Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Elected to Direct WHO
Beginning on July 1, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will take the helm as director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). Tedros, who is known by his first name, is the first WHO director to hail from Africa and also the first non-physician, as he has a doctorate in community health. STAT reports that the 194 member countries of the WHO chose Tedros in part for his diplomacy and leadership skills, as well as his successful efforts in boosting immunization rates while he was the health minister of Ethiopia.
Drug Control Office Spared From Deep Budget Cuts
When first drafted, the Trump administration’s proposed budget specified a 95% funding cut for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, but the final document now proposes just a 5% cut, according to POLITICO. The updated budget means that 66 of the office’s 75 current employees will be kept full-time next year, while the original cuts would have required laying off half of the office’s staff. Bipartisan legislators and drug control experts praised the decision to largely maintain the funding, as the original proposal had provoked a backlash. Critics feared deep cuts could worsen the opioid epidemic.
Study Finds Lower Mortality Rates at Teaching Hospitals
New research published in JAMA indicates that Medicare beneficiaries who received care in major teaching hospitals were significantly less likely to die within 30 days than those treated at smaller academic or non-teaching hospitals. The differences in mortality persisted after adjusting for patient characteristics and hospital volume and location. The researchers noted that federal pay-for-performance programs tend to penalize teaching hospitals the most, “calling into question whether the national approach to measuring and rewarding on performance is working effectively.”
CMS' 340B Repayment Proposal May Harm Vulnerable Hospitals, Reward Those With Higher Revenues
April 26th 2024The 340B hospitals not receiving an offsetting lump-sum payment from CMS following 2018-2022 cuts later ruled unlawful are disproportionately rural, publicly owned, and nonacademic, according to a new study.
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Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
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Kaiser Permanente was hit by a data breach in mid-April, impacting 13.4 million health plan members; GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) sued Pfizer and BioNTech for allegedly infringing on its messenger RNA technology patents in the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines; the CDC announced the first-known HIV cases transmitted via cosmetic injections.
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