Medicare Panels or Death Panels??

[No_Fear]

And so it begins -

 

Medicare panel to weigh prostate treatments

 

Debate continues over whether some treatments are excessive

By Susan Heavey

Reuters

updated 2:56 p.m. ET, Sun., April 18, 2010

WASHINGTON - At a time of growing debate over prostate cancer treatments, U.S. Medicare officials will take a closer look at radiation therapy and its ability to reduce deaths and side effects in men.

 

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has asked a panel of outside experts meeting on Wednesday to say how confident they are that various types of radiation treatment can improve patient outcomes.

 

Researchers have found that many prostate cancers are so slow-growing that most men will die from other causes, sparking debate over whether diagnosis is too frequent and whether treatments, which also include surgery, are excessive.

 

While the meeting will not directly address the agency's reimbursement rates, CMS is seeking advice that could later be used to determine its payment policies. It oversees 45 million elderly and disabled covered by the Medicare health insurance program, about 40 percent of them men.

 

Any changes in how the agency — the nation's largest healthcare payer — covers radiation treatments could affect the use of therapies by companies such as Accuray Inc, Siemens AG, TomoTherapy, and Varian Medical Systems.

 

The experts will discuss the effectiveness of Accuray's CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery system and other radiation treatments such as external beam radiation and implantable radiation "seeds".

 

The immediate impact on stocks is likely to be neutral, said Josh Jennings, a medical device equities analyst at Jefferies & Co.

 

But "if they feel that radiation therapy is being overutilized, there could be a chance for some negative recommendation" that could later cause some waves, he said.

 

READ MORE:

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36629506/ns/health-cancer/

[goinbroke2]

Hmmm, no mention of breast cancer though huh? funny eh?

 

Oh wait, to even mention this I must be sexist...

 

Funny how breast cancer (predominately female) gets over 600 times the research money than does colon cancer (predominately male) and yet both have almost the same rates....must be me being sexist again huh?

[Ron W.]

Funny how breast cancer (predominately female) gets over 600 times the research money than does colon cancer

 

Easy explanation, everybody I know likes breasts and nobody I know likes an asshole

Edited April 19, 2010 by Ron W.

[Trimdingman]

Baby boomers are going to be a big problem in the near future. The government doesn't have the money to fund their pensions. Baby boomers would be wise to stay away from government medical facilities. It could reduce their life-expectancy.

[Mark B. Morrow]

Hmmm, no mention of breast cancer though huh? funny eh?

 

Oh wait, to even mention this I must be sexist...

 

Funny how breast cancer (predominately female) gets over 600 times the research money than does colon cancer (predominately male) and yet both have almost the same rates....must be me being sexist again huh?

 

 

Men like breasts more than women like assholes?

 

Ron W beat me to this one.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Mark B. Morrow

[matthewq4b]

Men like breasts more than women like assholes?

 

Ron W beat me to this one.

 

 

Not sure about that one. It seems more women are married to assholes than men are to a good set breasts. :shades:

 

 

Matthew