At last, some good news about unemployment!

[onager]

Yahoo Finance article this morning - "10 Careers Headed for the Trash Pile:"

Holistic Healers

Alternative medicine specialists like acupuncturists, homeopathic doctors and hypnotherapists may be an endangered species.

The field declined 44% between 2004 and 2009, losing about 26,000 jobs. Because health insurance companies typically do not cover these specialties, alternative medicine may be becoming a more niche, luxury service.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/111881/careers-headed-for-the-trash-pile

[TZ]

1. Yeah thats the good part of the insurance industry

They tend not to want to waste money on unproven junk. Thats the flip side of the coin of me having to have Mayo overwhelm them with scientific data for the use of interferon (off label) to treat me as its not yet officially FDA approved for treating my blood disorder.

[lizerdbits]

2. You just THINK it works

Those silly scientists!

I'm not sure what the FDA requires to make off label use standard use, does it require separate trials? Or can they use data from various studies?

[TZ]

4. Interferon is in clinical trials now for treatment of ET, PV, and other MPD's

Phase 3 I think. Once that is completed and the FDA reviews the data (and reaches the conclusions I see in multiple studies on its efficacy)than it will be considered a standard treatment. I can't really argue with the FDA not wanting to recommend a drug for a treatment without complete data on it.But its a long time consuming process...And here's where the FDA does the right thing...They allow doctors to prescribe it off label if they believe it will help a patient, though that can be iffy (thats why thalidomide did so much damage..off label prescriptions).
Its funny, so many woos think that the FDA just let someone rush a drug onto the market if they have enough money, but the truth is FDA is much more likely to slow down drugs from reaching the market --to the extent that many people go overseas to get drugs because European regulators are much more likely to bring stuff to market faster with less regulations.

[Silent3]

3. I suppose if "holistic healers" end up only taking money from...

...people who are both wealthy and gullible their profession could almost be seen as a useful social service. ;)