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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule that clarifies what safety information must be reported during clinical trials of investigational drugs and biologics.

Medicare only covers 57% of the actual costs of delivering chemotherapy and provided related infusion room services to seniors with cancer: Watch this important video: Cancer Care is in Crisis: Stop The Cancer Care Cuts

The Oregon Health Plan was considered by many to be a masterpiece of health care delivery for the poor. It attracted international attention when its plan of explicit rationing of care promised to provide basic health care to virtually every Oregonian living in poverty. Did the plan live up to its promise?

The regulatory agency isn’t represented on the board of governors of the new Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

The skin eruptions that plague most patients on EGFR inhibitor therapy and disrupt treatment in some may occur in two recognizable stages, which could have implications for both research and treatment.

It establishes a menu of preventive procedures, like colonoscopies, mammograms and immunizations that must be covered without co-payments.

E board review in Breast Cancer February 2008 Word from Editor

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Red clover is a perennial herb traditionally used to treat skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, whooping cough, and respiratory problems. The isoflavones present in red clover have estrogen-like effects and have been the subject of intense research over the last decade. Data on red clover’s potential for reducing the symptoms of menopause and for decreasing the risk of breast cancer are inconclusive. Overuse of isoflavone supplements can increase the risk of hormone-sensitive cancer.

It appeared that the controversy surrounding the pros­tate cancer immunotherapy Provenge ended with FDA approval in April. But now Medicare is questioning whether the government should pay for the new therapy. The CMS decision is just as important to the biopharmaceutical indus­try as it is to Dendreon.

On average, 11% of cancer patients drop out of hospice care, according to research conducted at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Many of these patients are in for rough sledding.

Mr. Paivanas is the President and Founding Director of Thomas A. Paivanas & Associates (TAP&A) and has over 25 years of experience in the health care field.  The firm specializes in assisting clients in realizing particularly difficult oncology and health care opportunities and challenges.  Areas of interest and expertise include oncology program integration across multi-institutional venues, strategic business planning for stem cell transplantation, academic and community hospital partnering, primary market research for pharmaceutical industry, strategic planning for private and faculty physician's practices, practice mediation, strategic business planning for biotech companies, and comprehensive community cancer program development.

As reported in a recent study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, cancer patients who die at home do so more peacefully, and their caregivers end up doing better emotionally, too.

Studies have shown that underutilization of hospice care increases end-of-life costs; more aggressive use of hospice could lead to significant savings and better care. Medicare seems to understand that promoting hospice care is not a "Death Panel."

In today’s heated healthcare debate, nuance matters, so does public perception. The term comparative effectiveness research, once the darling of policy wonks, had perception problems right out of the gate. So, the research stays, but the term goes.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, ObamaCare) purports to control healthcare spending. Is starting a pilot program the answer?

Patients are beating cancer only to fall prey to sexual dysfunction, body pain, and chronic disease. The physical symptoms of their success increase the emotional burden, leading to anxiety, depression, and even suicide, as they are reminded daily of the chance that the cancer they had might return or a new one might occur.

Report finds that the new healthcare law will decrease access to quality care for the elderly.

If Republicans take control of one or both houses of Congress this fall, many will have been elected with a promise to “repeal and replace” ObamaCare. But what are their options, really?