained ground yesterday as key senators proposed legislation that would usher in the most profound changes in the program's history, including new private health plans to treat elderly patients and help in paying for medicine for all 40 million people Medicare insures. More >>>

House GOP Leaders Agree On Medicare Drug Benefits    06/10/2003
House Republican leaders have agreed on the outlines of a plan to revamp Medicare that would provide the same help in paying for prescription drugs to most of the 40 million people in the nation's insurance program for the elderly, regardless of whether they enter a private health plan, according to congressional sources More >>>

Prescription Drug Benefit Picks Up Steam   06/06/2003
After years of partisan gridlock, legislation to provide prescription drug coverage under Medicare is gaining momentum in Congress. More >>>

Finance Panel Senators Begin Medicare Redesign    06/04/2003
A core group of the Senate Finance Committee is drafting key elements of a plan to redesign Medicare that would expand the role of private health plans and offer identical new drug benefits to all older Americans, regardless of whether they joined the private plans. More >>>

New Drugs Help Cancer Patients    06/02/2003
Doctors reported yesterday that a new drug designed to block the growth of blood vessels in tumors improved the survival of patients with advanced colorectal cancer by 50 percent, a dramatic finding that could rapidly change the way the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States is treated. More >>>

Study: ImClone Drug Helps Cancer Patients    06/02/2003
- The fortunes of Erbitux, the experimental medicine that brought down the head of ImClone and ensnarled Martha Stewart in a Wall Street scandal, got a boost Sunday from a new study that concluded it helps terminally ill victims of colon cancer. More >>>

Proposed Safeguards Against TB Dropped    05/29/2003
The Bush administration has dropped a plan to require hospitals and other facilities to protect their workers against tuberculosis, saying the measure is no longer necessary because the disease is under control. More >>>

Hormone Replacement Linked to Dementia    05/28/2003
Taking replacement hormones not only doesn't help preserve memory and mental ability in older women, it actually increases their risk of developing dementia. More >>>

That's Going to Cost You    05/27/2003
When Allen M. Dennison picks up his office telephone to talk to a patient, the Rhode Island internist typically clicks on his stopwatch. If insurance regulations permit, Dennison bills the patient $2 per minute for his time. More >>>

FDA: Canadian Drug Position Misinterpreted    05/26/2003
Federal officials said last week they had misunderstood Canada's recent statement about how much authority and ability it has to ensure the safety of prescription drugs that American consumers buy from across the border. More >>>

Universal Health Care Gets Boost    05/26/2003
Democratic presidential candidates have resurrected universal health care -- an issue that produced one of the low points of Bill Clinton's presidency -- in a calculated gamble that the voters are ready for a new debate over providing access to health care coverage to all Americans More >>>

Bottles of Cholesterol Drug Recalled    05/25/2003
An estimated 100,000 bottles of the widely used cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor are being recalled because they contain counterfeit pills that pose a potentially serious danger to consumers, the Food and Drug Administration warned yesterday. More >>>

Aetna Gives Doctors Wider Latitude    05/23/2003
Doctors across the country yesterday described a proposed $170 million settlement with Aetna Inc. as a first step in improving their long-contentious relationship with the nation's second-largest health insurer. More >>>

Dropped Alzheimer's Drug Reversed Disease in Some    05/22/2003
An experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease, which was quickly pulled from testing last year after it caused serious side effects, has halted and even reversed the brain disease in some who got the shots, according to the first follow-up study of those patients. More >>>

Surgery Can Better Emphysema Patients' Lives    05/21/2003
Surgically removing part of the lungs improves the day-to-day functioning and quality of life of some people suffering from the lung disease emphysema and may even prolong their lives, according to results of a long-awaited study released yesterday. More >>>

American Red Cross Faces New Crisis: Underfunding    05/18/2003
The last two years have been bumpy for the American Red Cross. Controversies have brewed over its handling of cash and blood donations for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, its ousted CEO, layoffs, troublesome local chapters, demoralized workers. More >>>

