Laura Joszt, MA

Using lessons learned from the past 4 years of working with 10 states and Puerto Rico, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices Health Division has released a road map to guide states in establishing state-level solutions to care for complex populations.

For the most part, it’s well known that eating healthy and in moderation is more beneficial to our health. In 2017, there were a number of news stories that drove that knowledge home.

A new sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 medication to treat type 2 diabetes is joining the field: the FDA approved ertugliflozin (Steglatro) from Merck and Pfizer as a single therapy and in combination with Merck’s sitagliptin (Januvia), a DPP-4 inhibitor, or with metformin.

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.

A group of 7 organizations wrote to CMS Administrator Seema Verma, urging the agency to support independent physicians and practices in the move to value-based care.

Currently, clinical guidelines offer little guidance on deintensifying care, which is critical for balancing overuse and underuse of services.

The FDA was busy in 2017, with a number of notable approvals, including the first chimeric antigen receptor T-cell treatment. In a session at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, employees from the FDA presented data on 5 new drug approvals in leukemia and lymphoma in 2017.

The top 5 most-read news stories included clinical content, such as an FDA approval, and policy news, such as Medicare reimbursement coverage.

In a session at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, Brian Curtis, PhD, of the BloodCenter of Wisconsin Blood Research Institute, highlighted drugs other than chemotherapy that may cause neutropenia in patients.

Despite effective pharmacology, many patients with asthma have impaired quality of life, but a new breathing retraining intervention can be used as a nonpharmacological intervention to treat asthma.

An analysis of behaviors, community environment, policy, clinical care, and outcomes data has found a disturbing trend in mortality in the United States, with premature deaths, drug deaths, and cardiovascular deaths all increasing.

Overuse of medical services has been a costly issue in US healthcare for decades. Now in its fifth year, the Choosing Wisely initiative from ABIM Foundation seeks to increase conversations between physicians and patients to help them make wise decisions about appropriate care and reduce the use of low-value services.

Los Angeles County found that investing in supportive housing and combating homelessness among people with complex medical and behavioral health issues ultimately saved the county money.

WIth different societies and organizations releasing contrary guidelines around breast cancer screening, experience with past patients or friends and family members could influence physicians' decisions around when to start screening mammography.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm is a cardiovascular disease for which 45,000 operations are performed yearly in the United States, but a new study found that targeting lipids may improve long-term outcomes.

A study of patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Poland, The Republic of Korea, and the United States identified substantial differences in respiratory symptoms and other respiratory illnesses.

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.