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A study of readmission rates by primary care providers (PCPs) finds a lack of variation and calls into question implementing pay-for-performance programs that incentivize or penalize PCPs for readmissions.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, introduced bipartisan legislation that would raise the age to purchase tobacco-related products to 21; the US measles outbreak has surged to 880 cases this year; the FDA will end its Alternative Summary Reporting program after an investigation found that the agency had filed information regarding malfunctions of the Sprint Fidelis heart device in an internal database.

The presenter of the study said the results show that children who are in a severe mass trauma need to be closely followed, and clinicians need to screen for trauma as a medical issue.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University sought to resolve conflicting results on whether appendectomies raised a person's risk for developing Parkinson disease. Using data from more than 62 million patients, they team reported results today during the 2019 annual meeting of Digestive Disease Week.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Alabama Capitol to protest the state's new abortion law; the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act to extend civil rights protections to gay and transgender people; suicide rates have been rising faster among young girls than among boys of the same age.

Some people living with type 1 diabetes are unhappy with commercial technology currently avaiable, while others see their choices limited by payer coverage decisions.

In a study to be presented at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Annual Meeting, held in Dallas, Texas on May 17-22, 2019, researchers investigated visit-to-visit variability in the forced vital capacity (FVC) of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Multifraction radiotherapy is standard to treat pain in patients with bone metastases that are mostly not in their spine, but new research has shown that single-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy had higher rates of overall pain response and better local disease control.

Once-daily treatment of opicapone, added to levodopa, has been found to increase the length of ON-periods in patients with Parkinson disease, according to an abstract presented at the 2019 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

Researchers said they discovered a finding that could lead to better treatments for Fanconi anemia (FA), a rare, genetic, pediatric hematologic disorder.

A study examined how biomarkers of microbial translocation and innate immune activation were affected by HIV status, HCV co-infection, and alcohol use.

Dual inhibitors target both the SGLT1 and SGLT2 proteins in the digestive and renal systems to prevent reuptake of excess glucose.

According to new research published in PNAS, researchers have determined that a molecule that helps blood clot may also play a role in multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses, in addition to discovering a new way of studying the disease in mice that more closely resembles the human form.

A recent study found that treatment with a systemic JAK1/2 inhibitor was associated with weight gain, the development of obesity, and increased systolic blood pressure.

A recent study employed the use of a high-throughput ultrasonication-induced amyloid fibrillation assay to amplify and detect α-synuclein aggregates from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and investigated the association between seeding activity and clinical indicators. The assay, created by the study investigators and dubbed the HANdai Amyloid Burst Inducer (HANABI), dramatically reduces the time to perform the assay from the estimated 10 days for the shaking-based assays to only several hours.

The May issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) featured research on diabetes drug cost-effectiveness, patient-centered medical homes, and value-based insurance design. Here are 5 findings from research published in the issue.

Deductible Relief Day, the day when enrollees will, on average, have spent enough on healthcare to hit the average deductible in an employer plan, will be May 19 this year, far later in the year than a decade ago when it was March 18.

This week, the top managed care news included 44 states suing drug makers for price fixing; Gilead pledging to donate pre-exposure prophylaxis for up to 200,000 people for up to 11 years; Philadelphia soda tax reduced consumption of sugary drinks.

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

The Trump administration is backing off a proposal that would have allowed private Medicare plans to refuse to pay for certain drugs for chronic conditions that experience steep price hikes; 5 more states have sued Purdue Pharma, alleging the company llegally marketed and sold opioids; bariatric surgery may offer more benefits for adolescents than adults.

Stubborn racial disparities mean that the rate of new HIV inections was 93% higher among black women than it would have been if the rate were the same as white women.

For people with disabilities, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) helped to reduce uninsurance and healthcare that was delayed or never received, but it did not totally eliminate disparities, according to new research.

Venetoclax (Venclexta) has received FDA approval in combination with obinutuzumab (Gazyva) for the treatment of adult patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), offering a chemotherapy-free regimen for patients with previously untreated disease.

Cure rates for Hodgkin lymphoma are high, but survivors may live for decades with side effects from chemotherapy. Finding a new treatment target could lead to fewer toxic effects.

https://www.pharmacytimes.org/on-demand/an-american-journal-of-managed-care-managing-treatment-gaps-with-pcsk9-inhibitors

In oncology, precision medicine is already well established with targeted therapies approved based on the patient’s genetic makeup or genetic variants of their tumor, and using precision medicine successfully means also using diagnostics and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Last year, CMS finalized coverage of NGS tests, which are to be used to identify patients that may benefit the most from approved treatments. And it looks like other payers may be following CMS’ lead.

US birth rates have declined for the fourth year in a row; Gilead's chief executive officer (CEO) is expected to testify before a House committee about Truvada pricing; nonprofit generic drug company Civica Rx has chosen the first 2 antibiotics that it will produce.

A health tracking app that monitors asthma control in children in real time and sends medication reminders successfully reduced emergency department visits as well as the use of inhaled corticosteroids, according to a new study.

The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization, this week released the latest hospital safety grades for Spring 2019 in addition to a report compiled in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality that assessed the number of deaths due to errors, accidents, injuries and infections at all rated hospitals.