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In 2017, value-based insurance design was 1 of the few healthcare concepts that maintained consistent bipartisan support. Here is a look at progress made in value-based reform using VBID concepts.

Why healthy adults should still get the flu vaccine; President Donald Trump undergoes first medical checkup of his presidency; review of Luxturna finds the $850,000 gene therapy needs a price discount.

Although people with HIV are more susceptible to the hepatitis B virus, there is a low prevalence of hepatitis B vaccination among patients receiving medical care for HIV infection in the United States, according to a study in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Regardless of daily exercise and healthy eating, a person’s genes determine their ability to lose or gain weight, and researchers have now identified 14 variations in 13 genes that affect an individual’s body mass index.

The approval comes a day after the Trump administration released a guidance for states that want to require work from able-bodied Medicaid recipients. Current CMS Administrator Seema Verma designed the Kentucky program when she was a consultant but recused herself from the application.

The approval expands the use of olaparib to include the treatment of patients with BRCA-mutated HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. The FDA also expanded the approval of Myriad’s BRCAnalysis CDx, a companion diagnostic to olaparib, to include the detection of BRCA mutations.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be trained with data sets to recognize patterns and improve healthcare outcomes. But first, healthcare needs to get better at using normal intelligence to solve problems, said panelists at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, California.

This week, the top managed care stories included CMS unveiling a new voluntary bundled payment model; coverage from the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, including immunotherapy's impact on HIV treatment and biosimilars; and news that 2 key diabetes devices will be covered by Medicare.

The same mechanisms that cause those with long-term HIV infection to suffer higher rates of heart attacks or strokes put children born with disease at early risk of cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) conducted a formal vote that recommend repealing and replacing CMS’ Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

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

This week, the investors and analysts turned their attention to presentations by business leaders at the 36th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, held in San Francisco, California. Executives from the pharmaceutical and healthcare worlds showcased their products, pipelines, and visions for the future.

In a lawsuit, customers allege that Centene did not provide adequate access to doctors and misrepresented coverage; a study finds the abortion pill is as safe and effective as getting the procedure in the clinic; New Hampshire considers a bill that would allow pharmacists to dispense birth control pills.

Screening for social risk factors can reduce frequent hospitalization and medical spending, according to a study published in HSOA Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Care.

Asthma costs the U.S. economy more than $80 billion annually in medical expenses, days missed from work and school, and deaths, according to research published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. However, actual numbers are likely to be higher, according to CDC researchers who conducted the study.

More than half of octogenarians and nonagenarians with stage III non–small-cell lung cancer did not receive treatment, according to a study in CANCER. Older age, black race, and living in a lower educated census tract were found to be risk factors for not receiving treatment.

Researchers reported results where they tested performance on a theoretically-based probabilistic decision-making video simulation in adults with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study examined the relationship between experimental risk taking and history of real-life, risk-taking substance use behavior. Both groups showed similar patterns of risk taking, but adults with ADHD had more history and use of substance use and abuse.

Adfinitas Health, the largest private hospitalist group in the Mid-Atlantic region, describes how its first acquisition complements its advanced pactice provider (APP) staffing model as it looks to continued opportunities in 2018.

Maine Community Health Options is seeking $5.6 million from HHS, claiming the department failed to reimburse marketplace insurers for cost-sharing reductions for 2017. Under section 1402 of the Affordable Care Act, an insurer participating in the marketplace is required to offer CSR plans, and in return will be guaranteed reimbursement by the government.

Recently, the FDA granted a breakthrough therapy designation to eltrombopag (Promacta, Novartis) for combination use with standard immunosuppressive therapy as a first-line treatment for patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA).

Trump administration freezes a national database on behavioral health interventions; number of alcohol-related emergency department visits rose sharply from 2006 to 2014; and study examines the feasibility of implementing a federal tax on junk food and sugary beverages.

The long-awaited guidance allows states to seek waivers that require able-bodied adults to show they are working, receiving education, serving as a caregiver, volunteering, or receiving substance abuse treatment in order to be eligible for Medicaid.

Convincing your chief financial officer to invest in technology that addresses patients’ social determinants of health.

Racial and ethnic minorities and populations with low incomes will experience more stress during their lifetime compared to wealthy, white individuals, leading to large inequities in both mental and physical health, according to a report from the American Psychological Association.

Syapse, a leading precision medicine company, and Roche have joined forces to advance precision medicine in oncology. They will work together to bring real-world data to providers, bring oncology into the value-based care era, advance patient-reported outcomes, and optimize clinical trial recruiment.

AstraZeneca’s epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, osimertinib (Tagrisso), is on the fast track in 2018 to become a first-line treatment for adult patients with locally-advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have EGFR mutations.

Alex Azar, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next secretary of HHS, suggested during his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) would be the most effective tool to negotiate for lower drug costs, and said that PBMs should negotiate physician-administered drugs covered under Medicare Part B.

Eisai’s multiple receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib and Merck’s anti–PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab as a combination therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma received the designation based on results from the renal cell carcinoma cohort in Study 111.

Older adults who are prescribed many medications that require frequent trips to the pharmacy are more likely to not refill their prescriptions on time, but patients who participate in medication synchronization programs have improved adherence to cardiovascular medications, according to a study published in Health Affairs.