Obesity is a public health crisis within the general population; however, overweight and obesity issues are even more prevalent in persons with serious mental illness, according to a new report, scheduled to be released on October 3, 2008 by the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD).

Adheris, Inc., a leader in patient adherence and education programs, announced today the results of a new study that examined adherence rates among patients on SSRI/SNRI antidepressant therapy.
Study results showed that patients new to antidepressant treatment and those who had restarted therapy after a lapse of 6 or more months were twice as likely to [...]

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest non-profit AIDS healthcare provider in the United States and operator of free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, acknowledged British multi-national drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for wisely suspending publication of its recent series of direct-to-consumer print advertisements that, under the guise of patient education, [...]

Today U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) sent a letter to Congressman Bart Stupak, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, regarding the subcommittee’s letters to pharmaceutical companies over the implementation of temporary moratoriums on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements featuring newly-approved drugs. In the letter, Kohl suggests [...]

Statement by Blair Childs, senior vice president of public affairs, Premier healthcare alliance
The Premier healthcare alliance commends Representative Jason Altmire (D-PA) for introducing the Quality FIRST Act, a bill that would implement hospital value-based purchasing on a national scale in Medicare. Representative Altmire’s expertise in hospitals and healthcare has clearly come into play in crafting [...]