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Since March 2014, nearly 14,000 genetic tests have entered the market, with about 10 new tests appearing daily. A study published in Health Affairs sought to clarify unanswered questions surrounding genetic testing markets, test usage, and health policy implications.

The FDA Wednesday confirmed that there are “intermittent” shortages of Mylan’s EpiPen, an autoinjector device containing epinephrine to counteract the effects of anaphylaxis, but said it expects the delay to be short, while the manufacturer said the issue has to do with supply of third-party components.

Surveys collected as part of the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index found that the uninsured rate increased significantly in 17 states from 2016 to 2017. At the same time, no states reported statistically significant decreases in the uninsured rate. This is the first time since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act that states have reported increases in the uninsured rate.

A new case study found that an acute myeloid leukemia patient has remained cancer free for 9 months following treatment with the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatment, CYAD-01, and a bone marrow transplant.

In an attempt to distance itself from the controversy it faced over steep drug price increases, Valeant Pharmaceuticals will change its name to Bausch Health Companies; medical bills are dragging down some people's credit scores; Minnesota governor warns Republican state lawmakers against trying to block expansion of MinnesotaCare.

The total cancer burden among people living with HIV will decrease from 8150 cases in 2010 to 6690 cases in 2030, and prostate and lung cancers will emerge as the most common types of cancer facing the patient population.

In testimony before a Senate committee, the chief scientific and medical officer said no single stakeholder is at fault, but the entire system of insulin delivery must be examined to make things better for consumers.

Ivacaftor, the first drug that targeted the underlying defect of cystic fibrosis (CF), which affects about 30,000 people in the United States, improved outcomes and reduced hospitalizations, according to an analysis in the May issue of Health Affairs examining precision medicine.

L.A. Care Health Plan—the nation’s largest publicly operated health plan serving 2 million low-income patients—is training physicians in their network to become better leaders and, in turn, improving quality of care and patient outcomes.

On Tuesday, CMS released its first strategy to address rural healthcare, saying that it wants people who live in rural America to “have access to high quality, affordable healthcare.”

The FDA has approved daratumumab in combination with bortezomib, melphalan, and prednisone to treat patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma who are ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant.

The Trump administration is proposing to ask Congress for spending cuts that include about $7 billion from the Children's Health Insurance Program; lawmakers are set to question opioid distributors about the role they may have played in the nation’s substance use disorder epidemic; the House is proposing a provision in its farm bill that would allow cheaper but less comprehensive health insurance.

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are now in place in response to rising levels of overdoses involving opioids and synthetic opioids. But a new study that sought to clarify the relationship between PDMPs and their effectiveness in attacking the nation’s drug problem found limited to no evidence that they actually work. In addition, 3 of the studies reviewed found an increase in heroin overdose deaths after the programs began.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, has embraced the calorie counts at restaurants a year after his agency put them hold on the eve of his arrival. A Nutrition Facts label update is delayed but not scuttled, in contrast with the reversal of school lunch changes from the Obama administration.

The Trump administration announced Monday that it is rejecting Kansas’s request to impose lifetime limits on Medicaid benefits, with CMS chief Seema Verma telling the American Hospital Association that "Medicaid remains the safety net for those that need it most." In addition, CMS approved work requirements for those receiving benefits in New Hampshire.

President Trump is expected to give a speech Tuesday about his plan to lower drug prices, and it has the industry on edge; despite the president telling crowds that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is deceased, many pieces of it are alive and angering business groups; Idaho officials are still hoping to allow insurers to sell plans that don't comply with the ACA and are negotiating with federal officials over risk pools, risk adjustment programs, essential health benefits, and other issues.

Exposure to a short-term increase in pollution-causing airborne particles called fine particulate matter 2.5 is linked to the development of acute lower respiratory infection in young children, as well as additional doctor visits, according to new research.

New research published in JAMA reports that lonafarnib, a farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI), extended survival in patients with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), or progeria.

A study of a once-daily add-on medication for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) found that it was associated with improvements in health status and quality of life.

Authors report theirs is the first real-world study comparing the 2 SGLT2 inhibitors.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, of Aledade, and Richard Gilfillan, MD, of Trinity Health, highlight the successes of accountable care organizations (ACOs) and how they've impacted care across the healthcare system, and offered suggestions for improving the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

This week, the top managed care stories included a report that insurance coverage gains are reversing; a deal to lower the cost of Praluent for Express Scripts members; findings that synthetic opioids are playing a bigger role in overdose deaths.

This week's announcement comes after cardiologists have spent several years sharing accounts of their difficulty gaining access to PCSK9 inhibitors for their patients.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, took aim at the federal antikickback law that protects the legal status of rebates paid by drug companies to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers; high-deductible health plans are deterring women from getting care for breast cancer; a California state audit found that health regulators have allowed substandard care to spread at nursing homes.

In the latest report detailing declining US life expectancy and growing health disparities between states, the Commonwealth Fund released a scorecard that assessed all 50 states and the District of Columbia on more than 40 measures of access to healthcare, quality of care, efficiency in care delivery, health outcomes, and income-based healthcare disparities. The report showed that states are falling behind on key measures related to life expectancy.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma called on qualified providers of the National Diabetes Prevention Program to become Medicare suppliers. But in last year's rulemaking process, commenters warned that the program CMS had designed was too bureaucatic and did not pay enough upfront to attract small, community-based providers.

Combined, migraine-related absenteeism and presenteeism is responsible for 86 million lost workdays and costs £8.8 billion annually.

Since wellness programs have not demonstrated any meaningful cost savings or outcomes improvement, the Affordable Care Act policy allowing financial coercion by employers to force employees into unlicensed, unregulated, wellness programs should be reconsidered. And, yet, a bill currently awaiting a floor vote in Congress would allow greater financial coercion by employers.