Gleeman's Daily News--07/01

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Robert Gleeman Posted: 07-01-2009 3:43 AM

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Canada: Dangers of Tylenol earn it new warnings on the label

Packaging of Tylenol rolls down a conveyer at the McNeil Consumer and Specialty Pharmaceuticals in Fort Washington, Pa. on Monday, Oct. 31, 2005. (AP / Bradley C Bower)

Canada plans to bring in new warning labels on acetaminophen -- the key ingredient in Tylenol, Excedrin and other medications -- while government experts in the United States on Tuesday said the maximum dose should be reduced to avoid lethal overdoses.

Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used drugs in the U.S and Canada. Many patients find it easier on the stomach than other painkillers like ibuprofen and Aspirin, which can cause ulcers.

Also in question are the many OTC drugs which contain acetaminophen, which when combined, can overdose the liver and cause permanent damage. Ouch.

Wal-Mart supports employer insurance mandate in their letter to Obama

The letter to President Obama states clearly, "We are for shared responsibility...We are for an employer mandate which is fair and broad in its coverage." It also recognizes the varying ability of employers to contribute by saying, "Not every business can make the same contribution, but everyone must make some contribution."

Read the letter at the link above to see what the nation’s largest employer thinks about mandated insurance and lowering costs. They big enough to be the news.

Stimulus money put to good use by health clinics serving poor

Kristen Wyatt/AP Photo

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Homeless teenagers at a central Colorado shelter are feeling the effect of the government's economic stimulus package. It's the feeling of a dentist's drill.

The 20 runaway youths living at the Urban Peak shelter had no regular dental care until this spring, when a $1.3 million stimulus grant to a community health center paid for a mobile dental and medical clinic to visit once a month. The residents now get medical and dental screenings, and cavities filled, right from their shelter's parking lot.

Interesting to me the extent to which dental care has been pushed to the back, yet it is so important to a person’s general health. Much room for reform there.

Institute of Medicine Report: Which Health Care Approaches Work Best

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A new report from the Institute of Medicine recommends 100 health topics that should get priority attention and funding from a new national research effort to identify which health care services work best.

The report also spells out actions and resources needed to ensure that this comparative effectiveness research initiative will be a sustained effort with a continuous process for updating priorities as needed and that the results are put into clinical practice.

Here is a report doctors may be interested in reading, this  detailed story gives a good description of how it was compiled and the politics involved in implementing some of these plans.