(07/06/2010)  --  This roundup includes the following brief government updates: Obama Calls for Shifts in Payment Incentives; MedPAC Releases Report on Medicare Payment Policy. More

(07/02/2009)  --  More than 250 health care professionals called on Congress to pass a comprehensive health care reform bill that includes a public plan option during a town hall meeting here on June 26. The meeting was convened by Health Care for America Now, or HCAN. More

(07/02/2009)  --  An FDA advisory panel has recommended that the agency remove prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen and powerful painkillers -- such as Percocet, which is formulated with oxycodone, and Vicodin, which is formulated with hydrocodone -- from the market because of the risk of liver injury associated with misuse of the products. The panel also voted to lower dosage recommendations for over-the-counter, or OTC, acetaminophen products. More

(07/02/2009)  --  The AAFP, along with the other academic family medicine organizations, have asked the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, or ACGME, to resist putting additional restrictions on residents' duty hours because such restrictions may harm family medicine training programs and the quality of patient care. More

(07/02/2009)  --  This roundup includes the following brief clinical practice updates: AHRQ Offering Fact Sheets on Cardiovascular Diseases; Escherichia coli Outbreak Linked to Cookie Dough; CDC Study Focuses on Falls; FDA Seeking Input on Tobacco Regulation; Chantix, Zyban to Add Boxed Warnings. More

(07/01/2009)  --  After more than a year and a half of deferrals, the booster dose of Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, vaccine should again be considered a routine part of the childhood immunization schedule. The CDC -- in consultation with its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, the AAFP and the American Academy of Pediatrics -- is recommending that physicians immediately reinstate the Hib booster dose for children ages 12-15 months who have completed the three-dose primary series. More

(07/01/2009)  --  Members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, approved new antiviral treatment recommendations during the committee's June 24-26 meeting in Atlanta. The recommendations originally were released as interim guidance last year in the wake of oseltamivir resistance among circulating seasonal influenza A (H1N1) viruses. More