Allison Inserro

Five highlights from our coverage of the 37th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Rules around Medicaid work requirements can’t be fixed in such a way that would allow states to implement them without the negative effects of people losing health coverage, according to a report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Since the start of January, hospitals are required by CMS to post their charges for services in a machine-readable format, but if they don’t, there are no penalties for noncompliance.

When to begin maintenance therapy for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with either a single drug, or a combination of long-acting bronchodilators, is not always clear. A new study looking at whether baseline symptomatic status influences response to treatment suggests that patients with more severe dyspnea benefit more from a combination of tiotropium/olodaterol than tiotropium alone.

A recent report by The Commonwealth Fund found no consistent set of subgroups for high-need, high-cost patients managed by accountable care organizations (ACOs), but it did suggest methods by which segmenting the sickest and most costly patients could help drive improved care outcomes.

The chief executive officer and president of CVS Health said the integration of CVS and Aetna is well underway—even while it complies with a US district court that is reviewing the deal—more than a month after the acquisition closed.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one of the world’s top drivers of chronic disease burdens, the chief executive officer of ResMed told the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, as he explained the company’s strategy to help meet unmet needs using digital connectivity and data analytics.

José Baselga, MD, who resigned his position as the chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center after failing to disclose millions of dollars in payments from drug companies, is joining AstraZeneca as its head of research and development in oncology; the end of the Affordable Care Act tax penalty on those without health insurance could roll back recent coverage gains for Hispanics, young people, the healthy, and the poor; rural hospitals are forming partnerships with home health agencies in order to survive.

This week, companies are showcasing digital health at conferences in Las Vegas and San Francisco, but when it comes to alleviating disease burden or the cost of care for vulnerable populations, the promise of digital health is not yet fulfilled, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

A recent study looking at the impact of recent exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on hospitalized patients who also have coronary artery disease (CAD) found that COPD was was independently associated with additional risks of complications after percutaneous coronary intervention.

Hospitalized patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who tested positive for the flu and were unvaccinated had worse death rates and more severe illness than those who were vaccinated, according to a recent study.

Wednesday marked the start of the 116th Congress, as Democrats took charge of the House of Representatives for the first time since 2011, and the new chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee announced 3 hearings about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), climate change, and the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

The year 2019 will finally be when the healthcare industry, particularly payers and providers, finally begins to catch up to other industries in terms of giving the consumer what they want.

As expected, California and 16 other states defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a federal lawsuit announced they will appeal last month’s ruling by a Texas judge that declared the ACA unconstitutional.

A woman's risk of later pelvic floor disorders is strongly associated with how her first infant is delivered, according to a recent study.

The health insurance industry cautioned the Trump administration against allowing health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) to be used to purchase short-term limited duration health plans, in comments submitted regarding a proposed rule change.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 10% of women, but it is often misdiagnosed or missed entirely by physicians. Now, researchers have identified the genetic underpinnings of the syndrome, including 3 new loci, a causal link to depression, and a male phenotype for PCOS.

Long-term nicotine replacement therapy (LT-NRT) provides 1 way for smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to try to quit, but does not result in greater rates of cessation or harm reduction, according to a recently published study.

Patients with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) who are on Medicaid in Oregon can expect to receive curative treatment in 2019 without having to wait for liver damage to set in.

Which risk factors of osteoporosis can be modified, and which cannot? With osteoporosis causing more than 9 million fractures globally, understanding how to prevent it can reduce this growing threat to a rapidly aging population, researchers recently reported.

Current guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) call for using antibiotics in the emergency department (ED) when presented with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD). A recent study sought to determine the rate at which patients with AECOPD are treated with antibiotics and also looked at the proportions of antibiotic classes prescribed, trends of antibiotic treatment, and identified independent predictors of antibiotic therapy.

Contributors to AJMC.com share their expertise about important, timely topics in managed care on a regular basis, and in 2018, these were the top 5 most-read articles they wrote and published on our online managed care network.

Increased severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was associated with an increased risk of mortality and hospitalization in patients with heart failure, according to a recent study published in JAMA Open.

A new nonprofit announced it will help fill the gap that was left earlier this year when federal budget cutbacks shut down a website that housed clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals.

A recent review of calcium supplementation suggests that the supplements should be prescribed with caution, accounting for individual risks and benefits.

Patients hospitalized with exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had worse impairments of cognition compared to those hospitalized without the disease, according to a recent study.

A recent study of abemaciclib, a cyclindependent kinase 4 and 6 inhibitor for metastatic breast cancer, found that it helped all women with hormone receptor–positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative disease, and that it was particularly beneficial in women with a worse prognosis.

A joint assessment comparing the results of value frameworks created by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) found that the frameworks produce comparable measures of the clinical benefits of new cancer therapies in roughly two-thirds of more than 100 drug comparisons examined.

Two of The American Journal of Managed Care®'s top 5 most-read news stories were themselves top-5 roundups of hot topics in healthcare this year. The list was rounded out by cardiovascular, diabetes, and cancer news.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a heterogeneous disease, and patients can differ markedly in their rate of lung function decline and frequency of exacerbations. A recent study sought to determine what proportion of between-individual variability in symptoms can be explained by lung function versus all other observable characteristics.