“Medication Access and Continuity: The Experiences of Dual-Eligible Psychiatric Patients During the First 4 Months of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit,” American Journal of Psychiatry: For the study, Joyce West of the [click link for full article]

Bladder, prostate and other urinary tract diseases cost Americans nearly $11 billion a year, according to a new report from the National Institutes of Health. Medicare’s share exceeded $5.4 billion.The five most expensive urologic problems–accounting for $9.1 billion–are, in descending order, urinary tract infections, kidney stones, prostate and bladder cancers and benign prostate enlargement, according to the authors of Urologic Diseases in America. [click link for full article]

The Medicare prescription drug benefit helps millions of beneficiaries obtain access to medications, but delays in reimbursements from health insurers and the complexity of the program have led to problems for pharmacies and beneficiaries, experts testified at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, Dow Jones reports. At the hearing, Timothy Tucker, president-elect of the [click link for full article]

Although human papillomavirus infection and cervical cancer associated with HPV are “significant national and global public health concerns,” mandatory HPV vaccination among middle-school age girls “presents ethical concerns and is likely to be counterproductive,” Lawrence Gostin of [click link for full article]

While investigating the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans evacuees, a group of UCLA researchers stumbled across something they had not been looking for - the deep level of distrust the largely minority victims felt toward public health authorities.In a study appearing in the May issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, the researchers write that this distrust likely played a role in residents’ response to evacuation warnings and advice. [click link for full article]

Researchers have developed three lung cancer risk prediction models for current, former, and never smokers.Reliable risk prediction models would be of great value for determining an individual’s likelihood of developing lung cancer and his or her potential benefit from preventive treatment or clinical trials. However, existing models focus primarily on long-term smokers.Margaret Spitz, M.D., of the University of Texas M.D. [click link for full article]

The American Cancer Society and the National Palliative Care Research Center (NPCRC) are awarding $1.5 million in research grants to researchers at ten institutions for studies aimed at reducing suffering for seriously ill patients and their family caregivers. The studies will be conducted over the next two years. [click link for full article]

The first new nasal spray on the market in years has just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Veramyst (fluticasone furoate), from the makers of Flonase, is approved…

A promising anti-inflammatory drug failed to improve symptoms of moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, in a large, multi-center trial.The results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of infliximab were published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society. [click link for full article]

With the growing concerns of children’s exposure to secondhand smoke, it has become more critical than ever to involve health care providers such as pediatricians in educating parents about the potential hazardous health consequences.Almost 60 percent of U.S. children ages 3 to 11 — approximately 22 million children –are exposed to secondhand smoke daily - with urban children suffering the highest rates of exposure in a U.S. Surgeon General report from June 2006. [click link for full article]