Consultantlive Staff

April 13, 2009

Making headlines recently was the revelation that HIV infection can be transmitted from men to women through the healthy squamous epithelium of the vaginal tract.

April 11, 2009

Syphilis took Europe by storm at the end of the 15th century in what was to become a sweeping epidemic. Before 1495, it was unknown or perhaps was attributed to other disease processes, such as leprosy.

March 31, 2009

Microbes collect on fabric, objects, and surfaces in the hospital environment, but what role do they play in disease transmission, and how can a more sterile environment be maintained? The current findings sometimes leave us with more questions than answers. Food for thought was presented at a poster session that focused on nosocomial infections and environmental contamination at the joint 48th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the Infectious Diseases Society of America 46th Annual Meeting, which convened October 25-28, 2008, in Washington, DC.

March 31, 2009

Delusional parasitosis and factitious disorder are psychiatric illnesses that are often encountered by clinicians. The differential diagnosis can be tricky, but treatment, which may include referral to a mental health specialist, may be trickier.

February 06, 2009

Asthma affects approximately 22 million adults and children in the United States and poses a significant economic burden on the health care system and on employers. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, direct and indirect costs for all forms of asthma totaled $19.7 billion in 2007. Prescription drugs represented the largest single direct cost at $6.2 billion.

December 02, 2008

At Consultant, our goal is to provide the practical, authoritative information you need to best serve your patients. That is why we “pre-test” article ideas (before we invite articles on those topics) to be sure they are of real interest to you and your colleagues. It is also why we take great care in checking facts, creating useful tables and figures, and choosing illustrations and photographs to enhance teaching messages.

November 02, 2008

For 25 years, a 74-year-old man had an intermittent, painful, and pruritic rash that caused cracking and erosions in the axillae and groin. It worsened with sweating and in the summer and also when clothing or skin rubbed against the eruption. The patient’s father, a paternal uncle, and all 3 of the patient’s daughters had a similar rash. Cetirizine and a combination of xipamide, bacitracin ointment, clotrimazole, and triamcinolone cream were prescribed to treat the rash.

May 02, 2008

A 16-year-old boy with a history of leukemia at age 12 years complains of right hip pain of several months' duration. A 34-year-old woman who had Hodgkin lymphoma at age 14 years comes in for a routine physical.

March 01, 2008

Many traditional PBMs have revenue streams that are not disclosed or shared with plan sponsors. These revenue streams include pharmaceutical manufacturer rebates, pharmacy network discounts and spread, and data sales. Such arrangements can result in a misalignment of incentives, making it difficult for plan sponsors to achieve the lowest costs possible. Partially transparent or "translucent" PBMs may disclose some but not all rebate revenues. Fully transparent PBMs identify and share all revenue streams with their plan sponsors. (Drug Benefit Trends. 2008;20:98-100)

February 01, 2008

Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome in whichthe heart is unable to deliver adequate cardiac output at normal fillingpressures. There are proven pharmacological and clinical management strategiesthat can improve care and reduce associated health care costs, but these areunderutilized. The Advanced Heart Failure Program (AHFP) was developed at theDorn Veterans Administration Medical Center to provide a comprehensivemultidisciplinary management approach to persons with advanced HF. Beforeenrollment in the AHFP, the average annual all-cause hospital admission rate was3.2 for the 217 HF patients. After enrollment in the AHFP and stabilization, themean all-cause hospital admission rate was 1.2. HF patients had an averageannual hospitalization cost of $28,936.32 before enrollment in the AHFP. Afterenrollment, average hospitalization cost dropped to $10,851.12 per patient.Taking into account the 50-week cost of $3036.14 for a patient enrolled in theclinic, participation in the AHFP was associated with a significant decrease inthe number of HF-related admissions, saving an average of $15,049.06 perpatient. (Drug Benefit Trends. 2008;20:54-59)