AJMC® in the Press, March 30, 2018

One in 5 parents of boys said the main reason they haven’t vaccinated their sons for the human papillomavirus (HPV) was because they didn’t receive a recommendation for the vaccination, compared with 1 in 10 girls, explained Anna Beavis, MD, MPH, a gynecologic oncologist fellow at Johns Hopkins University, in an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®). The interview was mentioned in articles in Cosmopolitan, Quartz, and Romper. According to Beavis, the biggest intervention providers can do to close this gap is provide a strong, clear recommendation for the HPV vaccine.

An article in Fox News on multiple sclerosis, in honor of Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month, included a study published in AJMC^®. The study, “Overview and Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis,” provides an in-depth look of the disease, covering the epidemiology, risk factors, diagnostic criteria, and more.

The Hill's article on healthcare consolidation leading to higher costs for patients included the AJMC^® published study, “ACA Marketplace Premiums and Competition Among Hospitals and Physician Practices.” The study found that premiums in federally facilitated Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplaces are higher in geographic areas with more concentrated hospitals and physician practices and fewer insurers.

National Pharmaceutical Council’s Wednesday CER Daily Newsfeed included an article from AJMC^® on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. The article, “Pricing of CAR T Therapies Currently Aligns With Benefit, but Future Changes May Be Needed,” covered a report that found that despite the hefty price tags of tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel, they are considered cost effective. Thursday’s CER Daily Newsfeed mentioned the AJMC^® podcast, “Addressing Low-Value Care and a Better Benefit Design at the V-BID Summit.” The podcast focused on value-based insurance design, which is gaining traction as one way of encouraging the use of high-value services and discouraging the use of low-value services.

AJMC^®’s article, “EHR Usability Linked to Possible Patient Harms, Study Finds,” was mentioned in Healthcare Analytics, a sister publication of AJMC^®, and Becker’s Hospital Review. The article covered a study that examined patient safety reports from 2013 through 2016 and found that of 1.735 million reported safety events, 1956 mentioned an electronic health record (EHR) vendor or product and were reported as possible patient harm. Another 557 had language explicitly suggesting that EHR usability contributed to possible patient harm. However, according to the lead researcher, the actual numbers are probably underestimated.

The Volante, an independent student news organization at the University of South Dakota, mentioned an article from AJMC^®. The article, “Nearly Half of All Medical Care in the US Is in Emergency Departments,” reported on a study that found that from 1996 to 2010, emergency care visits increased nearly 44%, also noting that certain demographics were more likely to use the emergency department for healthcare.

An article from HealthTech on utilizing population health tools for better chronic care focused on a study published in AJMC^®. The study, “Chronic Disease Outcomes From Primary Care Population Health Program Implementation,” concluded that patients in practices with central population health coordinators had greater improvement in short-term chronic disease outcome measures compared with patients in practices without central support.