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Until recently, I never paid much attention to the possibility that abnormalities of the parathyroid glands could be relevant to patients in my practice. But I decided to learn more about this issue when one of my patients with bipolar disorder who had been treated with lithium told me that she had been given a diagnosis of a parathyroid adenoma after her primary care physician noted hypercalcemia on routine testing.

Parkinson disease (PD) is associated with a number of nonmotor symptoms, including depression, drug-induced psychosis and impulse control disorders, cognitive impairment, anxiety, and sleep disturbances.

With the country’s greatest number of uninsured residents, the largest public insurance program, and one of the lowest rates of physician reimbursement, California is struggling to provide health care to the 6.5 million people who need it.

Limiting benefits and requiring higher out-of-pocket costs for patients with mental health or substance use disorders is a practice that group health insurance plans must abandon, according to new rules issued by the US government.

By 2012, federal and state programs will pay slightly more than half of the nation’s health care costs whether or not any health care reform measures are passed, according to a recent report by the Office of the Actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.1 As expected, the shift to a government-dominated health care sector is approaching faster than expected because of an economy in recession and because of the aging of the baby boomers, millions of whom will soon start signing up for Medicare.

Changes to Medicare’s reimbursement plans have inadvertently cut payments to cancer specialists, causing many cancer care centers to lose money and possibly close, according to results of a study commissioned by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), an advocacy group for oncologists who practice outside of large hospital centers.1

Adults aged 18 to 64 years enrolled in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) with or without a flexible spending account (FSA) may be less likely to have their medical and prescription drug needs met because of cost than those adults with traditional health plans and consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs)

Consultant For Pediatricians Editorial Board member Wm. Lane W. Robson, MD of The Childrens Clinic in Calgary, Alberta, reports on his time in 2 Haitian cities severely damaged by the January earthquake. He describes the significant challenges he faced and stresses the need for ongoing volunteer efforts.  

In the days before a vote is expected, the near-final version of the health care reform bill seems to have taken shape. Before they fine-tune the bill, however, Democrats must wait for the cost assessment from the Congressional Budget Office.

The editors of Drug Benefit Trends interviewed Peter Juhn, MD, MPH, president of the Therapeutic Resource Centers division at Medco Health Solutions, Inc. Click below to hear him discuss the TRC program, launched in 2007, which monitors prescription drug use in patients with specific chronic conditions and is designed to close gaps in care.