Laura Joszt, MA

CVS Health has proposed purchasing health insurer Aetna in a $69 billion deal that could disrupt the pharmacy benefit management business and "remake the consumer healthcare experience," according to CVS Health's president and CEO.

CMS is focusing on patient empowerment and unburdening physicians, said CMS Administrator Seema Verma during her keynote speech at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Annual Meeting.

Panelists at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (IT)’s Annual Meeting discussed their perspectives on health IT innovation and expectations for 2018.

A growing number of clinicians specializing in nursing home care indicates the beginning of a new trend in healthcare, but the impact of these new specialists on outcomes remains unclear.

Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to identify people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from patients without the condition, according to a new study.

High prevalence of chronic conditions has been a key driver of healthcare costs in the United States, and Medicaid beneficiaries tend to have higher rates of chronic diseases than people not on Medicaid.

Patients are significantly overestimating the pain they will feel after surgery, indicating that providers can do a better job of educating patients on what they can expect.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy should be the first line of treatment for certain prostate cancers and lymphomas with a major genetic weakness, according to researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Researchers examined the gut microbiome of patients with metastatic melanoma who were being treated with anti–PD-1 immunotherapy, and they determined that patients with a more diverse population of gut bacteria or an abundance of certain types of bacteria were more likely to have their disease controlled for longer.

A collaboration founded by the American Medical Association (AMA) will bring together organizations like IBM, Cerner, Intermountain Healthcare, the American Heart Association, and the American Medical Informatics Association to improve patient care through a better way to organize and share healthcare information.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent and progressive airflow limitation, and a new study examined the factors responsible for a high St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire for COPD based on severity of airflow limitation.

Patients with psoriasis and with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are often treated with similar drugs, but those with psoriasis are at a higher risk for serious liver disease, according to a new study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

From 1999-2000 to 2015-2016, there has been a declining trend in high total cholesterol among adults in the United States, according to a report from the CDC. From 2007-2008 to 2015-2016 there was also a decline in low high-density cholesterol. Both types of cholesterol are risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which remains the leading cause of death in the United States.

While it is known that febrile neutropenia is the most common reason for pediatric patients with cancer visiting the emergency department (ED), little had been known about the most common reasons for adult patients with cancer ending up in the ED.

Some Republicans are interested in attaching a repeal of the individual mandate to a tax bill, and interest from members of Congress on the impact of such a move prompted the Congressional Budget Office to publish a revised estimate of what would happen.

After the Maine Legislature passed legislation to expand Medicaid on 5 separate occasions and each time the bill was vetoed by the governor, the state's voters took the issue into their own hands this election day.

A recap of abstracts presented at The American College of Rheumatology’s 2017 Annual Meeting, including an analysis of data available in an electronic health records database and outcomes and cost effectiveness of sarilumab.

In a pair of interviews, experts discuss neutropenia resulting from treatment of metastatic breast cancer with CDK4/6 inhibitors.

The House of Representatives passed a bill to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for the next 5 years, but a lack of Democratic support means the bill's future in the Senate is unclear.

During the final panel at the fall meeting of the ACO & Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition® in Nashville, Tennessee, panelists discussed the progress specialties have made in moving to value-based payment models, as well as the challenges facing the industry as a whole. The panel consisted of 3 individuals who provided perspectives from specific specialties, and 1 with an overall policy perspective.

There have been tremendous improvements in healthcare quality and performance measurements, but one area where more needs to be done is incorporating social risk factors into these measurements, said Shantanu Agrawal, MD, CEO and president of National Quality Forum.

A new viewpoint in JAMA has proposed a way to make it safe for undocumented immigrants to get care: sanctuary hospitals.

After a study reported that physicians who authored dermatology clinical guidelines didn't always fully disclose financial conflicts of interest, the American Academy of Dermatology urged the public to view the findings with caution.

History of neutropenia with methotrexate, concurrent treatment with synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (sDMARDs), and tocilizumab were risk factors for developing neutropenia while on biologic DMARDs (bDMARDs), according to a study published in The Journal of Rheumatology.

After mentioning it for months, President Donald Trump has officially decided to stop paying the cost-sharing reduction subsidies that help insurers keep premiums down for lower-income Americans.

AJMC®TV interviews let you catch up on what’s new and important about changes in healthcare, with insights from key decision makers-from the clinician, to the health plan leader, to the regulator. When every minute in your day matters, AJMC®TV interviews keep you informed. Access the video clips at ajmc.com/interviews.

The shift of the healthcare industry to focus more on quality care and prevention of health issues before they arise has increased attention on an area outside of healthcare that needs to be addressed: social determinants of health.

Despite their large and growing reach, accountable care organizations (ACOs) are still learning how to manage their populations and are slowly accepting more financial risk, according to the results of the Annual ACO Survey from the National Association of ACOs and Leavitt Partners.

Excessively low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides is associated with a higher all-cause mortality among American Indians, according to a new study published online ahead of print in Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications.

Bacteria in the gut may influence how effective cancer immunotherapies are, according to researchers at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.