Laura Joszt, MA

In a show of bipartisanship, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the 21st Century Cures Act on November 30 by a vote of 392-26. Here are 5 things to know about the legislation.

There is little patient benefit to using granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to help white blood cell growth and reduce the risk of infection in women with breast cancer, according to a study published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

How receptive Americans are to certain public health initiatives to improve personal and community health varies a lot depending on the beliefs they hold regarding government involvement and health.

Uncertainty was the theme of the day during the 21st annual "Wall Street Comes to Washington" roundtable, hosted by the Leonard D. Schaeffer Initiative for Innovation in Health Policy.

Donald Trump's election stunned many and made the prospect of Obamacare being repealed almost a certainty. Here's a look at 5 key points in Trump’s healthcare reform proposals.

By a large margin, voters in Colorado defeated a proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act with a single-payer system in the state.

As the Republicans retained control of both the House and the Senate and Donald J. Trump was declared the next president of the United States, it became abundantly clear that President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare reform legislation was in grave danger.

Medicaid programs throughout the country cover tobacco cessation therapies, but utilization of these benefits tends to be low and varies among states, according to a study published in the CDC’s Preventing Chronic Disease.

Prices rising for the same drug across multiple pharmaceutical companies might be the result of collusion, according to a letter sent to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission from Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Representative Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland.

Low-value care can harm consumers both financially and physically. During the final panel at the VBID Summit, speakers discussed how to address and reduce low-value care.

Various stakeholders in the healthcare industry are trying to determine value in healthcare, and speakers representing the pharmaceutical industry, research, and the patient perspective discussed the topic during the VBID Summit.

Underinsurance is a byproduct of the many changes being brought to the healthcare system, said Robert W. Dubois, MD, PhD, chief science officer and executive vice president of the National Pharmaceutical Council, during a session at the VBID Summit.

Speakers at the VBID Summit discuss health equity and applying value-based benefit design principles to provide quality care at a lower cost.

Working under the assumption that the outcome of the presidential race is pretty set, Avik S. A. Roy and John E. McDonough, DrPH, MPA, pondered the potential health policy changes during a Hillary Clinton presidency with a Republican-controlled Congress.

Healthfirst's Medicare Advantage members are largely low income, and actually poorer than its Medicaid members. In order to reach these members and foster trust, Healthfirst makes itself a part of the fabric of the community.

The Affordable Care Act’s changes in payment and reduction in benchmarks in Medicare Advantage raised questions about the future of the program that ended up being unfounded, said Sean Cavanaugh, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicare at CMS, during the opening keynote at America’s Health Insurance Plans’ National Conference on Medicare, held October 24-25 in Washington, DC.

In the keynote speech at the ACO & Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition, Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, started out by providing a broad picture of Medicare reform before narrowing it down to what is happening on the ground.

The Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers utilizes hotspotting to identify the most complex and costly patients and enrolls them in a care management program to empower them to take control of their own healthcare.

Supportive housing targets individuals who have experienced homelessness with chronic disease, disabilities, mental health issues, or substance use disorders. And with the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the program can help address supportive housing needs.

HHS has finalized the landmark Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), which reforms payment for Medicare providers and replaced the sustainable growth rate formula.

As the public grows increasingly outraged over the rising cost of prescription drugs, the cost of hospital inpatient drugs has been overlooked. According to a new report, inpatient drug spending increased 23.4% annually between 2013 and 2015.

The FDA has already approved 4 biosimilars in the United States, but there remains a lot of uncertainty surrounding some of the legislation and regulation.

As part of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's new clinical guidelines for myeloproliferative neoplasms, a group of rare blood cancers, Jakafi has been recommended for the treatment of myelofibrosis.

Health is improving around the world, but 7 out of 10 deaths are now due to noncommunicable diseases, like stroke, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and drug use disorders, according to a special issue of The Lancet.

Specialty pharmacy pipelines, healthy behaviors, and regulation took the stage at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP)’s 2016 Nexus conference, which was held October 3-6 in National Harbor, Maryland.

During the second day of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2016 Nexus meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, 2 speakers from Humana outlined how merging economics with psychology and sociology has helped them improve medication adherence and nudge their members into making healthier choices.

Even when following clinical guidelines, some patients will respond far better to treatment than others, and some will have worse side effects than expected. During a session at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2016 Nexus meeting, Nicole Scovis, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP, and Sandra Leal, PharmD, MPH, both of SinfoniaRx in Tucson, Arizona, explained how precision medicine can be integrated into primary care practice to improve care.

With 6 years under his belt, Patrick Conway, MD, is the longest serving chief medical officer in CMS history. During those 6 years, he has seen alignment with private payers increasing, Conway said during a plenary session at the fall meeting of the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations.

Legislation regarding the promotion of healthcare economic information is outdated and does not reflect the changes that have occurred since the FDA Modernization Act (FDAMA) was passed in 1997, contended speakers at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s 2016 Nexus, held in National Harbor, Maryland, October 3-6.

Perennial favorite, Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant of emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts, opened the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2016 Nexus, October 3, 2016, in National Harbor, Maryland, with a discussion of specialty pharmaceutical drugs in the pipeline.