February 2020

Improving relational coordination and reducing structural barriers to collaboration may enhance quality of care for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other chronic conditions.

Co-payments for preventive services can discourage breast and cervical cancer screening among Medicaid enrollees, particularly breast cancer screening, which is more costly and time-consuming.

The authors disagree with previous research concluding that the Home Health Care Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Services (CAHPS) publicly reported data are insufficiently adjusted for patient comorbidities.

The authors of “CMS HCC Risk Scores and Home Health Patient Experience Measures” respond to a letter to the editor.

Innovative, cost-neutral plan designs that cover more essential services on a predeductible basis, while decreasing exposure to and spending on harmful care, would better meet the clinical and financial needs of millions of Americans.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the journal, each issue in 2020 will include an interview with a healthcare thought leader. For the February issue, we turned to Gail Wilensky, PhD, an economist and senior fellow at Project HOPE.

Findings of this qualitative interview study suggest promise, but also challenges, with regard to using preventive drug lists to help families manage asthma medication costs.

Real-world discontinuation of hepatitis C drugs was low, but it was 3 times more likely than in clinical trials and varied by patient characteristics.

Race/ethnicity was not a predictor of inpatient palliative care consultation or discharge to hospice in 4 hospitals with an inpatient palliative care service.

An economic model based on the ECHELON-2 trial demonstrated cost-effectiveness of brentuximab vedotin with chemotherapy in frontline treatment of CD30-expressing peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement for inoperable severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis will create significant social value in the next decade, mostly accruing to patients versus manufacturers.

Complex care management for high-need, high-cost Medicaid patients significantly reduced total medical expenditures and inpatient utilization in a randomized quality improvement trial.

Medical utilization profiles of commercially insured members with opioid-related disorders differ depending on the code used to document the initial diagnosis in administrative claims.

This population-based analysis of patients with cancer in California found significant differences in proton beam therapy use by health insurance type, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.