Global Access Project (GAP) Study Examining Patients' Access to Cancer Care Featured in the Journal of the American Medical Associat...(e Duke researchers studied data about Me...),Health

Date:7/9/2008

e Duke researchers studied data about Medicare beneficiaries who received chemotherapy for diagnoses of leukemia, lymphoma, breast, lung or colorectal cancer from across the United States. They looked at the distance patients traveled to get their chemotherapy treatments, and the amount of time that lapsed from diagnosis to initiation of chemotherapy. They compared data from 2003, before the MMA took effect, to the data from subsequent years through 2006. They did not examine other quality of care indicators.

When the MMA was signed into law by President Bush in 2003, it was the most comprehensive restructuring of Medicare since its inception in 1965. The law created a prescription drug benefit and provided $25 billion for rural hospitals, but it also significantly reduced Medicare reimbursements to healthcare providers starting January 1, 2005. Cancer care, in particular, was targeted for cuts because legislators considered it to have been overly funded.

"We strive to help cancer patients access convenient, safe and high-quality care -- no matter where they live or what their insurance issues may be," said Davenport-Ennis. "Though the JAMA study overall did not find that cancer patients are being negatively impacted as a result of the MMA, its suggestion of longer wait times for patients in rural areas should be researched further so that we can learn more about the situations these patients are facing -- and, in turn, learn how to best overcome them."

National Patient Advocate Foundation (NPAF) is a national, non-profit organization that is dedicated to the mission of creating avenues of patient access through improved access to, and reimbursement for, evolving therapies, therapeutic agent, and devices through policy and legislative reform at the state and federal levels. Our mission is shaped by the experiences of the patients served through our companion organization, Patient Advocate Foundation.

'/>"/>

SOURCE National Patient Advocate Foundation Copyright©2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

0 GOOD

Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Global Health Progress Joins WHO and DNDi to Call For Increased Commitments to Fighting Neglected Tropical Diseases
2. Global Med Technologies(R) Announces U.S. Release of Proven Tissue and Cellular Therapy Product
3. Proposing a New Global Compact for Infectious Diseases
4. The Center for Professional Innovation and Education (CfPIE) Announces a New Global Regulatory Certification Track
5. GRAS Proudly Announces Photometrica Version 2.0. Hailed as a Brilliant Solution for More Productive Astronomical Research by Those Engaged in Photometry Using the Global-Rent-a-scope Telescope Systems
6. Signalife and Heart One Global Research Agree to Merge
7. AEGON and Right To Play Announce Global Partnership
8. MED3OOO and Mitsui & Co. Complete U.S. and Global Healthcare Partnership Agreement
9. National Press Club to Host NEWSMAKER Media Briefing on Global Health and the Infections of Poverty - Neglected Tropical Diseases
10. Chronic Kidney Disease Growing Globally
11. TechTeam Global Announces Formation of a Global Pharmaceutical Center of Excellence