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Hatwig Receives American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Award Of Excellence
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) today honored Christopher A. Hatwig, M.S., FASHP, with the ASHP Board of Directors Award of Excellence for his work to help safety net hospitals provide safe and cost-effective drug therapy to low-income and uninsured patients. Hatwig, vice president of Apexus in Irving, Texas, received the award during ASHP"s Summer Meeting in Rosemont, Ill.
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Terry O'Neill Elected New "National Organization for Women" President
The National Organization for Women on Saturday during its annual conference elected Terry O"Neill as the group"s new president, the Indianapolis Star reports. O"Neill succeeds Kim Gandy, who has served two four-year terms as NOW president. The group has grown to include about 500,000 advocate members since its founding in 1966.During the conference, participants discussed a number of women"s rights issues, including same-sex marriage, equal pay and health insurance affordability. O"Neill raised the issue of "conscience" clauses, which allow health care workers to refuse to provide information or services on moral or religious grounds. O"Neill said, "Conscience clauses, where pharmacists refuse birth control sales because it"s against their conscience, must go. Guess what? Women have a constitutional right to birth control," adding, "There is no constitutional right to be a pharmacist" (Jacobs, Indianapolis Star, 6/21).O"Neill served as NOW"s vice president for membership from 2001 to 2005. She most recently served as chief of staff for a county council member in Montgomery County, Md. O"Neill in a prepared statement said that she is "honored and eager" to lead NOW (AP/Google.com, 6/21).
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Secondary Prevention: Aspirin Combined With Dipyridamole Just As Effective As Clopidogrel; Endarterectomy Safer Than Angioplasty
In the area of secondary prevention as well - guarding against renewed events in patients who already suffered from a stroke or a TIA - Professor Ferro points to important new research: "In this patient population, the direct comparison between Clopidogrel and the combination of aspirin with extended release Dipyridamole did not reveal any difference between both strategies." Both approaches have proven to be slightly more effective than aspirin alone.
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Report Finds Racial Health Disparities Among New York State Health Plan Beneficiaries

The New York City-based advocacy group Community Service Society recently released a report that found racial health disparities among state health plan beneficiaries, New York Times" "City Room" reports. The report urged state officials to close the gaps. The roughly 20 health plans that contract with the state public health programs to provide health insurance to low-income residents are required to break down health indicators by race. Using data from the New York State Department of Health, researchers found that out of 12 measures the state uses in quality assurance, including dental visits, asthma management, mammography and almost all diabetes indicators: *Blacks experienced health outcomes that were significantly worse statistically in 10 of the 12 measures; *Whites had significantly worse outcomes in three measures, including childhood immunizations and mammography; *Asian-Americans had statistically better health indicators than other groups in almost every area; and *Outcomes among Hispanics were comparable or better than that of whites. Elisabeth Benjamin, one of the authors of the study, said the differences could not be explained fully by socioeconomic status. "They"ve all made the same income cut. These are low-income people," Benjamin said. CSS President David Jones said, "It opens the windows into the fact that something is wrong." The report recommends that the state use part of a $63 million bonus pool to fund incentive programs for government health plans, such as paying rewards to plans that reach certain health benchmarks. "Our position is that the health system is failing African-American folks, and we know that pay-for-performance works," Benjamin said, adding, "We"re saying let"s use [pay-for-performance programs] with a race lens, which has never been done in the country. We think this is one of the areas where New York state can take a lead in the country" (Lee, "City Room," New York Times, 5/18). The report is available online (.pdf). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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