BUDGET SHORTFALL IN MEDICAID GROWING   05/17/2003
Virginia faces a hole of more than $70 million in its next two-year budget for providing medical care to hospital patients who are too poor to pay their bills. More >>>

Two hospitals face crisis in financing    05/16/2003
Virginia faces a hole of more than $70 million in its next two-year budget for providing medical care to hospital patients who are too poor to pay their bills. More >>>

Panel Backs Asthma Drug That May Also Help Allergies    05/16/2003
The first drug designed to prevent asthma and potentially shortcut millions of allergy attacks was endorsed yesterday by a panel of experts for the Food and Drug Administration. More >>>

U.S. Expands Warning On Blood Pressure Risk    05/15/2003
Federal health officials said yesterday that 45 million Americans with blood pressure levels previously considered normal are at increased risk of stroke, heart failure and kidney disease. More >>>

Dean Offers Plan for Near-Universal Health Care Access    05/14/2003
Former Vermont governor Howard Dean today unveiled a plan to provide near-universal access to health care coverage by targeting federal assistance to those without insurance and penalizing large, profitable corporations that fail to offer it, saying the United States "has fallen 50 years behind the social standards of what we consider the civilized world." More >>>

Virginia fails American Lung Association air quality test    05/12/2003
A recent study by the American Lung Association reports that nearly all of Virginia's counties and cities monitored for ozone--better known as smog--received a failing grade on air quality from 1999 to 2001. More >>>

Warner to adopt Medicaid drug list    05/09/2003
The Warner administration wants to save money by steering some 220,000 Medicaid patients toward a list of effective, economical drugs, but putting that idea into practice has raised concerns on several fronts. More >>>

Canada to Guarantee Imported Medicine    05/08/2003
The Canadian government has officially said that it will be responsible for the safety and quality of the large and growing flow of prescription drugs across the border to American consumers, a clarification long sought by U.S. officials. More >>>

Medicaid hoping to save on drugs    05/07/2003
Virginia's Medicaid program hopes to save millions on prescription drugs in coming years, but some consumer advocates worry patients will suffer. More >>>

Coping with cancer   05/07/2003
Among the many obstacles associated with battling cancer is the loss of hair and the change in skin tone. Odette Green, 69, a two-year survivor of ovarian cancer, volunteers with an American Cancer Society program called “Look Good ... Feel Better,” which helps women suffering from cancer restore their appearance. More >>>

Altered cold virus kills brain tumors?    05/07/2003
Scientists have genetically altered a common cold virus so that it can destroy the most lethal type of brain tumor while not harming healthy tissue nearby. More >>>

The Week of the Nurse    05/04/2003
Special insert section in the Richmond Times Dispatch More >>>

For a Nursing Shortage, an Older Cure    05/02/2003
Hugh Brooks's career was flush with false starts. He'd tried his hand at journalism, advocated for immigrants, consulted for a think tank, even spent two years in law school before becoming a Web architect. Nothing seemed the right fit. More >>>

U.S. Pushes For Drugs to Fight SARS    05/01/2003
The government has launched a broad effort to develop vaccines and drugs against the SARS virus, an attempt to be prepared if the disease now causing panic and social unrest in China turns into a worldwide pandemic that threatens the United States. More >>>

Good Night, Florence    04/29/2003
With Nursing in Crisis, Some Say It's Time To Retire Nightingale as a Symbol More >>>

Students protest at JMU    04/29/2003
A group of James Madison University students marched to the downtown office of a board of visitors member yesterday to protest the panel's decision on "morning-after" contraception More >>>

$1 Million Gift to Fund Breast Cancer Clinic    04/28/2003
A charity that raises money to fight breast cancer plans to announce a $1 million gift today to Georgetown University's Lombardi Cancer Center to support the launch of a comprehensive breast cancer clinic for low-income residents of the District's east side. More >>>

