Mary Caffrey

Employers are showing great interest in value-based insurance design, as they recognize their role in shaping how their employees’ share of healthcare costs can affect what care they seek.

Higher levels of the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) found in the blood appear to explain why icosapent ethyl drives down the risk of a cardiovascular (CV) event, according to findings presented at the 2020 American College of Cardiology/World Congress of Cardiology Virtual Experience.

Patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia saw average reductions in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of 47.1% over 24 weeks. Reductions began to appear as early as 2 weeks after patients started taking the drug in the double-blind trial.

Results for ISCHEMIA and ISCHEMIA-CKD, first presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) and due to publish shortly, continued to generate discussion Sunday, when the 2020 American College of Cardiology / World Congress of Cardiology Virtual Experience featured a pair of online presentations with additional insights into these trials.

The trial showed that patients taking this novel therapy, an oral soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator, were 10% less likely to experience the primary outcome—a composite of death from cardiovascular (CV) causes or first hospitalization for HF—than those taking placebo. The drug could address the sickest patients through a mechanism that would take on HF progression.

The study, Vascular Outcomes Study of ASA Along with Rivaroxaban in Endovascular or Surgical Limb Revascularization for PAD (VOYAGER-PAD), was designed to fill a knowledge gap: it asked whether a well-known therapy developed to prevent blood clots could be used to prevent events, including acute ischemia in the leg for patients after revascularization.

The number of cases of COVID-19 nationwide moved past the 20,000 mark, of which more than half are in New York state, a fact that Gov. Andrew Cuomo said was a function of the state testing more people.

As coronavirus dominates the airwaves and the internet, it’s worth knowing that in 2006, a study found that local television news had become the number one source of medical information for most Americans.

Research highlighting these trends, based on 10 million death records pulled from a CDC database, will be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session together with World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC), which is taking place as a virtual meeting March 28-30.

“These are times of unprecedented and unimaginable challenges for our health care system."

Giving statins to women before they undergo treatment for breast cancer may help prevent the heart damage caused by some well-known therapies, including trastuzumab.

Harvard's Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, was senior author on a popular 2015 paper that addressed care fragmentation among those with chronic illness.

The big news at the American College of Cardiology meeting always comes early Saturday right after the opening showcase, and this year March 28 will bring the VICTORIA trial—or, a Vericiguat Global Study in Subjects With Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF).

This week’s selection was one of our most-read articles of 2018.

How can community oncology practices keep up with changing federal regulations and the constant fl ow of new scientific evidence, while delivering quality care in the era of payment reform? The answer, said panelists at Patient-Centered Oncology Care®, is to stay independent by working together.

Implementing alternative payment models in oncology is a complicated process. The models are not perfect, especially the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Oncology Care Model (OCM), although several panelists saw improvements in the proposed successor model, Oncology Care First (OCF).

How well patients say they are faring, both during and after cancer treatment, is more important than ever to payers. But measuring that feedback isn’t easy, and ensuring that measurement is fair to both patients and providers is harder still.

Payers have a crucial role in the future of community oncology, said Jeffery Patton, MD, of OneOncology, because it’s in their interest to help this lower-cost option thrive.

A special issue takes a wide-ranging look at the cost of prescription drugs.

Rebecca Kaul, MBA, vice president and chief innovation officer at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said the best technology improves the patient experience.

During a discussion at The American Journal of Managed Care®’s Patient- Centered Oncology Care® meeting in Philadelphia, panelists outlined the efficacy of the 2 FDA-approved therapies, Medicare reimbursement for CAR T-cell therapies, and the pace of innovation in healthcare.

Of the women in the 2017 study over age 75, 63% had a mammogram.

Barriers to better treatment start with the basic definitions of heart failure. Classifications in use for decades, such as the New York Heart Association system or the left ventricle ejection fraction measure, need an overhaul, and the field should take a precision medicine approach that brings analytics and biomarkers to the cause.

While there are similarities to the Oncology Care Model, the new model has features “that could have a substantial impact on practices that choose to participate,” the authors write.

With our current issue of Evidence-Based Oncology™ focusing on clinical pathways in cancer care, we look back at one of our most-read papers of 2016.

As today’s employers try to balance the need to provide healthcare for their workers while keeping an eye on cost, they are banding together to learn more about cancer care and how to gain value for the millions they are spending. Last fall during the Community Oncology Alliance Payer Exchange Summit, leaders from employer and purchasing groups shared experiences from their members in a roundtable discussion.

The 2007 paper examined the elevated risks for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes for patients who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Writing for the panel, Judge David Sentelle said HHS Secretary Alex Azar ignored predictions that thousands of people would lose their healthcare coverage.

Competing trials are under way that may show that the benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in heart failure are a class effect.

The article identifies issues such as poor socioeconomic background and lack of family and social support as factors in poor medication adherence, which today are recognized as social determinants of health