Pharmacy Product Info

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Health maintenance organization

A Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) is a type of Managed Care Organization (MCO) that provides a shape of health insurance coverage in the United States that is satisfied through hospitals, doctors, and other providers with which the HMO has a contract. Unlike traditional indemnity insurance, care provided in an HMO usually follows a set of care guidelines provided through the HMO's network of providers. Under this model, providers agreement with an HMO to obtain more patients and in return typically agree to provide services at a discount. This agreement allows the HMO to accuse a lower monthly premium, which is an advantage over indemnity insurance, provided that its members are eager to abide by the additional restrictions.

In addition to using their contracts with providers for services at a inferior price, HMOs hope to gain an benefit over traditional insurance plans by managing their patients' health care and reducing unnecessary services. To attain this, most HMOs require members to select a main care physician (PCP), a doctor who acts as a "gatekeeper" to medical services. PCPs are typically internists, pediatricians, family doctors, or general practitioners. In a characteristic HMO, most medical needs must first go through the PCP, who authorizes referrals to specialists or additional doctors if deemed necessary. Emergency medical care does not require previous authorization from a PCP, and many plans permit women to select an OB/GYN in addition to a PCP, whom they may see without a referral. In some cases, a constantly ill patient may be allowed to select a specialist in the field of their sickness as a PCP.

HMOs often have a negative public image due to their warning appearance. HMOs have been the goal of lawsuits claiming that the restrictions of the HMO prevented necessary care. Whether an HMO can be held liable for a physician's negligence partially depends on the HMO's screening process. If an HMO only contracts with providers meeting positive quality criteria and advertises this to its members, a court may be more likely to find that the HMO is liable, just as hospitals can be liable for negligence in selecting physicians. Since the HMO controls only the financial feature of providing care, not the medical feature, it is often insulated from malpractice lawsuits. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) can be detained to preempt negligence claims as well. In this case, the deciding issue is whether the harm results from the plan's management or the provider's actions.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is the technique designed to improve the mental capacity, health and behavior of the patient. It is the technique used to improve the dialogue, communication and behavior. Therapist use different methods to improve the capacity. They mostly use spoken conversation and other communications like written word, artwork and so on. The Psychotherapists may be psychologists, social workers, marriage-family therapists, expressive therapists, psychoanalysts, and any professionals of other mental disciplines.

Therapist deals with specific forms of diagnosable mental illness, personal and any other problems of the person. They provide different treatments to the patients to solve the problem. Therapist dealing with the patients is known as counseling. This term is sometime referred as psychotherapy. The person who arranges the treatment is usually referred as therapist and the person who carries on the treatment is referred as the client/patient.

Innovation has been going on in the field of psychotherapy. More innovation is done for curing the illness of the patient, but some are only successful. Interventions are done on Psychotherapeutic and they are often designed to arrange the treatment for the patient. Psychotherapy does not involve any medication or surgery, but guarantees the medical safety. Psychotherapy is done in several systems; some are Cognitive behavioral, Psychodynamic, Existential, Humanistic/supportive, brief and Systemic therapy.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Rare disease

A rare disease (sometimes known as an stray disease) has such a low incidence in a population that a doctor in a busy general practice would not expect to see more than one case a year. Rare diseases, including those of genetic cause, are life-threatening or chronically devastating diseases which are of such low prevalence that special combined efforts are needed to address them.

As a guide, low occurrence is taken as prevalence of less than 5 per 10,000 in the society.

The NIH's Office of Rare Diseases states that, "an stray or rare disease is generally considered to have a prevalence of fewer than 200,000 influence individuals in the United States"

Rare diseases will differ from population to population, as a disease that is rare in some populations may be common in a further. This is especially true of some inherent and transferable diseases. For example, cystic fibrosis is a rare inherent disease in most parts of Asia but is relatively common in some Eurasian populations. Many infectious diseases, such as humid diseases, are rare outside a given geographic spot.

Eurordis (European Organisation for rare Diseases) estimates that there exist between 5,000 and 8,000 distinct rare diseases, affecting between 6% and 8% of the people.

Rare diseases are usually constant and life-threatening. This is so because, given its rarity, less relentless illness is just not identified as such. Eurordis estimates that at least 80% of them have identified genetic origins. More rare diseases are the result of infections and allergies or due to degenerative and proliferative causes. Symptoms of some rare diseases may appear at birth or in childhood, whereas others only appear once parenthood is reached.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Public health

Public health is anxious with pressure to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. Health is distinct and promoted differently by many organizations. The World Health Organization, the United Nations body that sets standards and provides global inspection of disease, defines health as: "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not entirely the absence of disease or illness." Public health experts concur this definition is incomplete. Other components included in an individual's health are dietary, religious, and intellectual.

The population in inquiry can be as big as a handful of public or, in the case of a pandemic, whole continent. Public health has many sub-fields, but is typically divided into the category of epidemiology, biostatistics and health military. Ecological, social and behavioral health, and occupational health, is also main fields in public health. Another definition by Derek Wanless in the UK in February 2004 is: "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and persons."

In some ways, public health is a modern concept, although it has roots in antique. From the early beginnings of human development, it was familiar that polluted water and lack of proper waste disposal may spread vector-borne diseases. Early religions attempted to standardize behavior that specifically related to health, from types of food eaten, to the scope which certain behaviors could be indulged, such as drinking alcohol or sexual relations. The establishment of governments placed responsibility on leaders to develop public health policies and programs to gain some understanding of the causes of disease to ensure strength, success, and retain order.

One of the most important public health issues facing the world at present is HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis, which claimed the lives of authors Franz Kafka and Charlotte Bronte, and composer Franz Schubert, among others, is also reemerging as a major worry due to the rise of HIV/AIDS-related infections and the development of strains contest to normal antibiotics. Another major public health apprehension is diabetes. In 2006, according to the World Health Organization, at least 171 million people global suffer from diabetes. Its occurrence is increasing rapidly, and it is estimated that by the year 2030, this number will twice.

Friday, February 02, 2007

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is a professional organization representing the happiness of pharmacists who practice in hospitals, health maintenance organizations, long-term care facilities, home care, and additional components of health care systems. As of 2006, ASHP has 30,000 members, a staff of additional than 200 and a resources that exceeds 34 million dollars. The task of the society is to advance and hold the professional practice of pharmacists in hospitals and health systems and serve as their combined voice on issues related to medication use and public health.

ASHP attempts to determine that there enough pharmacists who are competent in hospitals and other health care facilities and recover the safety and accessibility of medication to patients there. In 2003 ASHP decided that health-system pharmacists will help make medication use additional effective, scientific, and safe and will contribute meaningfully to public health in their communities. They hope to get better these areas significantly by the year 2015.

ASHP publishes:

  • American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy


  • AHFS Drug Information Book


  • Handbook on Injectable Drugs


  • Best Practices for Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy


They also host a Midyear Clinical Meeting in December that has developed to be the largest meeting of pharmacists in the world, beside with other continuing-education conferences, meetings, and exhibits. Also, ASHP is the nationwide accrediting organization for pharmacy residency programs. ASHP's Accreditation Services staff assists existing residencies to purify their programs, helping prospective programs with the procedure of seeking accreditation, and helping potential residents get the information needed to find the best citizenship program for them.

ASHP provides legislative support on health system pharmacy issues, partly to attain public policy that helps people make the best use of medicines. ASHP provides expert advocacy on health system pharmacy issues to government agencies, such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and healthcare organizations like Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and Institute of Medicine(IOM).