Mary Caffrey

A batch of studies appearing in recent months have linked Medicaid expansion with lower death rates in renal failure, more efforts to quit smoking, and earlier detection of cancer. There are mixed outcomes in chronic disease, but an important clinical trial in Oregon shows that over the long haul, Medicaid expansion makes a difference.

The authors say while guidelines look at the benefits of statins to prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD), they do not adequately assess the harms. The new model takes this into account.

A commentator said a solution may come from the survey method: giving patients an opportunity to disclose medical information through an impersonal instrument.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced consumers buying health insurance through the exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be allowed to have heath savings accounts, and the agency will allow states to set their own subsidies and decide what type of health plan is eligible for subsidies. In addition, waivers would be evaluated against the Hyde amendment.

The authors noted that until recently, medications to control blood glucose were not expected to offer any benefit in helping patients avoid cardiovascular events.

Findings showed that children in primary care who received guidance on managing their weight over a year did as well as those who received treatment in major research clinics. The results are encouraging, given the rise in obesity around the globe.

Novo Nordisk plans to seek FDA approval for the GLP-1 receptor agonist in the first half of 2019.

A 2015 study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health made a change in blood pressure guidelines seem inevitable. But there is disagreement between the standards promoted by societies for family physicians and those for cardiologists, leading to confusion for those in daily practice.

In the keynote address at Patient-Centered Oncology Care® 2018, Barbara McAneny, MD, a New Mexico oncologist/hematologist and the current president of the American Medical Association (AMA), shared her diagnosis for the current crisis in US healthcare, as well as a prescription—a new real-time oncology payment model led by physicians.

The guidelines unveiled at the American Heart Association annual meeting discuss when patients at the highest risk could be treated with a PCSK9 inhibitor.

The report finds that another 1.7 million Americans have diabetes than would have been the case if rates had not increased.

If the trial is successful, venglustat could be the first treatment to target the mechanism of action in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (PKD), which affects 120,000 people in the United States.

Results presented at the American Heart Association in Chicago provided the strongest evidence to date on what heart failure specialists have discussed for several years now: the possibility that SGLT2 inhibitors might be used to prevent heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The announcement is an about-face from earlier efforts that scrapped a cardiac care bundled payment program originally developed during the Obama administration.

The study examined several social factors that can affect health outcomes when patients are hospitalized for cardiovascular events.

Developing a predictive model can identify which patients could be at risk of developing an opioid use disorder and allow health systems to prevent this from happening.

The report, more than a year in the making, comes at the start of Diabetes Awareness Month.

The label change includes data from the LEADER trial, which showed that the same active ingredient, liraglutide, reduced major cardiovascular events when given at a lower dose.

The analysis comes amid a debate set off when CVS Caremark announced that it would allow self-funded insurers to exclude drugs that entered the market above $100,000 per quality-adjusted life year.

Cardiovascular outcomes trials have changed type 2 diabetes drug development and added to the knowledge base, but some think these giant studies make therapies too costly and discourage innovation.

A new session at the Academy for Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2018 allowed for sharing ideas that have recently been put into practice.

A life-saving therapy is challenging to administer and poses financial risks for patients and institutions alike. Speakers at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2018 address some approaches to paying for it while CMS develops long-term policies.

Program audits are the chief tool used to evaluate how well health plans deliver care to an ever-growing share of Medicare's 60 million beneficiaries.

The combination therapy lets patients take a single pill once a day for treatment, which leads to improved adherence. Results of the study were presented at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2018 in Orlando, Florida.

A major bill to curb opioid abuse and the Trump administration's blueprint to rein in drug prices highlighted a busy year in the legislative and regulatory arena for the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.

Express Scripts' Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, gave her overview of the specialty pharmacy pipeline for 2019 and beyond at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2018 meeting in Orlando, Florida.

The breach comes as the Trump administration hopes to rely more heavily on professionals to assist consumers during open enrollment.

Researchers have created a database that shows how 409 different tumor cells respond to 122 therapies, which will allow clinical trials to proceed for this aggressive blood cancer.

Finding a place for value-based payment with the fast paced innovation in oncology.

The idea for putting drug prices in TV ads was part of the blueprint, American Patients First. The pharmaceutical industry opposes the plan on First Amendment grounds.