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The National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs was launched to create a space for innovators to work together to identify the best evidence-based models for improving care for the relatively small population of patients with complex health and social needs that drives a disproportionate share of our healthcare costs.

What we’re reading, December 1, 2016: the percentage of Republicans that would like to see the Affordable Care Act scaled back instead of repealed has more than doubled since the election; smoking will soon be prohibited in all public housing nationwide; some physicians are incensed by the American Medical Association’s support for Rep. Tom Price as HHS secretary.

The House of Representatives has approved the bipartisan 21st Century Cures legislation, which includes funding for innovative biomedical research and provisions to speed up the drug approval process.

Statin use was associated with a reduction in all-cause and multiple myeloma-specific mortality.

The study found young adults had the lowest device uptake, as well as highest distress levels and the highest A1C.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on health will gather testimonial from leaders of the US Preventive Services Task Force, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Urologic Association, on a bill called H.R. 1151.

The amount of Americans under age 65 in families having trouble paying medical bills has dropped significantly over the past 5 years, according to a survey report from the National Center for Health Statistics. The percentage of children in families that struggle to pay healthcare bills has steadily declined as well, though as of June 2016 it remained higher than the percentage of such adults.

Though they may not directly provide patient care for their members, managed care organizations (MCOs) play a substantial role in the patient experience of millions of Medicaid enrollees.

There has been increased bipartisan support around the expanded role of value-based insurance design.

What we’re reading, November 30, 2016: the FDA agrees to clinical trials of Ecstasy to treat posttraumatic stress disorder; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center workers strike to protest wages and union rights; a New York pharmacy owner will spend 4 years in jail for distributing 500,000 oxycodone pills without prescriptions.

A nationally representative study among patients enrolled in Medicare, who were diagnosed with cancer, found that out-of-pocket costs averaged at 23.7% of their household income. A majority of these costs could be attributed to hospitalization.

In New Jersey, a group of business and labor leaders-along with the state's largest health plan-decided it was time for the term "patient-centered" to be understood by a key constituency: patients themselves.

Community coalitions are a backbone of public health, and offer a unique perspective towards implementation of managed care disease management/case management programs.

The proposal from CMS may make it difficult for groups that have been providing the DPP to take part in Medicare reimbursement.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has released the Criteria for High-Quality Clinical Pathways in Oncology, which is expected to help providers assess the quality, utility, and integrity of pathway programs in the United States.

Early results published Tuesday were first presented this summer at the meeting of the American Diabetes Association.

What we're reading, November 29, 2016: Warren cries foul over pharma's role in legislation; women fear what will happen to coverage under Trump; and Gallup poll finds most Americans want changes or repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

The Georgia Congressman is a longtime critic of the Affordable Care Act.

Awareness of Medicaid eligibility rules meant that in 2014 alone, more than 2 million people enrolled for benefits who belonged in the program but for some reason had never signed up.

With $372 million carved out for the National Institutes of Health innovation account in 2017, and about $114 million assigned to President Barack Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative for the fiscal year 2018, the 21st Century Cures Act has a lot at stake for healthcare in the United States.

Patients who received care for their chronic diseases in a patient-centered medical home had higher rates of medication adherence over 12 months than patients treated elsewhere, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

A well-functioning healthcare system must be coordinated, efficient, cost-effective, and goal-oriented. Unfortunately, these words don’t summarize healthcare services in the United States.

The statement calls for delivery behavioral health services through a collaborative model when possible, both to share electronic health data and offer convenience and continuity for patients.

What we're reading, November 28, 2016: The GOP is considering reforms to Medicare and Democrats are gearing up for a fight; the IRS will send letters to try to sign more people up for Obamacare; and the abortion rate reaches the lowest level in decades.

On average, many families are spending a larger share of their income on healthcare than they were prior to 2010. That is because median incomes, despite their recent surge, have not kept pace with healthcare costs.

Trial data on the use of plinabulin for mitigating chemotherapy-induced neutropenia with docetaxel will be presented as a poster at the American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting in San Diego.

In a report published in Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics discussed several barriers to care for young children with mental health problems. The authors suggested that prompt access to treatment and more complete training for pediatricians could help remove some of these barriers.

A study published in the Annals of Oncology has analyzed data on young patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to evaluate risk factors for febrile neutropenia and infection-related complications.

Over the past 4 years, search interest for "urgent care" has risen steadily, while search interest for "hospital" has slowly declined.

Emergency departments are a common destination for people with serious mental illness, even though these urgent care settings are costly and overburdened. Some healthcare systems are implementing transitional care clinics to help keep these mentally ill patients out of the ED.