Clinical

What we're reading, December 25, 2015: a drug that is currently free could get very costly; this year's flu season is expected to be mild; and before they went on recess, members of Congress introduced a number of healthcare-related bills.

Top 10 videos from The American Journal of Managed Care's Summit and Insight programs.

Opioid prescribing patterns are far less skewed than initially thought. New research has found that most opioid prescriptions are actually distributed by the broad population of US general practitioners.

The rising cost of drugs was in the spotlight in 2015, and the manuscripts in The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits highlights the growing concerns of the healthcare industry in regards to rising expenditures.

What we're reading, December 24, 2015: more than half of Affordable Care Act co-ops will be closed by the end of 2015, but this could have been avoided; 5 senators are pressing CMS for information on containing drug costs; and a task force does not recommend screening all teens and children for high cholesterol.

Although rivaroxaban was approved by the FDA in 2012, there has remained a knowledge gap about how it works with cancer patients. A recent study found that the therapy is safe and effective when used among patients with cancer.

What we're reading, December 23, 2015: CMS releases data on the most expensive Medicare drugs, while HHS reports strong enrollment numbers on HealthCare.gov, and Hillary Clinton outlines a plan to spend $20 billion on Alzheimer's disease research.

Despite the fact that warfarin is more easily reversible, bleeding complications with the therapy are associated with longer stays in the hospital and higher mortality than dabigatran and rivaroxaban.

Research on the post-marketing surveillance of rivaroxaban found that the drug was as safe as determined from the results of the anticoagulant’s randomized controlled trial.

What we're reading, December 22, 2015: experts recommend using statins in adults between the ages of 40 years and 75 years; Republicans and Democrats are equally concerned about rising healthcare costs; and Martin Shkreli now fired as CEO of a second company.

A new study finds that Medicare recipients can prevent hospital admissions if they seek medical assessment from clinical home visits, which increase the number of visits to the doctors while reducing the costs of healthcare because of treatment in less-costly sites.

Patients with atrial fibrillation and renal disease who were treated with rivaroxaban (Xarelto) had less of a risk of fatal bleeding, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Session.

Physicians are sticking with what they know when it comes to prescribing treatment for deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Researchers found that the most common treatment remains parenteral anticoagulant with warfarin despite the arrival of a the new treatment option rivaroxaban.

Nearly half of insured American adults are unaware that they should have an annual medical check-up and are ignorant to the fact that their insurance covers the annual check-up and there is no cost out-of-pocket associated with it.

Using rivaroxaban in a patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation can reduce rates of stroke and major bleeding, according to the result of the XANTUS study.

Pembrolizumab has been approved as first-line treatment for patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma.

Results of an analysis of 2012 cancer incidence and survival from various cancer registries, published in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, indicates reduced incidence of overall cancer across the United States.

All-cause mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is improved by a high level of continuity of care.

What we're reading, December 17, 2015: Congress is expected to pass a spending plan that includes 3 changes to the Affordable Care Act; a new analysis estimates 2016 premiums for marketplace plans will increase 11%; and one-third of Americans die from cardiovascular disease.

A study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology predicts financial stress on Medicare Part D beneficiaries on oral anticancer medicines, even after the expected closing of the donut hole in 2020.

Martin Shkreli, Turing CEO, was arrested on fraud related to his time as a hedge fund manager, not his recent price gouging of Daraprim.

NICE rejects promising oncology agents once again, citing high drug cost.

Several new FDA approvals and research advances in oncology have the potential for improved outcomes among cancer patients.

A retrospective analysis of phase 1 oncology studies that used biopsy-derived pharmacodynamic biomarkers, could not draw a correlation between subsequent drug development and biopsy sample collection.

The FDA, today, launched precisionFDA, a cloud-based platform that members can utilize to access and share data sets, analysis pipelines, and bioinformatics tools.

What we're reading, December 15, 2015: call centers overwhelmed by last-minute rush for health insurance enrollment; AstraZeneca exploring deal with Acerta Pharma; and despite near universal health insurance coverage in Massachusetts, patients have access issues.

A report by STAT has found that a majority of institutions conducting clinical trials fail to report their results to the website ClinicalTrials.gov.

There is, currently, an unmet need in bladder cancer, a disease expected to be responsible for 16,000 deaths in 2015.

What we're reading, December 14, 2015: public health initiatives are underfunded despite being a big return on investment; the FDA repeatedly approved the cancer drug Afinitor without proof it extended life; and a nurse may have exposed patients in a maternity wing to tuberculosis.

Stacey W. McCullough, PharmD, senior vice president of pharmacy at Tennessee Oncology, discussed strategies for managing high-cost treatments, the impact of me-too drugs, and how clinical pathways can help physicians make treatment decisions at the point of care.