November 2007 Health Care News

The November 2007 issue of Health Care News reports on new efforts to require pharmaceutical firms to disclose gifts to physicians and make hospital pricing policies more transparent. On page 1:

• Sen. Chuck Grassley has co-sponsored legislation that requires pharmaceutical firms to disclose all gifts and payments they make to physicians.

• Texas passed legislation that will require health care providers to give consumers greater access to price information for medical services and billing procedures.

• Nonprofit hospitals in Michigan plan to list their prices for common medical tests and procedures.

• Without a change to a scheduled reduction in the two-year-old Medicaid generic prescription drug reimbursement rate, federal funding to neighborhood pharmacies will be cut by 36 percent next January.

Also in this issue: Edwards, Giuliani offer reform plans; Medicare and specialty hospitals, FDA reform, electronic medical records, medical tourism, SCHIP, secondhand smoke, long-term care, and more.