Managed Care News and Research

RSS

Teledermatology improves patients' access to dermatologists

Teledermatology significantly improved access to specialized skin care for a group of patients that traditionally has limited options, according to an independent study led by researchers at the RAND Corporation and Harvard Medical School's Department of Health. The findings appear in a JAMA Dermatology article published online May 4.

6 May 2016

Study shows overall drop in ER visits among patients served by prescription assistance program

A graduate student at Washington State University Spokane is the lead author on a research paper that shows an overall drop in emergency room visits and hospitalizations by patients who are served by the Spokane Prescription Assistance Network, which helps low income people get free and reduced-price medications.

7 Apr 2016

High out-of-pocket costs linked to lower use of specialty drugs

"Specialty drugs" have become important treatment options for many serious and chronic diseases, and in some conditions like cancer they represent the only chance for long-term survival.

29 Mar 2016

Breckenridge Pharmaceutical announces final FDA approval for Gabapentin Oral Solution

Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc. announces the final approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the Abbreviated New Drug Application for Gabapentin Oral Solution 250 mg per 5 mL, which is AA rated to Neurontin, a drug marketed by Pfizer.

18 Mar 2016

Conflicting expectations result in failure of young girls completing HPV vaccinations series

Conflicting expectations between parents and medical providers about who is responsible for scheduling follow-up appointments is resulting in a failure of young girls completing the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination series, according to a new study led by Boston Medical Center researchers.

16 Mar 2016

AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana, LSU Health New Orleans create new fellowship program

AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana, a Medicaid managed care health plan serving Louisiana, and the LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health, today announced the creation of a new fellowship program that each year will allow up to seven LSU Health New Orleans medical students who are also enrolled in the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree program to spend four to eight weeks in the policy offices of Washington, D.C. organizations.

4 Mar 2016

Health Catalyst, Partners HealthCare named recipients of Microsoft Health Innovation Awards

Health Catalyst and Partners HealthCare today announced they have been named recipients of Microsoft Corp.'s 2016 Health Innovation Awards. The organizations won the "Reinventing Productivity and Business Processes" category, which evaluates solutions that transform care delivery or population health by connecting clinicians and staff to new processes and insights.

3 Mar 2016

Oncimmune partners with Stroke Detection Plus to offer EarlyCDT-Lung test

Oncimmune, a leader in early cancer detection, today announced a partnership with Stroke Detection Plus® (SDP), a leading provider of cardiovascular and corporate wellness screenings in the US. Stroke Detection Plus and its wellness division, Health Gauge, will offer Oncimmune's EarlyCDT-Lung test to its clients which include large employers, unions and individuals.

3 Mar 2016

eviCore healthcare acquires Boston-based QPID Health

eviCore healthcare, a company committed to enabling better outcomes for patients, payers and providers through advanced medical benefits management, today announced that it has acquired Boston-based QPID Health.

27 Feb 2016

Meds-in-Hand helps improve outcomes for pediatric patients with asthma

A new study demonstrates that pediatric patients with asthma who left the hospital with their prescription medications made fewer emergency department (ED) visits after they were discharged than if they were discharged still needing to go to a pharmacy to pick-up their medications.

25 Feb 2016

Romosozumab for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis meets co-primary endpoints in Phase 3 study

Amgen and UCB today announced top-line results from the Phase 3 placebo-controlled FRActure study in postmenopausal woMen with ostEoporosis (FRAME).

22 Feb 2016

Low-income families having children with special health care needs at high risk for food insecurity

Low-income families with children who have special health care needs are at high risk for food insecurity, even when they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and participate in public assistance programs, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

10 Feb 2016

FedMed gains access to Trovagene's Precision Cancer Monitoring tests and service

Trovagene, Inc., a developer of cell-free molecular diagnostics, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with FedMed, Inc. establishing health benefit access to Trovagene's full line of Precision Cancer Monitoring (PCM) tests and services.

1 Feb 2016

Amgen announces approval of cholesterol-lowering medication Repatha (evolocumab) Injection in Japan

Amgen today announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has approved the cholesterol-lowering medication Repatha (evolocumab) Injection, the first proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor to be approved in Japan.

22 Jan 2016

More than half of primary care physicians provide nonessential specialty referrals upon patient request

A study recently published in the American Journal of Managed Care found that more than half of primary care providers reported that they made what they considered unnecessary referrals to a specialist because patients requested it. Many physicians said they yielded to patient requests for brand-name drug prescriptions when cheaper generics were available.

7 Jan 2016

Most patients with chronic pain continue to receive prescription opioids after nonfatal overdose

A study led by Boston Medical Center indicates that most patients with chronic pain who are hospitalized after a nonfatal opioid overdose continue to receive prescription opioids after the overdose and are at high risk for experiencing a repeated overdose.

30 Dec 2015

Harmony Health Plan of Illinois to donate $10,000 to Kidz Korna

Harmony Health Plan of Illinois, Inc., a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG), will give $10,000 to Kidz Korna to help make the holidays special for 10,000 low-income children in Chicago's Englewood community.

26 Dec 2015

Email communications between patients, physicians improve overall health

A third of patients with chronic conditions who exchanged secure emails with their doctors said that these communications improved their overall health, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in the American Journal of Managed Care.

22 Dec 2015

Comorbidities relevant to CML TKI choice common

Comorbid conditions that could affect the choice of tyrosine kinase inhibitor are common in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia, finds an analysis of a US claims database.

27 Nov 2015

Undetected cancer among women undergoing gynecologic surgery more common than previously thought

Minimally invasive gynecologic surgeries have advantages for patients, including shorter hospital stays, quicker recoveries, and less pain. However, power morcellation, a technique which cuts the uterus or fibroid into small pieces in order to extract them from the abdomen through a small incision, may worsen a woman's prognosis if a cancer is morcellated unintentionally.

20 Nov 2015