AJMC® in the Press, August 17, 2018

A study conducted by Cedars-Sinai and Optum on clinical decision support was published in this month’s issue of The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®). The study, “Choosing Wisely Clinical Decision Support Adherence and Associated Inpatient Outcomes,” examined the associations between adherence to Choosing Wisely recommendations embedded into clinical decision support alerts and 4 measures of resource use and quality. The study was mentioned by the American Hospital Association, POLITICO’s Morning eHealth, LA Business Journal, and MarketWatch.

Another study in the August issue of AJMC^®, “Impact of After-Hours Telemedicine on Hospitalizations in a Skilled Nursing Facility,” was highlighted by MDLinx. The study found that the use of a virtual after-hours physician coverage service in a skilled nursing facility demonstrated a significant decrease in avoidable hospitalizations.

As attention to co-pay accumulator policies and their curbing of prescription access grows, P&T Community’s article on the policies highlighted the AJMC^® article “PrEP for HIV Prevention: Essential for Ending the Epidemic, but Out of Reach for Many.” The article explored access to pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention and found that, with a growing amount of co-pay accumulator policies put in place, patients are sometimes surprised with a $1600 bill for the pill when they go to the pharmacy counter.

OBR Oncology’s daily newsfeed Monday included an article from AJMC^®. The article, “Small Benefit Seen in Adding Radiation to DCIS Plan for Breast Cancer,” covered a study that found that the combination of radiation and lumpectomy was associated with a small benefit in reduced risk of breast cancer death compared with lumpectomy or mastectomy alone.

National Pharmaceutical Council’s Monday CER Daily Newsfeed included the AJMC^® article “Study Suggests Improved Adherence to Osteoporosis Drugs May Cut Healthcare Costs,” which reported on study results that found that improved medication adherence could save approximately $5 million of osteoporosis-related healthcare costs annually.

Wednesday’s CER Daily Newsfeed included an editorial published in this month's issue of AJMC^®, “Levers to Reduce Use of Unnecessary Services: Creating Needed Headroom to Enhance Spending on Evidence-Based Care,” which recommended that health system leaders, policy makers, payers, and consumer advocates should use multiple synergistic levers to reduce the use of care that does not provide clinical benefit. The newsfeed also included the AJMC^® article “Alnylam to Offer Value-Based Contracts for $450,000 Rare Disease Drug,” which reported on Alnylam working with commercial insurance plans to offer value-based contracts for the therapy.

The Daily Times, a newspaper in Tennessee, highlighted AJMC^®’s naming of Dr Barbara L. McAneny as the keynote speaker for the 2018 Patient-Centered Oncology Care^® Meeting on November 16 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.