Health care reform roundtable live on C-SPAN
The Senate Finance Committee is holding the last of three roundtables about health care reform, which is being broadcast by C-SPAN. In addition to Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa), there is a long list of witnesses scheduled to appear:
- Stuart H. Altman, Ph.D., Sol C. Chaikin Professor of National Health Policy, HellerSchool for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.
- Joseph R. Antos, Ph.D., Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C.
- Katherine Baicker, Ph.D., Professor of Health Economics, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Mass.
- Leonard Burman, Ph.D., Director, Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.
- Robert Greenstein, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, D.C.
- Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D., Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
- Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., Executive Director, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D.C.
- James A. Klein, President, American Benefits Council, Washington, D.C.
- Edward Kleinbard, Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation, Washington, D.C.
- Gerald M. Shea, Assistant to the President for Governmental Affairs, AFL-CIO, Washington, D.C.
- John Sheils, Senior Vice President, The Lewin Group, Falls Church, Va.
- Gail Wilensky, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Project HOPE, Bethesda, Md.
- Steven Wojcik, Vice President of Public Policy, National Business Group on Health, Washington, D.C.
Sebelius to testify at Senate committee hearing
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is expected to testify in a hearing in front of the Senate finance committee this morning in a hearing to consider her nomination to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Sen. Max Baucus of Montana and Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa are expected to make statements at the hearing.
UPDATE: See webcast of the hearing.
Grassley list keeps track of press coverage
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Government, Health journalism, Pharmaceuticals
Chuck Grassley is nothing if not media savvy. The senator from Iowa, who is the ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and has launched numerous investigations into pharmaceutical marketing and ties between industry and science, is keeping close tabs on press coverage of his efforts.
Sen. Charles Grassley
His staff recently circulated a nine-page list of some of the 70 stories about his various investigations - notably, a string of probes into conflicts of interest involving high-profile academics who simultaneously receive funding from drug makers and the National Institutes of Health. The recitation doesn’t include numerous editorials or mention in the “Boston Legal” television show (see this blog about the episode).
Along with the list is a string of actions taken in response:
- An Emory University professor stripped of chairmanship:
- The head of extramural research at NIH removed;
- A Stanford University professor pulled off an NIH grant;
- An ongoing internal investigation of professors at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital;
- Cancellation of a show that ran on an NPR satellite station;
- New policies on disclosure and physician relationships with industry being enacted at the University of Minnesota; Harvard University; Emory University; the University of Texas; Brown University; the Cleveland Clinic; the University of Wisconsin; the University of Iowa; the North American Spine Society and the American Psychiatric Association.
Not surprisingly, Grassley promises more will follow.
Iowa senator calls for FDA transparency
Filed under: Hot Health Headline, Pharmaceuticals
In a Philadelphia Inquirer profile, reporter Miriam Hill says crusading Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has turned his sights on the FDA and its relationship with major pharmaceutical companies.
Sen. Charles Grassley
The article describes Grassley’s efforts to improve transparency and disclosure of payments from drug companies to its researchers. He also has proposed “restructuring the FDA to make it easier for agency scientists to speak out if safety problems come to light after a drug is on the market. He also wants drug and medical-device companies to publish payments to researchers and doctors on a public Web site.”
Grassley’s doggedness has won praise:
“His scrutiny of the relationships between academic physicians and industry has resulted in greater transparency and accountability for our profession,” said Steve Nissen, an Avandia critic and head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, which recently started disclosing payments from drug companies to its researchers.
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