Mary Caffrey

The Jackson Heart Study continues to yield insights about the nature of cardiovascular disease in minority populations.

According to the CDC, the majority of deaths from the flu occur in people over age 65.

In the year since New Jersey regulators approved OMNIA, the state's health insurance market has experienced the same upheaval seen elsewhere: the number of options on the exchanges has shrunk from 5 to 2.

The Abbott system allows physicians to gather up to 14 days' worth of glucose data without the patient having to interact with any device, or even calibrate it.

Data show that the biggest factor affecting distribution of uninsured rates was whether a state expanded Medicaid. Even with that limitation, uninsured rates have reached historic lows. The trouble is, only about one-fourth of Americans know this, and more have moved on to issues that affect them personally, such as the cost of premiums or high deductibles.

The company's announcement notably does not use the term "artificial pancreas," although the technology is a considerably more significant advance from the 530G threshold suspend device of 2013. When the description "artificial pancreas" was attached to that product, the term was met with howls of protest from the type 1 diabetes community.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield's annual Patient-Centered Summit covered efforts by the state to expand naloxone access, provide peer support for those rescued from an opioid overdose, and the insurer's prevention practices.

The effort to reach young adults will allow them to shop for coverage entirely on mobile digital technology. But an economist interviewed earlier this month says it might not be enough.

The new guideline comes as FDA weighs an advisory panel recommendation for CGM dosing, which many see as a first step toward Medicare coverage.

Reports from the RAND Corporation, paid for by The Commonwealth Fund, portray starkly different results from the healthcare plans offered by the candidates for president.

Second of 2 parts: Coverage of the first half of the session appeared in the May issue of Evidence-Based Diabetes Management.1

Fitbits and other trackers are everywhere, but the study by JAMA finds that they may not help users with sustained weight loss, which has long eluded researchers.

A report finds that access to buprenorphine in Medicaid varies widely depending on where patients live. It's the latest example of the lack of mental health parity that former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy confronts in his long quest for equity in care.

While declining smoking rates have caused cardiovascular disease to decline overall, some risk factors are rising, such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.

The study in BMJ found that people with the FTO gene were just as likely to lose weight through interventions, such as diet, exercise, or therapy.

While obesity is a known risk factor in gestational diabetes, women who were obese and also were depressed when they became pregnant were at greater risk of gestational diabetes than those who did not have depression.

The dispute between the ACLU and Colorado Medicaid has been seen in other states and with other payers. Policy questions on treatment for hepatitis C virus were examined in a special issue of The American Journal of Managed Care.

The Bloomberg American Health Initiative would cover research on obesity, gun violence, environmental threats, adolescent health, and drug addiction.

Evidence has been accumulating that links irregular sleep with chronic disease, but today is the first time the American Heart Association has issued a statement on the topic.

Officials say the company will file with FDA some time in the third quarter of 2016 to begin the approval process for the novel delivery system that brings a continuous, microscopic dose of exenatide to patients with type 2 diabetes.

Results for Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide were reported today at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. A filing for FDA approval is expected before the end of the year.

The report showed a strong connection between states with high rates of inactivity and those with the highest rates of obesity.

The current issue of Evidence-Based Diabetes Management explores studies and patient access issues surrounding this closely watched inhaled insulin.

Gaining access to Afrezza can mean battling with an insurer to cover it. Sometimes the first hurdle is getting a doctor to write a prescription, according to those who've been through the process.

The suit doesn't address whether soda taxes have any effect on obesity or public health, but instead hinges on finer points of Pennsylvania tax law and its constitution.

Pfizer and Merck plan to file new drug applications with FDA for the SGLT2 inhibitor by the end of the year. One combination would pair ertugliflozin with Januvia, the blockbuster DPP-4 inhibitor.

An effort by the University of Utah health system created an "opportunity index" to identify areas of cost variability that would show physicians where they could find savings and improve quality.

The authors said this is the first study to examine antihypertension nonadherence down to the county level. Recommendations include greater use of combination therapy to reduce pill counts for patients with multiple chronic conditions, and synchronizing pharmacy visits to avoid multiple trips.

While the report found that the obesity rate among service members had gone up steadily since 2001, it was still only a fraction of the rate among the US population overall.

Two new reports suggest that Medicaid block grants could lock in disparities in federal funding between states that spend a lot on the poor and those that do not.