FDA Approves 'Orphan' Drug For Life-Threatening Disorder    04/25/2003
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the first treatment for Fabry's disease, an enzyme-deficiency ailment that damages organs, is often painful and significantly shortens the lives of sufferers. More >>>

FDA approves new stent for heart treatment    04/25/2003
A much-anticipated new type of stent that keeps clogged heart arteries open by emitting a drug won federal approval yesterday. The move could dramatically change heart-disease treatment - but at a much higher cost. More >>>

Fat and cancer link 'irrefutable'    04/24/2003
Losing weight could prevent one of every six cancer deaths in the United States - more than 90,000 each year, according to a 16-year study. More >>>

Study Decries Tort Reform Efforts    04/23/2003
Doctors fighting for tort reform in the District have created a false sense of crisis surrounding medical malpractice insurance rate increases, according to a study to be released today by a national consumer group that is against medical liability legislation Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) is considering. More >>>

Nonprescription Sale Sought for Contraceptive    04/21/2003
The makers of the emergency contraceptive sold under the name "Plan B" want their product to be available on drugstore shelves alongside the cold remedies and toothpaste, and they are planning to petition the Food and Drug Administration today for the right to sell it without a prescription More >>>

On Medicare, Bush Left Details to Congress    04/21/2003
On a Friday afternoon, President Bush and a few aides gathered in the White House's Roosevelt Room for a final strategy session on the future of Medicare. It was four days before Bush would issue a long-anticipated plan to redesign the massive health insurance program, and the administration had been divided for weeks over what -- and how much -- to propose. More >>>

AARP program lets seniors get full story from legislators   04/21/2003
Older Virginians will put their state legislators to the test next month. More >>>

Stem cells repair damage    04/17/2003
Raising hopes of a treatment for multiple sclerosis, researchers have found that stem cells injected into mice can repair damage and sharply reduce symptoms from an experimental form of MS. More >>>

Can Va.'s brain-injury fund survive legislative changes?   04/16/2003
Changes to a Virginia program for brain-injured children that is struggling from longtime financial mismanagement could boost costs by as much as $40 million a year, according to board members. More >>>

Medical privacy gets more secure    04/15/2003
The trouble spots in medical offices, hospitals and pharmacies don’t look particularly ominous to most patients. More >>>

Warning Planned on Stroke Risk Linked to Drug    04/11/2003
Johnson & Johnson said yesterday that it will soon send letters to thousands of U.S. physicians advising them of a possible increased risk of stroke among elderly patients taking its popular anti-psychotic drug Risperdal. More >>>

FDA Seeks Evidence on Hormone Pill    04/11/2003
The Food and Drug Administration has begun proceedings to remove from the market the only estrogen-and-testosterone combination pill for sale in the United States. More >>>

First Lady backs Healthy Families   04/10/2003
When 19-month-old Isaiah Surgeon was born, his mother enrolled in the Healthy Families program in an effort to give her son a better chance at a healthy childhood. More >>>

EXPERTS PREDICT SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS   04/07/2003
As if the ongoing nursing shortage isn't bad enough, now experts in the medical field are predicting that a physician shortage is on the way. More >>>

Drug Shows Promise in Treating Alzheimer's    04/04/2003
A new Alzheimer's disease medicine called memantine has become the first to slow the progression of the disease among severely ill patients, and it may even reverse some mental losses, researchers announced. More >>>

New TB Blood Test Shows Promise   04/04/2003
Scientists have developed a new diagnostic test for tuberculosis that experts say could help control the disease in the developed world by more accurately detecting infections before people get sick. More >>>

Supreme Court Sides With States on HMOs    04/04/2003
In a blow to the managed health care industry, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that states have a right to force health maintenance organizations and other health care networks to open themselves to all doctors, hospitals and other providers who agree to abide by their terms. More >>>

Virginia to Continue With Smallpox Vaccinations   03/31/2003
Virginia health officials have no plans to interrupt smallpox vaccinations despite growing concerns about potential risks to patients with underlying heart disease. More >>>

