This Week in Managed Care: May 23, 2015

This week one top healthcare executive with Blue Cross Blue Shield said that consumers should expect to pay higher healthcare costs in 2016 as a result of the influx of millions of more insured individuals through the Affordable Care Act. In addition, at the American Urological Association's annual meeting, held in New Orleans, researchers reported on the fallout from the controversial 2012 change when the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended against widespread prostate cancer screening.A new study in this month's issue of The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) calculates the high cost of uncoordinated care for the first time. At AJMC's Patient-Centered Diabetes Care meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, Trishan Panch, MD, chief medical officer of Wellframe, discussed the link between coordinated care and medication adherence. This month's Evidence-Based Diabetes Management features a column from the CDC's director of Division of Diabetes Translation, Ann Albright, PhD, RD, who wrote about the scientific evidence that supports the need for both lifestyle interventions and population-level efforts to combat type 2 diabetes in the United States.

It's not too early to register for AJMC's next meeting, Patient-Centered Oncology Care, which will be held November 19-20 in Baltimore, Maryland. The meeting will cover the issues that matter most in value-based oncology, from the president's precision medicine initiative to the changes that will come with FDA regulation in diagnostics. Learn more and register here.

Finally, there were 2 breaking news stories this week. First, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield reported that it had been the target of a cyberattack that potentially put 1.1 million individuals' information at use. However, because CareFirst had put specific protocols in place to protect against such attacks, the hackers did not gain access to users' passwords. Second, Karen Ignagni, the long-time chief executive officer and president of America's Health Insurance Plans, will be stepping down from her position. Effective September 1, she will take over at EmblemHealth.