August 2007

Cover Story

Employers Roll Up Their Sleeves
No longer passive, companies are working in a variety of ways to improve employees' care. Are health plans being left behind?

Frank Diamond

Evidence-Based Medicine Is Not Enough
Although EBM is only just getting started, many people are looking beyond evaluating treatments head to head and considering cost as well

Lola Butcher

A Conversation with James C. Schibanoff, MD

Bringing Guidelines Into the Real World
Once guidelines are embedded in the work flow, it will be much easier to apply them than it is when physicians must essentially take them off the shelf and look them up.

Consumer-Directed Health Plans: Built to Last Or Designed to Fail?
A point–counterpoint debate with Michael Jacobs, RPh, and Wayne M. Lednar, MD, PhD
Editor's Memo

Are Purchasers Now The Ones With the Vision?

John Marcille

Legislation & Regulation

Convenient Care Clinics Inconvenience the AMA
The physician lobbying organization wants insurers to stop contributing to the growth of limited-care offices in chain stores

John Carroll

Medication Management

Soaring Price of Cancer Drugs Leads Plans To New Approaches
Insurers are trying different methods, from pay for performance to promoting preventive care, to hold down cost of chemotherapy drugs

Martin Sipkoff

Compensation Monitor

Psychiatrists paid well by drugmakers
The Formulary Files

ARB costs run high in Medicare Part D
Employer Update

What Attracts Workers to Consumer-Directed Plans?
High-deductible insurance hasn't been a big draw, but plan sponsors have found a few ways to make it attractive

Lola Butcher

Tomorrow’s Medicine

Gene Expression Microarray Improves Prediction of Breast Cancer Outcomes
Flash-frozen samples of surgically removed breast cancer tissue are the key to measuring a patient's risk of metastasis

Thomas Morrow, MD

Managed Care Outlook

Specialty drugs increasingly used to treat chronic conditions



News & Commentary

Health coverage at work on the decline

Headlines On Deadline ...

Incentive Formularies Have Minimal Effect

E-mailing Doctors Desirable for Those with Comorbidities