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Prescription drug users rose from 51 percent of U.S. adults in 1999 to 59 percent of adults in 2011, according to a new study…It’s hard to say why prescription drug use would be on the rise…we know that older adults tend to take more medications than younger adults, and so we’d expect prescription drug use to increase as the U.S. population ages…something beyond the aging…appears to be driving the increase in prescription drug use…New drugs enter the market and old drugs lose patent protection and become less costly...patterns of prescription drug use evolve with scientific advances and with changes in clinical guidelines and policies regarding drug marketing and promotion.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc sought to reassure doctors…that the company's decision to cut ties to a controversial specialty pharmacy would not disrupt doctors' ability to prescribe the company's drugs to patients…In a letter to healthcare professionals…Valeant would pay for the cost of its products through Nov. 8 and make sure patients could fill their prescriptions with no out-of-pocket expenses, wherever possible. Patients on government-run health plans such as Medicare are not eligible…Philidor Rx Services, will file no further insurance claims.

…executives at both Pfizer and Allergan acknowledged that they have begun merger talks. Pfizer’s goal in such a move is pretty simple – to finally achieve the tax-saving corporate inversion it has been seeking for some time. This move would enable Pfizer to become an Ireland-based company, thereby substantially lowering its corporate tax rate… speculations are being made as to what such a new organization would look like, and some have expressed concerns over the impact of yet another merger on Pfizer’s R&D organization… R&D folks, meanwhile, are polishing up their resumes in anticipation of mass firings...However, this Allergan deal is unlike the others… there is little evidence that there is a lot of overlap from an R&D perspective between Pfizer and Allergan. If anything, one wonders if Pfizer will retain Allergan research efforts…

…lawyers for AndroGel maker AbbVie will present their selection of 16 plaintiffs they’d like to represent the growing class of men who are suing the company over allegations that its product, a topical form of testosterone, caused blood clots, heart attacks and other adverse events. Lawyers representing the men will do the same in a process that will culminate in the selection of 12 “bellwether” cases to be tried starting late next year…men suing over testosterone has soared…to 2,744…Claims have been filed against seven makers of testosterone products…The court chose AbbVie as the subject of the first trials, with the first six bellwethers to involve men alleging “thromboembolic” injuries…and the second six alleging heart attacks or strokes...

Nevada is looking into whether cryotherapy is safe for the general public after the death of a Las Vegas spa worker found inside a phone booth-sized chamber chilled with liquid nitrogen, regulators said Monday…The state said it was shifting its investigation beyond workplace safety and the equipment used in the treatments to the health concerns surrounding the technology itself. The new approach to the investigation could lead to regulations for the industry, said Steve George, state Division of Industrial Relations administrator…The Division of Industrial Relations is expected to look at all three businesses selling the service in the state as part of its comprehensive review…"At this point, the equipment doesn't seem to be the problem, but we are doing our due diligence," said George, who is head of the state's workplace safety division that also includes the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

On Jan. 1, 2015 hospitals became eligible for reimbursement when treating patients with two or more chronic conditions…Under CPT code 99490, in fact, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will pay clinicians an average of $43.12 for spending at least 20 minutes in non-face-to-face consults…CMS could pay out as much as $17 billion a year under chronic care management…a surprisingly small number of providers have thus far taken to 99490…While there is a strong appreciation of the benefits of chronic care management, both as fee-for-service revenue...and as a foundation for population health management, providers are struggling to incorporate CCM in their current operations…What's the hold up?...three obstacles: insufficient reimbursement for the time required, lack of awareness about the opportunity, and compliance concerns…the median time spent delivering the service is 35 minutes per patient per month...although non-face-to-face services may be furnished by any qualified clinical staff member, half…are using registered nurses – a more expensive resource than other types of clinical staff – to engage patients.

A number of stories published in the midst of the Disneyland measles outbreak last winter looked at the trend of doctors, particularly pediatricians, “firing” families that refused vaccines for their children. The practice remains controversial among pediatricians but relevant enough that a recent session at the American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Conference addressed how pediatricians can legally protect themselves when parents refuse vaccines and the most appropriate way to dismiss a family from the practice, even though the AAP discourages such dismissals.

Through a settlement brokered by the State of Nevada Attorney General's Office, approximately $3.8 million is available to the University of Nevada School of Medicine for research projects aimed at improving women's health in Nevada…The State of Nevada obtained the settlement with pharmaceutical companies Wyeth, Pfizer and Pharmacia & Upjohn relating to claims regarding postmenopausal hormone therapy products…The funds will be distributed by the Attorney General's Office over a five-year period ending in 2019, with half the available research funds going to School of Medicine faculty in Reno and Las Vegas and the other half going to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada.

Eli Lilly Co…announced plans to add a 130,000-square-foot building to its Indianapolis research-and-development headquarters…The $70 million investment is the latest in a string of moves by the Indianapolis-based drugmaker to bulk up its hometown presence…"We are excited to grow our presence in Indianapolis, which is home to our largest global R&D facility and where our research efforts began,"…Lilly employs 4,400 R&D workers in Indianapolis, the biggest chunk of its 7,000 R&D employees worldwide…Lilly has applied for a real-property tax abatement on the proposed expansion that will save it $6.6 million over a 10-year abatement period…Lilly will still pay about $6.7 million in property taxes during the abatement period on the increased value of the property…This is Lilly's fourth R&D expansion this year. In May…it would build a delivery and device innovation center in Cambridge…In July…announced an expansion of its biotechnology center in San Diego…In October…an expansion of its presence at the Alexandria Center for Life Science in New York City.

When I wrote Healthcare’s Trillion Dollar Disruption, I recounted how a collection of senior executives assembled by Oliver Wyman representing every sector of healthcare foresaw a radical reshaping of the industry. They predicted that over the course of ten years major winners and losers would be created as one-third of the annual revenues of the industry shifted from one set of players to another…More important than the revenue shift is who would be the catalysts for a much higher performing system as measured by the Quadruple Aim. In this list, I highlight the game-changers. Some may also be big revenue winners but that isn’t the point of this list. After all, there are plenty of organizations profiting from today’s wasteful system, so revenue is only one metric of success. Rather, the actions of the organization are putting the wheels in motion for a massive transformation of the industry.

1. MassMutual will slow healthcare’s heist of retirement accounts
2. Collective Health will turn employers fully into the insurance companies they already are
3. Rosen Hotels will show how employers can transform the lives of their employees and their community with a great benefits plan
4. Iora Health will prove primary care is the linchpin to a consumer-centric health future and achieving the Quadruple Aim
5. Surgery Center of Oklahoma will be replicated to overcome severe price failure of healthcare services ranging from surgeries to chronic disease management
6. Oscar will demonstrate that their data science expertise will deliver a superior health plan package that is about more than just consumer-friendly packaging
7. Geisinger Health System will raise awareness of the massive over-investment in hospital infrastructure at the expense of community health