*As a sponsor of this educational event, National CooperativeRx is pleased to provide you and your benefits team with a $200 discount.  This lowers your registration fee to $795 each when you register by February 23, 2012.

To Register:  

* Register here  and enter the code YNCR  

* Call the Conference Registrar at 800-864-2063

HealthDay. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released information regarding two men who bought what they thought was amphetamine over the internet.  After ingesting the drug, the men turned blue and were hospitalized.  Health authorities found that the men had actually ingested a toxic industrial chemical, aniline.  (2/9) Full story  

Bloomberg.  The Obama administration is boosting funding for Alzheimer's research by $50M this year.  5.1M Americans suffer from the condition.  The cause of Alzheimer's is unknown and there is no known cure.  Medicare and Medicaid spend $130B each year treating patients with Alzheimer's.  (Wayne, 2/7)  Full story  

NY Times.  Drug makers have reduced spending for television advertising by 20% over the past 5 years.  Spending fell from $3.1B in early 2007 to $2.4B at the end of 2011.  Part of the reason for the drop is an effort from pharmacies and health insurance companies to give incentives for patients to buy generics.  (Japsen, 2/2) Full story  

CMS. The Affordable Care Act includes benefits to make Medicare prescription drug coverage less costly.  For people who fall in the donut hole (a gap in coverage), their drug expenses are going down.  3.6M people on Medicare who fall in the donut hole saved over $2.1B on prescription drugs in 2011.  (2/2)  Full story  

Reuters.  President Barack Obama is facing criticism from House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner over a requirement that all health plans offer birth control coverage to women.  Boehner opposes requiring health plans with religious affiliations to provide birth control coverage. (Ferraro, Spetalnick, 2/8)  Full story