Retail Clinics

NEW YORK — As employers try to engage employees in health management programs to slow healthcare cost inflation, fewer employees are placing a high priority on managing and improving their health, according to a survey released Wednesday of more than 9,000 employees at large and midsize employers, conducted by Towers Watson.

RENO, Nevada — St. Mary's Medical Group once again is teaming up with Walmart to open up a second retail-based health clinic in Nevada, according to local news reports.

According to reports, the second location is opening on Tuesday at the Walmart store on Kietzke Lane.

PITTSBURGH — Mylan has launched a generic drug for fungal infections, the company said Tuesday.

Mylan announced the launch, through subsidiary Mylan Pharmaceuticals, of voriconazole tablets in the 50-mg and 200-mg strengths. The drug is a triazole antifungal agent.

The tablets are a generic version of Pfizer’s Vfend, which had sales of $186 million in 2010, according to IMS Health. Mylan launched its version of the drug under a settlement with Pfizer.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — AccuDial Pharmaceutical earlier this month announced it has developed a new patent-pending line of child-proof container enclosure systems, designed to reduce the accidental or unsupervised ingestion of liquid over-the-counter and prescription medications.

MIAMI — New research published in the Feb. 14 online edition of Pediatrics found that prolonged use of energy drinks by young people can lead to potentially adverse health outcomes.

Researchers at the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine noted that in the United States, energy drinks were consumed by 30% to 50% of adolescents and young adults, according to self-report surveys. Additionally, adolescent caffeine intake averaged 60 mg/day to 70 mg/day and ranged up to 800 mg/day, the researchers said.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Aisle7 on Thursday announced the availability of an online decision support engine to provide science-based, self-care product recommendations by way of questionnaires, interactive widgets and proprietary content-targeting technology.

The new Aisle7 online decision support tools include a “Homeopathic Medicine Finder,” which was created in partnership with Boiron, and will be featured across more than 2,000 in-store retail locations and 150 websites served by Aisle7.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service on Thursday reversed itself in announcing that breast-feeding supplies qualify as a medical expense.

The ruling now allows moms who are breast-feeding to purchase all supplies using a flexible spending account. Those without FSAs can deduct the expenses as part of their itemized medical expenditures, including breast-feeding expenses incurred in 2010.

WASHINGTON — Recent restrictions imposed on flexible spending accounts appear to be the first piece of ObamaCare to be challenged by the new Congress.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., on Thursday respectively introduced The Patients’ Freedom to Choose Act, a bill that would repeal two provisions in the Obama healthcare law that limit a patient’s choice in how to use consumer-directed health savings plans, to the Senate and House of Representatives.