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Breast Cancer Chemotherapy – Here Is What Happened When Outrageous Prices Met The Free Market
Byadmin2Nine to twelve years. That’s about how long most drug companies have to make serious money on new products before their patent protection ends. Then, generic companies enter the fray and prices, typically, plummet. Yet, two decades after coming to market, Herceptin (a drug used to treat breast and stomach cancer) was still priced at…
Is There a Smart Way to Use the New Oncotype Prostate Cancer Test?
ByadminOn May 8th, the makers of the oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Test presented results of a large study demonstrating that their test can help men decide whether their prostate cancer carries a low enough risk of progression to forgo surgical or radiation therapy, two treatments that typically eradicate prostate cancers but also cause most men to…
Talking Money With Your Doctor
Byadmin
In a recent post, I asked whether you think doctors should routinely discuss the costs of medical interventions with their patients before exposing these patients to large out-of-pocket expenses. According to the responses I have gotten on websites and by email, most of you think the answer is “yes.”
read moreDoes Your Oncologist Care About Your Quality of Life?
ByadminFacing advanced cancer, who among us wouldn’t look to our oncologist for expert advice on whether another round of chemotherapy makes sense? But do you know what your oncologist cares about, and can you be sure her recommendations map onto your own treatment preferences? … (Read the rest and view comments at Critical Decisions)
Buying Junk Food With Taxpayer Dollars: Whether Interventions to Encourage Healthy Purchasing Work
BypeterOne of my elderly relatives was in line at the grocery store one day and saw the person ahead of him charging what looked like a cart full of junk food to her food assistance card. My relative was incensed: Why, should his hard earned tax dollars be used to pay for someone’s Cheetos? Currently,…
My Take on Shared Decision Making
ByadminPut simply, shared decision making is the gold standard — the sine qua non* — for how medical decisions ought to be made. The pipe medical choice is rarely a function of medical facts alone. Tough decisions require value judgments, and it is the patient’s valuesthat often determine which choice is best. An operation cannot…
