AJMC® Research Roundup: February 2019

Hi, I’m Christina Mattina for The American Journal of Managed Care^®. Here are 5 findings from research published in the February issue.

Impact of Hepatitis C Virus and Insurance Coverage on Mortality

1. In a study of the association between insurance type and mortality in those with hepatitis C virus, those with HCV were more likely to have Medicaid coverage or be uninsured than those without, and in the population with HCV, those with Medicaid had the highest mortality risk.

Does Comparing Cesarean Delivery Rates Influence Women’s Choice of Obstetric Hospital?

2. When pregnant women had access to an app that let them compare the cesarean delivery rates of nearby hospitals, they were more likely to believe that hospitals have differing rates, but this increased familiarity did not affect where they chose to deliver their babies.

Value-Based Arrangements May Be More Prevalent Than Assumed

3. Value-based payment arrangements between pharmaceutical manufacturers and payers may be more common than previously thought, according to survey respondents who detailed the prevalence of such agreements and reasons that some VBA negotiations break down.

Are Value-Based Incentives Driving Behavior Change to Improve Value?

4. Value-based payment has promoted care delivery transformation in California physician organizations, especially in efforts to control hospital costs and redesign primary care, but physician value-based incentives remain small relative to total compensation.

Validating a Method to Assess Disease Burden From Insurance Claims

5. Health plans seeking to understand the burden of disease among their members can use insurance claims to calculate disability-adjusted life years, rather than simply counting conditions per individual, providing a feasible method of determining disease burden.

To read all of these studies and more, visit AJMC.com.