The Ingredients: Cimetidine
Dosage Form and Administration: Tablet; Oral
U Drug Trade Name: Cimetidine
Firm: Watson Labs
Strength: 800MG
New Drug Application Type: A
The Drug Application Number: 74316
Medicine Product Number: 1
Approval Date: 2/28/1996
Reference Listed Drug: No
Type: RX
Applicant Full Name: Watson Laboratories Inc
Local Number: 25304

Self Help

Self help groups can complement and extend the effects of professional treatment. The most prominent self help groups are Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous. These help groups operate on the 12-step model. Most drug addiction treatment programs encourage patients to participate in self help group therapy during and after formal treatment. These groups can be particularly helpful during recovery, offering an added layer of community and social support to help people achieve and maintain abstinence and other healthy lifestyle behaviors over the course of a lifetime.

Consumer Driven Health Care

Defined narrowly, consumer driven health care refers to health insurance plans that allow members to use personal Health Savings Accounts, Health Reimbursement Arrangements, or similar medical payment products to pay routine health care expenses directly, while a high-deductible health insurance policy protects them from catastrophic medical expenses. High-deductible policies cost less, but the user pays routine medical claims using a pre-funded spending account, often with a special debit card provided by a bank or insurance plan. If the balance on this account runs out, the user then pays claims just like under a regular deductible. Users keep any unused balance or "rollover" at the end of the year to increase future balances, or to invest for future expenses. This system of health care is consumer driven health care because of routine claims using a consumer-controlled account versus a fixed health insurance benefit. That gives patients greater control over their own health budgets. In the consumer-driven model, consumers occupy the primary decision-making role regarding the health care they receive. Consumer driven health care received a boost in the U.S. in 2003, with passage of federal legislation providing tax incentives to those who choose such plans. Proponents argue that most Americans will pay less for health care in the long haul under consumer drive not only because their monthly premiums will be lower, but also because it increases free-market variables in the health care system, fostering competition, which in turn lowers prices and stimulates improvements in service.The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act includes provisions to stimulate the popularity of these plans. The law expanded medical savings accounts, renaming them Health Savings Accounts and created tax incentives to encourage adoption of high-deductible health plans. Banks were empowered to create accounts, which deliver tax-free interest to the holders, who can then withdraw money tax free to pay for qualified health care expenditures. To qualify for an HSA, the purchaser must also have a qualifying high-deductible health insurance plan. Participants contribute more to the savings account than would be required to fulfill their annual deductible, and any unused portions of the account accrue without tax penalty so long as the funds are only for qualified medical expenses.

Topical Bactericidals

Widely available over-the-counter (OTC) bactericidal products containing benzoyl peroxide treat mild to moderate acne. Other anti-bacterials are triclosan, or chlorhexidine gluconate, but these are often less effective despite having fewer side effects.

Retainer Medicine

Retainer medicine is practiced by physicians who have decided to drop out of all third party payer programs. These practitioners have offered a limited number of patients the opportunity to pay a fixed annual fee in exchange for premium services and amenities. Retainers doctors generally limit, by a drastic amount, the number of patients, which they will service. This makes the most sense for primary care physicians and those specialists who have ongoing and regular relationships with their patients. Many retainer practices also provide amenities which patients often do not get when Medicare or an insurer pays the doctor, including access to the physician’s cell phone, e-mail correspondence, same-day appointments, and plenty of face time during appointments. However, whatever the specifics of a particular practice may be, the key that defines “retainer medicine” is that the doctor works for the patient. It has become impossible in practical terms and in ethical terms for traditional primary care physicians to fight the pervasive pressures upon them to ration healthcare at the bedside. To escape this fate, they must become either specialists or a retainer practitioner. That is, primary care physicians must choose between remaining in a system that ruthlessly pushes them toward a practice of bedside rationing or, one way or another, getting out of traditional primary care medicine altogether. Retainer medicine restores the professional integrity of medical practice, and re-establishes a doctor-patient relationship in which the physician can again assume the duty of a true advocate. It is perhaps the only remaining means to restore the foundational medical ethic of always placing the patient first. Retainer fees let one practice handle more patients by phone or email.