TRIO Rx & Insurance News

NOTE: Also check Public Policy committee Medicare reports at Medicare Updates

  • 12/18/12 Grapefruit Is a Culprit In More Drug Reactions
  • 12/8/12 Study of Steroid and CNI Immunosuppression Withdrawal Post-Transplant
    12/1/12 Beating the Odds, and a Storm, to Get a Transplant
  • 11/23/12  Federal government releases long-awaited health reform rules
  • 11/20/12 Novartis' Certican succeeds in phase III liver transplant trial
  • 11/20/12  Why I Decided to Opt Out of Medicare As a Provider
  • 11/18/12 Drug Shortages Persist in U.S., Harming Care
  • 11/11/12 A consumer's guide to health reform, post election
  • 11/7/12 Living organ donors face insurance risks
  • 11/3/12 Summary of Healthcare Reform Effects on Patient Coverage
  • 10/24/12 New Kidney Patient Data Shows Strong Need for Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage Legislation
  • 10/24/12 Penny Wise, Pound Foolish?  Coverage Limits Immunosuppression after Kidney Transplantation
  • 9/4/12 An evidence based assessment of universal coverage
  • 8/5/12 Ingestible Sensor Approved by FDA (size of a gain of sand!)
  • 7/9/12 Easy to understand: Gout (history and treatment)
  • 6/30/12 What health ruling means next for patients
  • 6/19/12 Medicare Made Clear (video training resource)
  • 6/15/12The Reward for Donating a Kidney: No Insurance
  • 6/14/12 Blog: Our health problems will remain, despite how the Supreme Court rules
  • 5/21/12 Pulse Pressure vs. Blood Pressure
  • 4/26/12 3 in Five Americans Misuse Their Rx Drugs
  • 3/21/12 Generic Drugs Proving Resistant to Damage Suits
  • 3/15/12 Engineering Organs to Solve Donor Shortage
  • 3/9/12 Transplant without drugs (a study)
  • 2/17/12 New drug target found for lung cancer
  • 1/28/12 Stopping Prednisone Soon After Transplant Found to be Safe
  • 1/26/12 Why heart doctors are leaving practices and joining hospitals
  • 1/20/12 New powerful painkiller has abuse experts worried
  • 1/17/12 Daily Aspirin Is Not for Everyone, Study Suggests
  • Medicare Report from the Public Policy committee (Fall 2011)
  • How to know if your meds are counterfeit (11/10)
  • Why Anti-Rejection Drugs for Organ Transplant Patients Cause Hypertension (10/8/11)
  • New Regimen Frees Kidney-Transplant Patients from Dependency on Immuno Drugs (10/5/11)
  • Mistakes in Storage May Alter Medication (8/16/11)
  • Health Care Law Individual Mandate Ruled Unconstitutional by Appeals Court  (8/13/11)
  • Durbin, Cocran Introduce Legislation to Help Organ Transplant Recipients (36 mos extension plan)
  • Web resource for understanding lab tests
  • Medicare limits anti-rejection drugs that transplant patients need (coverage only for 36 mos) Part 1 of 2 - Part 2 of 2
  • FDA Approves New Drug for Kidney Transplant Immunosuppression (Belatacept)
  • Trial for Use of Stem Cell Treatment for Vision to Begin
  • More Cost-Effective Immune Suppressant for Transplants
  • Tackling Care as Chronic Ailments Pile Up
  • Before Trip, Make Plans... Rx's
  • Medicaid Beneficiary Tip Sheet (800kb PDF download)
  • Medicaid Part B Premium Cost for 2011 (43kb PDF download)
  • Medicaid Part D (Drugs) Premium Cost for 2011 (50kb PDF download)
  • Washington State Medicare Cuts Affecting Transplant Patient Meds - a call to action!
  • "Look out, your medicine is watching you" - 11/11/10: Reuters News reports on Novartis future plans for transplant meds with embedded microchip to monitor patient use
  • FDA Approves longer use of Valcyte for adult kidney transplant patients at high risk for CMV disease (<-- click for press release - a PDF download) - CMV disease is the most important serious infection complicating solid organ transplantation and a major cause of illness and disease during the first six months following transplantation.
  • Pfizer extends free aid to unemployed using its drugs through 2010
  • In an article published online on October 23, 2009, in The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, physicians representing the International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) Infectious Disease Council issued an advisory for all programs in cardiothoracic transplantation.  To download this 7 page (PDF file) technical article
    click here --> Advisory

  • LA Times 10/10/09: Opinion article: Healthcare reform without drug price controls? That's sick (<-- click to read article) Post your comments on the bulletin board
  • 9/2/09: OPTN/UNOS releases guidance regarding H1N1 and Implications for Transplantation
  • AP 8/13/09: Generic form of PROGRAF (i.e., tacrolimus) released.
  • 8/13/09: Astellas Prograf Value Card Program offered to save patients using Prograf up to $100/mo for each Rx for one year. (Note: not available for all plans, especially for government plans; call your Rx provider to ask about using it with mail order, but reimbursement forms are available from the program if your mail order company doesn't accept it directly.)
  • Roche Offering $100 Coupon Card for Cellcept users
  • 5/9/09: Generic form of Cellcept (i.e., Mycophenolate Mofetil) released
  • "Donut Hole" Rx cost calculator available: Check out ways to reduce your out of pocket Rx costs with this powerful on-line tool


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