AJMC® in the Press, February 2, 2018

The New York Post highlighted 2 studies published in The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®) in its article that reported on Governor Andrew Cuomo signing an executive order to allow pharmacists to give flu shots. The first study, “Retail Clinic Utilization Associated With Lower Total Cost of Care,” found that there were savings associated with retail clinic usage and these savings were derived from decreased physician office and hospital visit expenses. The second study, “Quality of Care at Retail Clinics for 3 Common Conditions,” found that the quality of care for 3 different conditions was superior in MinuteClinics compared with ambulatory care facilities or emergency departments.

Monday’s OBR daily included an article from AJMC^®. The article, “Oncologists Overcome Hurdles to Deliver Cancer Care in Puerto Rico,” reported on interviews with doctors and organizations who told AJMC^® that even though much more remains to be done on an island where half of its residents still lack power, the situation is improving for patients with cancer.

An article in Healthcare Informatics cited a study published in AJMC^® that found 40% of ambulatory care practices are “under-users” of electronic health record (EHR) tools. The study, “Electronic Health Record ‘Super-Users’ and ‘Under-Users’ in Ambulatory Care Practices,” concluded that to achieve the broader benefits of the EHR and health information technology (IT), health systems and policy makers need to identify and address barriers to full use of health IT functionalities.

Thursday’s National Pharmaceutical Council’s CER Daily Newsfeed included an article from AJMC^® on personalized medicine. The article, “FDA Approved a Record Number of Personalized Medicines in 2017,” reported that 1 in every 4 drugs approved over the past 4 years was a personalized medicine, and the agency approved a record-breaking 16 personalized therapies in the past year.

EHR Intelligence mentioned an AJMC^{®​​​​​​​} published study in its article on using EHRs for predictive analytics. The study, “Electronic Sharing of Diagnostic Information and Patient Outcomes,” which evaluated the association between hospital sharing of EHR diagnostic information and hospital quality, found that hospital sharing of EHR data with providers within their system is associated with reduced patient mortality; however, sharing data with providers outside their system is associated with worsened patient mortality. In another article, EHR Intelligence cited the AJMC^{®​​​​​​​} published study, “Electronic Health Record Problem Lists: Accurate Enough for Risk Adjustment?” The study found that EHR-based comorbidity assessment had low sensitivity for identifying major comorbidities and poorly predicted survival.