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Week of June 2 - In Case You Missed It...TOMF Medical News Roundup

June 6, 2014


In Case You Missed It...
June 2, 2014

Happy Day

June 2 is National Cancer Survivor's Day and there are more than 14.5 million reasons to celebrate. That is how many cancer survivors there are in the United States, about half of which are age 70 and older.

Of course the main preventable cause of cancer is tobacco use. If you want to quit, the Ashline is available to help: ashline.org or 1-800-556-6222.

In Case You Missed It...
June 3, 2014

CMS to Cover Hep C Screens

In a national coverage decision memo released yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the following:
"The evidence is adequate to conclude that screening for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), consistent with the grade B recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), is reasonable and necessary for the prevention or early detection of an illness or disability and is appropriate for individuals entitled to benefits under Part A or enrolled under Part B, as described below.

Therefore, CMS will cover screening for HCV with the appropriate U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved/cleared laboratory tests, used consistent with FDA approved labeling and in compliance with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) regulations, when ordered by the beneficiary's primary care physician or practitioner within the context of a primary care setting, and performed by an eligible Medicare provider for these services, for beneficiaries who meet either of the following conditions.

1. A screening test is covered for adults at high risk for Hepatitis C Virus infection. "High risk" is defined as persons with a current or past history of illicit injection drug use; and persons who have a history of receiving a blood transfusion prior to 1992. Repeat screening for high risk persons is covered annually only for persons who have had continued illicit injection drug use since the prior negative screening test.

2. A single screening test is covered for adults who do not meet the high risk as defined above, but who were born from 1945 through 1965.
3. "The determination of "high risk for HCV" is identified by the primary care physician or practitioner who assesses the patient's history, which is part of any complete medical history, typically part of an annual wellness visit and considered in the development of a comprehensive prevention plan. The medical record should be a reflection of the service provided."

There is no word on treatment. Experts estimate it will cost $25 billion to treat the two groups identified above with Solvaldi, a drug that can cure Hep C but costs $84,000 for a 12-week course of the drug alone.

Good Cancer News

The American Society of Clinical Oncologists is meeting in Chicago and press reports are full of breakthroughs in immunotherapy, which stimulates our bodies to fight cancer. Amazing results are being seen in fighting cancers caused by viruses (such as HPV) and in boosting immune cells to recognize and fight other cancers.

Yesterday was Cancer Survivor Day. Let's hope these advances signal a chance to build that alumni.

A.T. Still, the founder of osteopathic medicine, said in his Autobiography (chapter VI, p. 89), "I have prosecuted the voyage from sea to sea until I have discovered that nature is never without necessary remedies...Man should study and use the drugs compounded in his own body."

In Case You Missed It...
June 4, 2014

Free HIV Testing

There are an estimated 1,000 Pima County residents who may have HIV and don't know it, despite a decade of calls for routine testing -- and not just for those at highest risk.

June 27 is National HIV Testing Day. If you don't know your HIV status, June 27 is the day several Tucson groups have come together to offer free testing. You get results in 15 minutes.
Testing sites are:

-Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, 375 S. Euclid, 8 am-8 pm
-IBT's, 616 N. 4th Avenue, 4 pm-9 pm
-Tucson Indian Center, 97 E. Congress, 11:30 am-4:30 pm
-Walgreens, Grant & Swan and 605 W. Ajo Way, 3 pm-7 pm
-Wingspan, 470 E. 7th St., 3 pm-8 pm

Tucson TV

Nightline followed the University of Arizona Medical Center Trauma Chief Peter Rhee MD through his shift last month and film from that will air tonight on ABC. The show coincides with the release of Rhee's new book.

In Case You Missed It...
June 5, 2014

It's a Start

Arizona Department of Health Services posted online yesterday data about hospital costs and charges as well as complication rates. It is a lot of information and gives patients hungry for information a lot to chew on.

It is also two-year old information from 2012. Last look at the calendar shows it is June 2014.

Transparency is in its infancy but there has to be a better way to do this. Judge for yourself at http://www.azdhs.gov/plan/crr/crrreports/az-hospital-compare.htm.
 
In Case You Missed It...
June 6, 2014

Say it ain't So

Health and Human Services announced another total revamp of Healthcare.gov and another tight timeline in which to accomplish the makeover. New enrollments begin Nov. 15.

The effort is designed to avoid the turmoil consumers faced trying to sign up last year, but seems to be repeating the same "fast roll-out with changes" as last year. The new contractors hired to run the system are just now being put in place to manage basic Healthcare.gov functions.

Local organizations that hired and trained system navigators to aid consumers are now laying people off. Insurance companies are in the same boat and ask out loud why the ObamaCare sign-ups coincide with Medicare and Medicaid enrollments periods; having a different sign-up period would allow navigators to work year round and actually get good at the job.

Having consumers enroll in, say, May-June, would also end confusion about how much enrollees make. Up to a quarter of those who signed up for marketplace plans misrepresented income levels. That is because they used 2012 W-2s. Their 2013 earnings were not available until late in the enrollment period.

Something for recently confirmed HHS secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to tackle.

2014 Elections

Candidates have filed and primaries are coming, but one thing is sure for the 2014 ballot: a measure, known as right to try, will be submitted for voter scrutiny.

Brainchild of the Goldwater Institute, the measure passed in Missouri and is being considered in two other states. Basically, it gives terminally-ill patients and their doctors the option of trying drugs in the development pipeline. Arizona's Legislature put the measure on the ballot.

Controversy surrounds this measure. The Goldwater Institute, by its own admission, feels too much power was given to the Food and Drug Administration and that the FDA takes too long to approve drugs.

Several wise amendments were added to the Arizona iteration of the right to try wording. We at TOMF will attempt to find where the medical consensus lies on this issue and share it with you when we do.