Mary Caffrey

Clinicians in the audience attending the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said patients and payers may only see the headlines about the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) ratings and don't pay attention to finer points about recommendations for subgroups.

The drug's sponsor filed for FDA approval earlier this week under breakthrough therapy status.

Women face many barriers to treatment for postpartum depression, but obstetricians are well-positioned to help overcome them.

One study revealed that 40% of residents in the South report financial barriers that prevent them from giving patients long-acting reversible contraception, including lack of insurance coverage and the cost of the device, which prevents it from being stocked.

The president's panel at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' 2018 Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in Austin, Texas, discussed how to make postpartum care more value-based as women give birth at older ages and need team-based care.

Guidance for primary care physicians prescribing type 2 diabetes therapies comes at an opportune time. A major rift over guidelines for glycemic control has opened between the American College of Physicians, a professional association of internists, and diabetes specialists, including endocrinologists and diabetes educators.

If most practices excel at the same clinical practice measures, then small differences in performances could lead to significant financial differences, a speaker warned.

The analysis comes a few weeks after FDA approved a label change that reflects a study showing insulin degludec was associated with a 40% drop in hypoglycemia.

Researchers found that cost-effectiveness calculations shifted dramatically when they assumed people with diabetes used continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensors for 10 days instead of 7 days. This is significant because Dexcom just received approval for a next-generation CGM system with a factory-calibrated 10-day sensor.

AJMC® Convenes the First Gathering of the Institute for Value-Based Medicine to Share Best Practices in New Payment Models in Cancer Care

President and CEO Kevin Sayer said the company will file for Medicare coverage of the G6, while it continues to work out an issue that prevents beneficiaries from using a feature that lets data be displayed or shared on cell phones.

The insurer's chief medical officer reports that the CDC metric is proving useful over time.

Some Medicare Advantage plans may not be fully ready for the requirements of this history-making preventive service.

After taking recommendations from providers, Mississippi lawmakers pass a bill that would end caps on prescription drugs and office visits in Medicaid.

At the Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s 2018 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, 1 abstract found Patient-Centered Oncology Payment model would yield savings if hospitalizations were reduced, while another abstract piloted a scoring system for financial toxicity in gynecological cancers.

The lead researcher said the study could lead to women being given a statin as soon as they are diagnosed with endometrial cancer.

Much about using PARP inhibitors is open to debate, starting with what kind of genetic test to give before using them. Combination therapies are the next frontier, according to an expert panel.

Uptake for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has never reached CDC targets. Minority children from lower-income households are more likely to get the vaccination than white children from higher-income households, according to the study author.

An educational session helps oncologists understand the decision-making process for selecting treatments for recurrent ovarian cancer.

Clinical trials, and offering patients support to take part in them, can extend lives of patients with ovarian cancer, according to a researcher from the Medical College of Georgia. But another analysis finds that gynecologial cancers are low on the government's funding priority list.

A case filed more than a year ago has taken many turns, landing in a federal court in Trenton, where it has been shaped by a difference of opinion over how to address the role of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).

Adherence may play a role in the real-world findings of the study, which was sponsored by Janssen.

The study compared patients taking semaglutide with those taking placebo and liraglutide, which is approved for treatment of obesity.

Results from the ODYSSEY Outcomes trial for the PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab were the top news at the meeting.

The report finds a connection between payment reform and hospital use patterns, but that connection may add to the debate that cardiologists have raised over the effect on patients.

Sanofi–Regeron's offer to cut prices if payers improve access comes on the heels of the FDA Commissioner's critique of the "Kabuki" constructs that harm the sickest patients.

Coverage of the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology.

CVD-REAL, the giant study of real-world evidence comparing sodium glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors with other glucose-lowering drugs to treat type 2 diabetes, found a 49% lower risk of all-cause death and a host of other benefits across 6 new, more diverse countries, the study’s lead author told a packed room Sunday at the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando, Florida.

Coverage of the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology.

Healthcare reform pledged to do better for patients with heart failure, creating the incentives and team-based approaches these fragile patients need. In some cases, this has happened, but there have also been unintended consequences, according to a panel appearing Sunday at the 67th Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology, being held in Orlando, Florida.