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UK's NICE Recommends Use Of Erbitux For Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients
The United Kingdom"s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published a Final Appraisal Determination (FAD) recommending the use of the drug Erbitux® (cetuximab) in combination with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic (advanced) colorectal cancer (mCRC) who have met specific additional criteria(1) - presenting the possibility of potentially curative surgery.(2) The treatment is recommended for patients in whom the cancer has spread only to the liver and who have normal or "wild-type" KRAS tumors.(1) In the UK, a recommendation by NICE is a prerequisite for funding of a medical treatment by the National Health Service.
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Advocates Say Rise In Inquires About Adoption, Abortion Linked To Recession
Several large adoption agencies are reporting an increase in the number of women with unintended pregnancies who are considering adoption, a trend that some advocates say is tied to the recession, USA Today reports. Scott Mars of American Adoptions said that he has observed a 10% to 12% increase in the past year in the number of women asking about adoption and a 7% to 10% increase in actual placements. Mars said that the economy has led women to "take a second look at adoption." Adam Pertman of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a research group, said, "Finances are one of the major reasons women feel compelled to place their children for adoption." According to USA Today, more women also are considering delaying pregnancy or inquiring about abortion because of financial factors. A recent Gallup poll found that the economy has prompted one in 10 married women to delay pregnancy. Vicki Saporta of the National Abortion Federation, which represents abortion providers, said that calls to the group"s hotline have increased nearly threefold since 2008 and that many of the calls have come from women who have experienced job loss in their families.According to Joan Jaeger of the Chicago-area adoption agency The Cradle, about 30% more women are asking about placing a child for adoption than in 2008. She noted that many of the women inquiring about adoption are in their 20s and have at least one child. Joseph Sica of Adoption by Shepherd Care said he has seen a "dramatic increase in girls calling us from the hospital" who are interested in placing a child for adoption. Sica said that many of these women expect to receive assistance in raising their infants but inquire about adoption after they give birth and find that little help is available. He said that in 2008 his agency facilitated 14 such adoptions, an increase from 11 in 2007 and four in 2006. However, Chuck Johnson -- chief operating officer of the advocacy group the National Council for Adoption -- said that the percentage of women who place a child for adoption remains low overall, which he attributed to access to legal abortion and greater societal acceptance of single parenthood. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that before abortion became legal in 1973, one in five never-married white women and one in 10 never-married women overall placed a child for adoption after giving birth. Since then, that rate has "plummeted," USA Today reports. A 2002 survey, the most recent available, found that only 1% of such women placed a child for adoption (Koch, USA Today, 5/19).
News of the day
Senate Weighs New Taxes To Fund Reform
"Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) presented his members Thursday with more than a dozen ways to pay for health care legislation, ranging from new fees on industry to an income-tax hike on couples making more than $1 million a year," Politico reports.
Public Health

Medicare Revamps Competitive Bidding Program

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is preparing to revive competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment that industry members helped sink last summer when it was originally scheduled to take effect, CQ HealthBeat reports. The agency had anticipated a 26 percent savings for wheelchairs, oxygen tanks and other pieces of equipment through the program. But a lobbying group for the suppliers, the American Association for Homecare, successfully urged Congress to shut down the program before it went into effect. Now the group is doing it again. The association "predicts that resumption of the program will have the same impact as the first round of bidding, which it said would have radically thinned the ranks of suppliers in the participating markets before Congress blew the whistle on the program and ordered changes," CQ reports (Reichard, 6/2). McKnight"s Long-Term Care News reports that CMS has improved the program with new on-line bid submission and oversight features (6/2). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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