Longer looks: Turning doctors' views of alternative therapies; a male birth control pill; teenagers and tanning beds

Jun 18 2011

Every week, Kaiser Health News reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web.

The Atlantic: The Triumph Of New-Age Medicine
Medicine has long decried acupuncture, homeopathy, and the like as dangerous nonsense that preys on the gullible. Again and again, carefully controlled studies have shown alternative medicine to work no better than a placebo. But now many doctors admit that alternative medicine often seems to do a better job of making patients well, and at a much lower cost, than mainstream care — and they're trying to learn from it (David H. Freedman, 6/15).

National Review: Abolish IPAB
The latest Medicare trustees' report estimates Medicare will go bankrupt by 2024, which is five years earlier than last year's estimate. … However, since we know the problem is coming, we can act now to save Medicare, improve the quality of care, and keep Washington bureaucrats out of patients' medical decisions. But fixing Medicare should not compromise patient care, and that is what President Obama's solution would do. The president's health care bill created the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a board of unelected bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to decide based on a budget whether to offer Medicare benefits, which leads to rationing of care by government officials. With Medicare's outlook worsening, the president is now trying to double down on his health care plan and allow the board to ration even more care (Rep. Phil Roe, 6/15).

TIME: Men, Would You Take A Male Birth Control Pill?
When it comes to preventing pregnancy, the burden falls largely on women. But that responsibility could soon shift, according to new research from Columbia University that raises the tantalizing prospect of a male birth control pill. The key to a pill for men may lie in vitamin A, which is necessary for the growth of sperm cells. When researchers working with mice administered an experimental medication that interfered with receptors needed to metabolize vitamin A, male mice lost their fertility. Shortly after the animals stopped taking the compound, they resumed mating and making babies successfully (Bonnie Rochman, 6/15).

Governing: Banning Teenagers From Tanning Beds
On May 2, a state Senate committee approved legislation that would make California the first state in the nation to ban teenagers from hitting the indoor tanning bed. The bill follows a statement in February by the American Academy of Pediatrics calling for a ban on ultraviolet (UV) tanning beds and similar devices for anyone under the age of 18, according to state Sen. Ted Lieu, who says "because skin damage is cumulative, the more exposure to tanning beds you have early in life, the worse it is later in life." … Many states have their own variations of tanning laws and regulations, but none ban tanning entirely for minors, despite the fact that the American Medical Association has recommended it (Jessica B. Mulholland, June 2011).

American Medical News: Medicare ACO Plan Still Needs Work, AMA Says
Significant changes must be made to Medicare's accountable care organization proposal before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can finalize the shared savings plan, the American Medical Association stated in comments on the proposal June 3. … The ACO payment model aims to improve care, keep patients healthy, and allow doctors and hospitals to share in the savings generated to the Medicare program. The national health system reform law authorized the creation of the ACO program. CMS released its ACO proposed rule on March 31 and accepted comments from scores of stakeholders before the June 6 deadline. The AMA urged CMS to refrain from immediately finalizing its ACO proposal and offered several suggestions on how to improve the payment model in the letter signed by Executive Vice President and CEO Michael D. Maves, MD, MBA (Charles Fiegl, 6/13).