Forbes: CVS Caremark, the drug retailer and pharmacy benefit management firm, announced a new agreement with Aetna to help constrain drug costs. “The deal encompasses approximately $9.5 billion in annual drug spending relating to approximately 9.7 million lives. CVS expects significant long-term financial benefits from this strategic relationship” (7/28)…

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The UK ranks 11th out of 14 countries for dementia drug use rates according to a report published by the Department of Health. The paper ‘Extent and causes of international variations in drug usage’ by Professor Sir Mike Richards looked at the rates of drug usage per capita for a range of diseases and drug [...] Read more »

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA), New York, NY, and Second Wind Dreams (SWD), Marietta, GA, announced that they have forged a strategic partnership that will utilize their combined expertise, program strengths and local membership bases to further raise the bar on care for the increasing number of individuals nationwide with Alzheimer’s disease and related [...] Read more »

News outlets report on state budget gaps and lobbying for extra Medicaid funds from the federal government. Bloomberg: “U.S. state governments project revenue will climb in the current fiscal year after they raised taxes and cut spending to close budget gaps of $84 billion, a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures found…

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CongressDaily: The Senate Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee approved a draft funding bill Tuesday for HHS, “moving a bill that would provide $170 billion in discretionary spending to related federal agencies, nearly $1 billion under the president’s request…

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AARP on Tuesday “threw its influence” behind a number of plans to reduce Medicare fraud, including the bipartisan Medicare Fraud Enforcement and Prevention Act, which would increase penalties on nabbed fraudsters and supply more claims data to enforcers, The Hill reports…

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Texas-based Scott & White Healthcare has received three grants that provide education support to working nursing students, set up a senior health research center, and establish systems for treating child abuse and educating those who treat it. The three grants, totaling nearly $2 million, include: Nursing education…

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Obese older adults are more likely to use walkers, canes and other mobility devices at a younger age, and may run the risk of using them incorrectly, according to new research from Purdue University. “Baby Boomers are coming of age and obesity is an epidemic for this population as well,” said Karis Pressler, a doctoral [...] Read more »

Researchers watched two groups of mice, both nearing the end of a two-day fast. One group was quietly huddled together, but the other group was active and alert. The difference? The second set of mice had been engineered so their brains produced more SIRT1, a protein known to play a role in aging and longevity…

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As hospital and clinical laboratories endure increasingly intense pressures to do more with less, they now face another challenge – rising demand for medical tests driven by an aging U.S. population that is expected to swell to more than 70 million in the next 20 years, an increase of more than 80 percent from today…

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