Laura Joszt, MA

There was a strong connection between the proportion of patients a physician already had enrolled in hospice care and whether or not other patients would enroll in hospice, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

On the first day of the NCCN 20th Annual Conference in Hollywood, Florida, March 12-14, 2015, panelists took a look back at the last 20 years of the NCCN and why it succeeded when others had failed before.

Participants on the second day of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 20th Annual Conference in Hollywood, Florida, March 12-14, 2015, spent a long time defining value in cancer care and how it can be incorporated into healthcare decision making.

During the session "Principles of Immunotherapy" at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network 20th Annual Conference in Hollywood, Florida, Anthony J. Olszanski, RPh, MD, from the Fox Chase Cancer Center, described the complex interplay between the immune system and cancer.

Although teenagers have greater access to mental healthcare compared with 2 years ago, there remain racial and ethnic inequalities, according a survey from the University of Michigan National Voices Project.

More than half of women diagnosed with breast cancer undergo breast-conserving surgery with a partial mastectomy. A new study from the Yale Cancer Center found that removing more tissue during this procedure could spare thousands of these patients from a second surgery.

Despite fast adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) over the past 5 years, many clinicians have voiced concerns about the unintended clinical consequences of EHR use, such as reduced time for patient-clinician interactions, burdensome data entry tasks for front-line clinicians, and interoperability troubles.

A new payment model through the Affordable Care Act seeks to decrease cardiovascular disease for tens of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries by assessing patient risks for heart attack and stroke and then helping them to reduce those risks.

Cancer patients under the age of 65 are much more likely to try alternative and complimentary medicine to ease their symptoms and the side effects of their cancer treatments.

Individuals who enrolled in health insurance on the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces had lower average drug spending and were less likely to use most medication classes than patients with employer-sponsored coverage, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

A review of the benefit design choices made by states that expanded Medicaid (as of the end of 2014), revealed that states are offering more generous coverage that what is required under federal law, according to researchers with The Commonwealth Fund.

Innovative care delivery programs intended to improve quality and reduce costs need sustainable business models in order to last beyond the end of grants or other methods of time-limited funding. RAND researchers take a look at methods Massachusetts health plans and accountable care organizations are using.

Taking the time to educate patients before their medical device implantation has positive implications for patients, healthcare providers, and medical device manufacturers, according to a new poll.

As more patients become insured under the Affordable Care Act, driving demand for primary care and urgent care services, there is an increased need for alternative service sites, according to an analysis from Alvarez & Marsal.

German health authorities are debating whether the price of Europe's first approved gene therapy is worth the $1 million price tag.

Consumers with chronic diseases face challenging trade-offs when choosing health coverage, especially when it comes to out-of-pocket drug costs.

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act and its resulting market turbulence has not created the operation challenges for payers that was expected, according to a report from athenahealth, Inc.

Although millions of Americans have gained health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the Commonwealth Fund recently found that 31 million individuals were underinsured in 2014.

A bipartisan effort reintroduced legislation that would establish a demonstration in Medicare Advantage to evaluate the use of value-based insurance design's ability to reduce copayments and coinsurance for some Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, reported the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design.

Although the new and more effective hepatitis C drugs are expensive, they could save the United States and 5 European countries more than $3.2 billion annually, according to estimates reported at Digestive Disease Week 2015.

Another 1.1 million individuals could potentially be affected by another cyberattack. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield announced that it had been the target of a sophisticated cyberattack. The hackers gained access to a single database in June 2014, according to the company.

With studies showing that patients overestimate the benefits of cancer screening and are misinformed about the potential harms, the American College of Physicians has issues advice for screening adults with average risk and no symptoms for 5 common cancers: breast, colorectal, ovarian, prostate, and cervical.

Although the uninsured rate among Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 years was already lower than the national average, the rate fell by nearly a third from December 2013 to December 2014, according to a study published by the AARP Public Policy Institute.

Although the vision of the learning health system is simple in theory, it is highly complicated, said Penny Mohr, senior program officer for improving healthcare systems at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, during the first plenary session at the ISPOR 20th Annual Meeting, held May 18-20 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Health insurance companies will be looking for consumers to pay more in 2016, according to Kim Holland, director for state affairs for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, who called demands for lower premiums or monthly fees "unrealistic."

Although there has been improvement in the use of health information technology for care coordination, fewer than half of patient-centered medical homes routinely use computerized systems to identify patients seen in emergency departments or hospitals or to send care summary to other providers.

There is an association between the implementation of chronic care model elements and improvements with healthcare practice or health outcomes for people with chronic disease, according to a literature review of papers.

While offering incentives for participation in workplace wellness programs do increase participating, RAND researchers found that offering a comprehensive plan, as opposed to a limited one, is almost as effective at increasing employee uptake.

The use of an electronic personal health record-based self-management system can improve patient engagement and reduce costly falls among older adults, according to the results of a new study in eGEMs.

A very small segment of the Medicaid-only population-those who are not also eligible for Medicare-accounted for almost half of expenditures for all Medicaid-only enrollees from 2009 to 2011, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.