All News

This week, the top managed care news includes a report on how CDC lacks data to tell the full story on disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare Advantage gets a pay bump amid COVID-19 rule changes, and the nation’s top infectious disease expert speaks with the editor-in-chief of JAMA.

Meeting HHS’ minimum requirements for daily and weekly exercise reduced breast cancer recurrence and mortality among patients with high-risk breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. This benefit was even seen in patients who had not met these requirements before their diagnosis.

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

New CDC data documents a sharp rise in hepatitis C cases among millenials; FEMA and HHS are asking states to take charge of drive-through testing sites for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); some pharmacies are ill-prepared to stem COVID-19 transmission.

Does patient representation in trials of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) correlate with epidemiologic studies of patients with the condition? According to recent results published in JAMA Cardiology, older patients, women, and black patients continue to be underrepresented in ACS trials.

The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) said it is worried that the safety of patients with cancer will be compromised if home infusion regulatory changes, brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, expand; other groups support the changes, which affect Medicare patients using Part B drugs.

Between 2012 and 2018, 93.8% of HIV-positive active military service members were on continuous antiretroviral therapy (ART). Of this group, 99.0% were virally suppressed by the end of their first year on ART.

Firework-related ocular injuries occur most often in individuals who are young, male, and white, according to study results published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Centivo has launched a new health plan solution, aimed at lowering costs for employees; trial results show dead bacteria may be effective in treating IBS; continuous glucose monitoring systems are now being used in hospitalized patients with diabetes and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Employees with either obstructive sleep apnea or excessive daytime sleepiness were shown to be 2 times more likely to be involved in occupational incidents, highlighting the serious safety hazard posed by both conditions.

Good dental hygiene is associated with a decreased risk of developing diabetes, according to study results published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

The standard therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains chemotherapy, despite a dismal prognosis due to lack of estrogen and progesterone hormone receptors, as well as HER2 receptors. Targeted therapies for this difficult-to-treat, often aggressive, subtype of breast cancer remain elusive.

An efficient, concise patient questionnaire gathering health utilization information is effective for patients with multiple sclerosis, according to researchers who created one.

Presence and location of gray matter in the brain may indicate whether acupuncture is an effective method of treating migraine without aura, according to a study published in Frontiers in Neurology.

Anthony Fauci, MD, the director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said he thinks the country is on track to see a decline of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) but said life will not go back to the way it was before. Fauci was interviewed by the JAMA editor-in-chief, who also spoke with former Utah Governor Michael Leavitt about state and federal roles in a pandemic.

As part of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions Employer Town Hall series on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), speakers discussed how employers are helping employees and their families to maintain mental health and wellness, with additional input on those managing existing mental health conditions.

Payers view the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines as a gold standard for making reimbursement decisions, according to a panel of experts who spoke recently about biosimilar uptake.

Geisinger Health Plan is waiving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing- and treatment-related costs; President Donald Trump comes down hard on the World Health Organization; there is optimism that schools could reopen in the fall.

Almost 70% of the world’s population could be living in urban areas, being continuously exposed to air pollution, by 2050, while cases of dementia are expected to triple. Recent study results highlight the link between cardiovascular disease and dementia, as mediated by long-term exposure to air pollution.

Women who experience migraine with aura have an increased hazard of cardiovascular disease–specific mortality compared with individuals with no history of headache, according to a study published in The Journal of Headache and Pain.

Anterior and posterior ocular structure changes occur in astronauts who complete long-term spaceflights, according to a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Ashwagandha root extract, a revered herb of Ayurveda, was associated with improvements in quality of life, sleep quality, and mental alertness in elderly patients, according to study findings.

Researchers created a machine-learning–based model to help predict which patients will develop diabetes, according to an abstract to be published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

The rate increase comes as the agency is easing up on quality reporting requirements to give health sytems breathing room amid the pandemic. Monday’s announcement also clarified some payment changes for end-stage renal disease.

Patients with cancer are reporting that they have faced treatment delays due to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); the Trump administration reached an agreement with 3M Co. to produce nearly 167 million face masks in the next 3 months; US hospitals cite lack of supplies, testing coordination as major obstacles during the pandemic, according to an HHS survey.

There is a great need for additional outreach to the transgender community, especially by addressing concerns that include fear and loss of confidentiality, distrust of the medical community, abandonment, and abuse.

Cushing syndrome, a rare endocrine disorder caused by abnormally excessive amounts of the hormone cortisol, has a new pharmaceutical treatment to treat cortisol overproduction.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the brain has been shown to reduce the effects of treatment-resistant depression, but study results show that intermittent theta-burst stimulation may be more efficient and effective.

Parkinson disease (PD) subtypes derived from a novel subtyping system were significantly linked with disease duration and severity. However, the system may solely reflect stages of PD, rather than identify distinct clinical subtypes.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a London hospital, 10 days after being diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Also Monday, the CDC released a preliminary report about how COVID-19 is affecting children in the United States.