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Rep. Frank Pallone Jr, D-New Jersey, the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wants its chairman to hold a hearing on the growing number of healthcare mergers to discuss what impact they may have on patients, providers, and other aspects of the healthcare system.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Institute shared results of 5 recent publications summarizing results from their awardees. The studies included research on a decision aid for patients with heart failure, 2 different approaches to treating mental illness, and addressing chronic pain.

An updated cost sharing reduction (CSR) subsidy bill would cut premiums while making programmatic changes to insurance; hospitals are facing shortages of opioids for patients; there's low usage of HIV prevention medicine among minorities, according to new data.

A year has passed since Amy Lansky stepped down as director of the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), and the position continues to remain open, worrying HIV/AIDS advocates.

To achieve a similar capture rate for nonwhite patients as for white patients at age 50, screening ages would need to be reduced to 47 years for black and Asian women, and 46 years for Hispanic women.

Nine physician groups sent a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar Wednesday expressing concern about drug pricing proposals related to Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D that they said would hurt patient care.

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) said Wednesday that its board of directors has chosen Matt Eyles, its current senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, to succeed Marilyn Tavenner, as its new president and chief executive officer.

The authors write that an emphasis must be put on constraining drug prices and administrative costs if the United States desires to bring healthcare spending more in line with other countries, which not only spend less but have better health outcomes. The report found that the differences were driven mainly by prices for labor and goods, including physician and hospital services, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic tests, devices, and administrative costs.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD discussed the agency's role in tackling drug prices in an interview; President Trump is considering firing the head of the VA; measuring the extent of the opioid crisis with available data is more difficult than it seems.

A revamped “right-to-try” bill was defeated in the House of Representatives 259-140 Tuesday night. Advocates had said the bill would give desperate, dying patients a last chance at experimental treatments. Earlier, The American Journal of Managed Care® sought reaction from Marjorie A. Speers, PhD, executive director of the WCG Foundation, a public charity which works to ensure experimental medicines to very ill patients under the FDA's current expanded access and compassionate use programs.

The FDA has accepted a new supplemental Biologics License Application and granted Priority Review for Merck's pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of advanced cervical cancer, marking the first filing acceptance for an anti–PD-1 therapy in cervical cancer.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is requesting public comment on 3 antiandrogen therapies for nonmetastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC): abiraterone, enzalutamide, and apalutamide.

According to the latest report arising out of the Gallup–Sharecare State of American Well-Being series, 186 communities were ranked based on their Well-Being Index scores for 2016-2017. The index is a metric that measures areas of physical health, financial security, community pride, social connections, and purpose. For the third consecutive year, Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida, came in first.

A new working paper wonders if increased access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone is actually doing more harm than good; medical students are not only learning clinical skills but also how to deliver emotionally fraught information; lawmakers in Connecticut and Minnesota are introducing bills to impose work requirements in Medicaid.

The Great Recession was associated with increased blood pressure and glucose levels, especially among groups of older homeowners and individuals younger than 65 years still employed, according to new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Medication use fell after the Great Recession, and the results provide strong evidence that economic crises can have measurable effects on public health.

Rural counties in the United States have experienced a decline in the availability of hospital-based obstetric services, dropping from 55% of counties having these services in 2004 to 46% in 2014. This loss can “exacerbate maternal health challenges” in rural areas, according to a study in JAMA.

In another sign of the worsening opioid crisis, a recently released CDC report found that emergency department (ED) visits for opioid overdoses rose 30% in all parts of the country from July 2016 through September 2017.

Judge allows class-action lawsuit against Walgreen over generic drug prices to go forward; the United States may implement medical deliveries by drone; House introduces its right-to-try legislation.

American workers between the ages of 49 and 57 with at least 10 paid sick days had a significant increase in receiving preventive services, such as a flu shot, checking cholesterol and blood pressure, and a fasting blood sugar test for diabetes.

Savings hospitals had lower baseline spending than nonsavings hospitals during the first year of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) program, according to a Research Letter in JAMA.

In Canada, there exists no distinct regulatory or reimbursement pathway for orphan drugs. Instead, these products undergo the same review processes as any other drug. When a medicine is submitted for review, the Common Drug Review examines the clinical and economic evidence, and its expert committee issues a nonbinding positive or negative recommendation for listing on publicly funded drug plans.

Health equity can only be achieved when leaders and policy makers are passionate about reducing health disparities and adamantly encourage care delivery reforms that incentivize and support health equity efforts.

Precision Health AI has launched Eureka Health, a platform that leverages electronic medical record data to provide artificial intelligence through more than 60 pretrained and learning-enhanced modules designed specifically for oncology.

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have developed a new tool to measure the impact of social networks on the coping skills of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors.

Patients who had breast cancer or lymphoma who were treated more than 3 times are more likely to develop congestive heart failure than those who did not have cancer, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 67th Annual Scientific Session.

Idaho tested the Trump administration's willingness to provide flexibility to states on the health insurance options they offer. CMS has ruled that Idaho cannot sell health plans that do not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Some states could see Affordable Care Act premiums increase by as much as 90% over 3 years; Medicaid funding is increasingly being used to finance education-related services; some police departments are partnering officers with mental health professionals to respond to certain calls.

This week, the top managed care stories included Cigna's deal to buy Express Scripts; Seema Verma, Alex Azar, and Scott Gottlieb, MD, made the rounds at health conferences; an analysis finds FDA's accelerated approval pathway has been a success with hematology and oncology drugs.

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

Does meaningful competition currently exist in the pharmaceutical industry and is there enough transparency on price? This was the crux of the discussion at the 2018 National Health Policy Conference of America’s Health Insurance Plans in Washington, DC.