Cate Douglass

Many accountable care organizations are beginning to adopt various programs or strategies into their framework to increase patient access to behavioral health care, but several challenges remain.

The USPSTF recently sought to update it's screening recommendations for skin cancer and evaluate the harms this type of test poses to the patient, and whether this tool leads to earlier detection of skin cancer than other care means.

While in theory value frameworks are beneficial, a survey from Avalere Health found that not many health plans are actually using them.

New research published in JAMA discovered that patient-oncologist discordance was common among the cases studied, and patients were unaware that their opinions differed from their physician’s.

Survey results reveal only 18% of health systems consistently use patient-reported outcomes and highlights key barriers to implementing patient-reported outcome measures in the clinical setting.

A recent study led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital discovered that cancer survivors who underwent the same or similar therapies displayed the same symptoms of mental health.

Computed tomography (CT) scans, a common imaging modality, can increase a person's risk of developing cancer later in life.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced the newest addition to its team. Joshua A. Gordon, MD, PhD, will join the NIH in September as the director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Depression affects nearly 350 million people worldwide, but long waiting lines and limited access to services have impeded depression treatment. Only about a quarter of patients in the United States have received any type of psychological therapy in the last year and 1 in 10 UK citizens have been waiting over a year to receive treatment.

In other news, prostate cancer incidence appears to be on the rise, and data on health trackers may not be secure.

Many patients, 65 years or younger, are still receiving aggressive cancer treatment in their final months of life despite Choosing Wisely recommendations encouraging symptom-directed palliative care.

The analysis pinpointed which countries faced an elevated risk of spreading Zika just based on anticipated travel by athletes and delegates to the Games in Rio de Janiero.

The Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study has added its seventh and eighth pharmaceutical companies, Bayer and Merck, and 30 additional trial participants.

The analysis found that if motor vehicle crashes in the United States had declined at the average rate of other countries in the survey, 18,000 lives would have been saved over the study period.

The number of individuals experiencing difficulty paying for healthcare or medicines has hit a record low since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

The cost of maternity care varies greatly across the top 30 major US cities and a recent study found that the west coast may actually be the most expensive.

New Health Care Cost Institute report analyzed how much money is spent on children and adults with diabetes, where the money goes, and how that compares to individuals who do not have diabetes.

While the United States healthcare system has been slowly transitioning to value-based care from a system based on volume, a recent study found that primary care physicians and health plan executives aren’t actually on the same page.

The Affordable Care Act has helped many Americans gain access to health coverage, and a recent analysis from HHS discovered that rural America in particular has benefited.

HHS recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Cuba’s Public Ministry of Health on June 13, marking a historic moment for both countries since the re-establishment of diplomatic relations in 2015.

The pair of studies evaluating the technology were presented at the American Diabetes Association and simultaneously published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.

Medicaid payments to hospitals comprise a large portion of a hospital’s finances; however, policy changes occurring under the Affordable Care Act may have several implications on the way hospitals receive payments from Medicaid.

While there are FDA-approved medications proven to help curb opioid addiction, not many physicians are taking full advantage of it.

Prescription drug monitoring programs have been associated with a decreased number of written prescriptions for the highly-addictive and most recently abused drug.

An additional 3 defendants are joining 6 others previously charged for one of California’s largest healthcare fraud schemes.

Mental disorders rank number 1 as the most costly of all health diseases in the United States, with a total estimated spending of $201 billion in 2013.

Many patients 65 years or younger are still receiving aggressive cancer treatment in their final months of life despite Choosing Wisely recommendations encouraging symptom-directed palliative care.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology’s first-ever clinical trial is growing with the addition of its seventh and eighth pharmaceutical companies, Bayer and Merck, and 30 additional trial participants.

Historically, men and women who are currently serving or who have previously served in the United States military have limited treatment options when it comes to infertility resulting from service-related injury.

During the Pharmacy Quality Alliance's Annual Meeting, 2 speakers discussed opioid abuse and how to combat the growing epidemic through the use of a prescription monitoring program.