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Surprise medical bills affect 16% of in-network patient stays and 18% of emergency visits; new research has identified a link between World Trade Center dust and prostate cancer among first responders; the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved UnitedHealth Group’s acquisition of DaVita Inc on the condition that it sells one of its newly purchased healthcare organizations.

According to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine of the first quantitative evidence on the nation’s first work requirements in Medicaid, thousands of adults lost insurance coverage in the 6 months after the requirements were implemented, with no change in employment.

Comorbidities, toxicities, and certain treatments received, including immunotherapy and bone marrow transplants, were found to be the strongest predictors of high costs among oncology patients.

Obesity could exacerbate inflammation and worsen clinical disability in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Senators Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, and Patty Murray, D-Washington, introduced bipartisan legislation that aims to lower some healthcare costs.

A Quest Diagnostics webinar discussed how lab services fit in with value-based care strategies and could reduce total healthcare costs, improve care coordination, and enhance member experiences.

A recent study examined cognitive changes in a type of migraine termed chronic migraine with medication overuse headache (CM-MOH).

It is imperative for organizations to support diversity and acknowledge individuals’ differences in order to foster better morale, promote creativity and innovations, improve decision making, and create social justice that advocates equity.

Tensions have risen between White House officials and HHS Secretary Alex Azar; a life-saving bladder cancer drug is in short supply; suicide rates for children and young adults have soared.

Women 80 years or older with osteoporosis have a high hip fracture probability even when accounting for mortality risk, suggesting that these patients are candidates for drug treatment to prevent hip fractures.

The FDA is partnering with COTA, a precision medicine technology company, to gain better insight into treatment variation within subpopulations of patients using real-world data. The program will start with breast cancer and may expand to other cancer types.

CMS has released a proposed rule that would allow clinicians to complete prior authorizations online through a more streamlined process.

An analysis of spending on low- and high-value services between 2014 and 2016 found that despite significant discussion about reducing low-value care, reduction has been slight.

The FDA said it is expanding a database used by generic drug manufacturers to understand when their product can be approved and marketed.

Researchers recently conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine whether leukocytosis is a risk factor for thrombosis in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms.

The researchers concluded that pembrolizumab is appropriate for FDA-approved indications and clinical trials among patients with HIV.

Texas' governor signs legislation to protect patients from receiving surprise medical bills; a Nebraska school district approves random nicotine testing for students; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children lowered obesity rates for young children from 2010 to 2016.

Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) accountable care organizations (ACOs) cover more than 32 million lives and have been found to save money and improve quality in past research, but a new study in Annals of Internal Medicine is calling their success into question.

Merck's Center for Observational and Real-World Evidence has spent several years gathering evidence on clinical inertia and is now working on solutions to overcome it at the point of care.

The FDA's approval of the glucagon-like peptide receptor agonist marks the first non-insulin drug approved for youth with type 2 diabetes since the approval of metformin for pediatric use in 2000.

European researchers said they have mapped the human lung on a single-cell level, differentiating cell types between patients with asthma and those without, including the discovery of a new cell state that produces mucus in asthma. This understanding could lead to finding new drug targets for treating asthma, the researchers said.

US drug makers sue to block a federal regulation that would require them to display list prices for drugs in television advertisements; a proposal could lead to a broad settlement for opioid manufacturers that would issue a nationwide payout and prevent future lawsuits from local governments; Pfizer has agreed to buy Array BioPharma for $11.4 billion.

Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, has become more accurate than human medical professionals in predicting incidence of heart attack or death in patients at risk of coronary artery disease.

A new study has found the annual economic burden of Parkinson Disease in the United States is $52 billion, more than double previous estimates.

Although healthcare organizations across the United States have begun to focus on how social determinants of health impact outcomes, the ability to address many of these elements often rests outside of the services that managed care providers offer. That's where community partnerships come in.

Alemtuzumab improved clinical and magnetic resonance imagining outcomes in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis across varying age groups and maintained efficacy through year 8 of follow up.

Skeletal-related events are frequent complications in patients with cancers. Two abstracts analyzed the use of bone-modifying agents in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma and breast cancer.

According to results from a randomized phase 3 trial presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s recent annual meeting, the addition of isatuximab to pomalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone significantly improvement progression-free survival (PFS) and the overall response rate (ORR) in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).

Sensory processing difficulties are seen among children with migraine, according to a recently published study, which said that their quality of life is predicted by both headache-related disability and sensory processing difficulties.