Hayden E. Klein

Amazon and Health Warehouse’s direct-to-consumer pharmacies had the most expensive and commonly used generic drugs available in 2020, whereas Walmart only had a small fraction.

Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption seemed to provide greater protection against ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality for individuals with higher socioeconomic status (SES) compared with those with lower SES, likely due to gaps in access to necessary care.

Among Medicare beneficiaries, implantation was especially frequent for female patients and those undergoing tricuspid valve replacement with or without concomitant left-sided heart surgeries.

Natasha Halasa, MD, MPH, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), discusses the active population-based surveillance that the New Vaccine Surveillance Network conducts.

Natasha Halasa, MD, MPH, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, discusses her role as principal investigator of the Vanderbilt site of the New Vaccine Surveillance Network.

UnitedHealthcare is incorporating real-world evidence into pathways design and policy formulation, leveraging its members' data to evaluate the impact of different regimens on health resource utilization and costs, explains Lucy Langer, MD, MSHS, national medical director of oncology and genomics at UnitedHealthcare.

Drug prices in the US increased 4.4% annually and median out-of-pocket (OOP) costs increased 9.6% annually from 2009 to 2018, but there was no direct link between these amounts for individual drugs.

However, the association between familial hypercholesterolemia variants and coronary heart disease slightly weakened after adjusting for baseline low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level and became statistically insignificant after adjusting for cumulative past LDL-C exposure.

Elevated serum vitamin B12 concentration was positively associated with all-cause mortality risk, particularly among older adults, with concentrations exceeding 400 pmol/L showing significantly higher mortality rates.

UPMC Health Plan member Marjorie Robinson, of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, tells of her experiences with Pittsburgh-based Fabric Health as a single mom of 2 teenagers and why she believes that mental health–related concerns can be significant obstacles to overall good health.

UnitedHealthcare's oncology payment mode initially involved a pay-for-performance program based on pathways adherence, and will be transitioning in 2024 to a broader system with graded quartiles to incentivize greater participation and pathway adherence.

Serena Sloane, a Pittsburgh-based certified nursing assistant, took advantage of a chance meeting at her laundromat with someone from Fabric Health to learn more about her options for bettering her health care benefits

While the clinic did not significantly reduce hospital readmission rates for patients with diabetes, it was able to decrease the time to follow-up and improve long-term diabetes outcomes following hospitalization.

Researchers found TET2 clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) to be an independent risk factor associated with incident heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Melinda Aldrich, PhD, MHE, associate professor in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in the division of genetic medicine, discussed her ongoing research aiming to identify the drivers of disparities in lung cancer outcomes in the US.

An analysis covered trends in mortality caused by diabetes and diabetic kidney disease across North, South, and Central America from 2000 to 2019.

An analysis of the DELIVER trial also revealed an association between dapagliflozin treatment and reduced risk of cardiovascular death among individuals with heart failure with improved ejection fraction (HFimpEF).

Compared with a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level of 5.5%, adolescents with overweight or obesity were 72 times more likely to have diabetes if their HbA1c was 6.3% to 6.4%.

In a cohort with more than half a million women with endometrial, ovarian, or cervical cancer, less than 1% were enrolled in a clinical trial, and more than 85% of enrolled women were White.

The Thyme Care virtual navigation program demonstrated a $594 reduction in total costs per member per month for navigated cancer patients compared with a control group, emphasizing the scalability of the independent virtual navigation model across various contracts, with opportunities to adapt to different populations and needs in the evolving landscape of value-based care arrangements.

Most patients in the cohort received rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone for first-line therapy; hospitalization was prevalent; and average medical and pharmacy costs were more than $140,000 per patient per year.

Aside from semaglutide, alternate weight loss routes include other anti-obesity medications, chronic weight management programs, or obesity medicine specialists, said Ian Neeland, MD.

Breastfeeding infants during the first 3 months can lower their risk of childhood obesity, regardless of the mother's body mass index before pregnancy.

Despite there being more patients undergoing bariatric surgery since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in 2010, these surgeries had better postoperative outcomes.

Ian Neeland, MD, of University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, talks about the uptick in patients at his practice seeking semaglutide for weight loss.

Especially during shortages, Kirollos S. Hanna, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP, FACCC, director of pharmacy services at Minnesota Oncology, says practices should carve out areas where going to a different therapeutic approach isn't considered off-pathway.

Amrish Selvam is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh whose research and career interests lay in ophthalmology and who volunteers with the UPMC Vision Institute’s mobile eye clinic, the eyeVan.

Possible long-term consequences for patients with diabetes forced to switch to alternative medications during the semaglutide shortage include the risk of losing ground in glycemic control, having uncontrolled diabetes with associated symptoms, and other adverse events.

Edward "Ted" Arrowsmith, MD, MPH, medical director for pathways at OneOncology and managing partner at Tennessee Oncology, talks about challenges and changes in clinical pathways and the importance of keeping them updated.

A social-impact startup, Pittsburgh-based Fabric Health is adept at using community engagement to help members and their families navigate the complex world of health care—meeting customers where they are at, knowing time is often their most valuable resource.