Aetna & Cardinal Healthcare Have Joint Program to Lowwer Costs Of Cancer Treatment

[Guest guest]

Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Cardinal Health's P4 Healthcare business today announced

the launch of a joint program that will identify and promote the best clinical

practices to improve the overall quality - the delivery and success - and cost

of cancer treatment.

" We're focused on making cancer care more effective, more affordable and safer

for our members, " says Kropp, M.D., regional medical director for Aetna's

Southeast Region. " Our agreement with P4 Healthcare allows us to work quickly

and directly with local doctors at the point of care to increase treatment plans

based in proven science. This has shown to result in better patient outcomes,

often with lower costs. "

The agreement with P4 Healthcare is part of Aetna's collaborative approach to

cancer care that includes:

- working with the medical community;

- encouraging the application of evidenced-based medicine;

- delivering decision support;

- providing incentives for the delivery of quality, cost-effective care; and

- sharing costs savings with participating doctors.

P4 Healthcare and Aetna will establish regional committees in Florida and

land, comprised of local oncologists who participate in Aetna's networks.

The committees will identify evidence-based treatment regimens, or clinical

pathways, for delivering patient care initially for breast, lung, and colon

cancers.

" We believe that when doctors are meaningfully engaged in the process for

developing clinical pathways, they are more likely to adopt the treatment

regimens, because they understand and believe in the process, " said

, M.D., senior vice president and general manager of P4 Healthcare. " This

process also empowers physicians to identify additional opportunities to improve

the quality and affordability of cancer care. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/217302.php

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HIGHER INTAKE OF VITAMIN D NEEDED TO AVOID BREAST CANCER

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and

Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha have reported that markedly

higher intake of vitamin D is needed to reach blood levels that can prevent or

markedly cut the incidence of breast cancer and several other major diseases

than had been originally thought. The findings are published February 21 in the

journal Anticancer Research.

While these levels are higher than traditional intakes, they are largely in a

range deemed safe for daily use in a December 2010 report from the National

Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.

" We found that daily intakes of vitamin D by adults in the range of IU are

needed to maintain blood levels of vitamin D metabolites in the range needed to

reduce by about half the risk of several diseases - breast cancer, colon cancer,

multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes, " said Cedric Garland, DrPH, professor

of family and preventive medicine at UC San Diego s Cancer Center. " I was

surprised to find that the intakes required to maintain vitamin D status for

disease prevention were so high - much higher than the minimal intake of vitamin

D of 400 IU/day that was needed to defeat rickets in the 20th century. "

" I was not surprised by this " said P. Heaney, MD, of Creighton

University, a distinguished biomedical scientist who has studied vitamin D need

for several decades. " This result was what our dose-response studies predicted,

but it took a study such as this, of people leading their everyday lives, to

confirm it. "

The study reports on a survey of several thousand volunteers who were taking

vitamin D supplements in the dosage range from 1000 to 10,000 IU/day. Blood

studies were conducted to determine the level of 25-vitamin D - the form in

which almost all vitamin D circulates in the blood.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/217210.php

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fyi,

Lottie Duthu