Cutting Red Tape Spurs Gains in Child Health Care   03/19/2003
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PUTTING PRETAX DOLLARS TO WORK FOR RETIREES' HEALTH CARE    03/14/2003
Three Virginia Republican lawmakers announced yesterday they are reintroducing legislation that would allow civil service and military retirees to pay their health insurance premiums with pretax dollars, as federal and legislative employees do. More >>>

DISABLED CHILD WINS RULING   03/12/2003
he state attorney general's office and a program for birth-injured children it represents have lost an effort to block a disabled girl from receiving lifetime medical care. More >>>

NEW CHANCES TO AID THE UNINSURED   03/10/2003
Today, the commonwealth will host the inaugural Governor's Conference on Covering the Uninsured. Some might say that, in tough times like these, there is little point in convening a conference to discuss problems whose solution carries a big price tag. To the contrary, we can't and won't turn our backs on an issue that negatively impacts so many families in the commonwealth. Virginia has developed a number of creative solutions to the problem of the uninsured in the past that can readily be built upon in this time of fiscal stress. More >>>

State Mental Health Coverage for Children May be Added   02/14/2003
The state's health insurance for children is hardly recognizable from the version launched in 1998, and more changes are coming. More >>>

VWCC Plan Aims to Ease Nursing Shortage    02/08/2003
Health care providers in the Roanoke Valley are close to a decision to give Virginia Western Community College nearly $2 million to double enrollment in its nursing programs. More >>>

Liability Fears Grow on Inoculations    02/06/2003
State emergency response officials joined unions and prominent hospitals yesterday in warning that unless the Bush administration provides compensation for people who suffer severe reactions from the smallpox vaccine, the government's ambitious program to inoculate health care workers will fail. More >>>

Improving Health Care for Virginia Children    02/02/2003
By streamlining the process, the state has bolstered enrollment at a time when the need is particularly acute. More >>>

Birth Injury Report Released; Physician Blame Seen As Overstated   01/31/2003
A politically volatile report issued today argues that the likelihood of physician blame in the births of children who suffer castastrophic injury from oxygen loss is far less than previously thought. More >>>

State takes control of struggling malpractice   01/30/2003
Virginia insurance regulators took over a financially ailing medical malpractice insurer Wednesday after a last-ditch effort to raise capital fell short. More >>>

Va. delegation wary of Medicare plan   01/30/2003
Hampton Roads lawmakers Wednesday declined to endorse President Bush's plans for more tax cuts and a restructuring of Medicare, saying they must study the details before committing themselves to plans that could cost more than $1 trillion over 10 years. More >>>

CLINE WORKS TO LINK DRUG DISCOUNTERS   01/20/2003
Knowing this year is not a good time for the state to tackle prescription drug prices, Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, is working instead to market currently available discount plans to Virginia seniors who can't afford private coverage of their own. More >>>

Medicaid Limits May Hinder Accessibility   01/17/2003
Poor people on Medicaid seeking emergency care may have a more difficult time getting coverage by managed care organizations under a new policy by the Bush administration. More >>>

Study Shows Medicare Treatment Improved   01/15/2003
Medicare patients are getting better treatment than they did just a few years ago for such ailments as heart attacks, pneumonia, breast cancer and diabetes, but the quality of care stillvaries widely by region and state, a government report card says. More >>>

States Set Up Nonprofit to Cut Drug Costs   01/15/2003
Nine states and the District of Columbia are organizing a nonprofit group to purchase medicines so they can eliminate the corporate middlemen they allege inflate drug prices and drive up health care costs. More >>>

Hospital deals with Medicaid cutbacks   01/15/2003
DANVILLE, Va. - Local chemotherapy patients might find treatment too much to bear, especially if it includes a six-hour round trip to Charlottesville. More >>>

Gastric Bypass Surgery Cures Diabetes   01/02/2003
Gastric bypass surgery has become a popular option for obese people who want to shed pounds quickly, but researchers say diabetics also have something to gain from the procedure. More >>>

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