Authors

Lp(a) and Getting a Head Start Against Heart Disease: Jeremy Wigginton, MD

Lipoprotein a (Lp[a]) is a valuable tool for assessing a patient's risk of cardiovascular disease, which can facilitate earlier intervention efforts and reduce health care costs, argued Jeremy Wigginton, MD.

Assertive Community Treatment for Complex and Costly Patients

Assertive community treatment, a strongly evidence-based practice for delivering care to individuals with schizophrenia and low health care engagement, is applicable to disengaged, medically complex patients.

How Effective and Safe Are GLP-1s for Weight Loss?

Semaglutide and tirzepatide led to the most weight loss across 22 trials, while liraglutide remains a cost-effective alternative as its patent expires.

Trends in Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonist Prescribing Patterns

Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide, have increased in use and will continue to increase due to their effectiveness in weight loss.

Value-Based Care Interventions and Management of CKD Progression

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 3b or 4 experienced slower decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate 20 months after enrollment in a value-based kidney care program.

Early SYRUS Data Highlight Safety, Efficacy of AZD0486 in Relapsed/Refractory B-Cell ALL: Ibrahim Aldoss, MD

AZD0486 demonstrated encouraging safety and dose-dependent efficacy in heavily pretreated adolescent and adult patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to early findings from the phase 1/2 SYRUS trial and Ibrahim Aldoss, MD, of City of Hope.

Do Localized Disasters Impact Clinical Measures of Health Care Quality?

This study examines the impact of geographically limited disasters on health care quality performance scores of Medicare Advantage contracts, finding limited impact on performance scores.

Preventing Tomorrow’s High-Cost Claims: The Rising-Risk Patient Opportunity in Medicaid

For Medicaid care management, focusing on rising-risk patients is more effective than targeting high-cost claimants, whose spending tends to decrease over time due to regression to the mean.

Effects of Individualized Nurse-Led Care Plans on Olaparib Treatment Duration

A nurse-led personalized care program conducted through a specialty pharmacy prolonged medication persistence among patients with cancer receiving olaparib.

Frequent Primary Care Visits May Lower Costs for Higher-Risk Commercially Insured Adults

Tory M. Wolff, MBA, discusses his study showing that frequent routine primary care visits may lower costs for higher-risk commercially insured adults.

To Expand Access to Cancer Expertise, Collaboration Is Key

Effects of Maryland’s All-Payer Model on Elective Joint Replacement Surgery

The Maryland All-Payer Model was associated with an increase in population-based rates of elective major joint replacements, with a more pronounced effect observed in Maryland-only hospitals.

Varied Access: The Pharmacogenetic Testing Coverage Divide

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the author of a study published in the February 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® to uncover significant differences in coverage decisions for pharmacogenetic tests across major US health insurers.

Prevalence and Inclusiveness of Pay-for-Performance Incentives for HPV Vaccination

This article examines the prevalence of pay-for-performance incentives to promote human papillomavirus vaccination and other quality metrics as reported by frontline clinical staff.

Outcomes in Patients With IBD Stratified by Risk of Disease Progression

This study validates criteria to identify patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at risk of worsening disease who may benefit from early treatment with advanced therapies.

Participating Factulty: Real-World Impact of Infliximab Precision-Guided Dosing on Management of Patients With IBD

Managed Care COVID-19 Outcomes in a Population Health Program

Data from 38,193 patients showed that managed care patients have COVID-19 risk factors similar to those of the general population and that a population health program decreased mortality.

Gaps in the Coordination of Care for Older Adults With or at Risk for Cardiovascular Disease

Older adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD) or CVD risk factors report that gaps in communication among their providers are common and hazardous.

Cost-Effectiveness of a Multicancer Early Detection Test in the US

Multicancer early detection testing results in extended life-years and reduced cancer treatment costs through earlier diagnosis, leading to a cost-effective option in cancer screening.

Clinical Outcomes in Heart Failure Monitoring: A Pooled Rates Analysis

This systematic literature review and pooled rates analysis investigated the standard of care for patients with heart failure in the US post hospital discharge.

The Role of Advanced Technologies in Improving Diabetes Outcomes

This article reviews underlying barriers to health care access and discusses how a value-based diabetes care model could improve patient outcomes and reduce long-term costs.

An Integrated Practice Unit Tool for the Military Health System

Researchers developed and tested an assessment tool to measure coordinated care for traumatic brain injury against the criteria of an integrated practice unit.

Disparities in Physician Access for Rheumatology, Dermatology, and Gastroenterology: A Systematic Review

This article presents a systematic review of US health care disparities in physician specialist access across rheumatology, dermatology, and gastroenterology and a call to action.

Temporal Shift in Prevalence of Heart Failure Diagnoses and Comorbidities Within 2 US Integrated Health Systems

The analysis highlighted a shift in heart failure diagnoses, with hypertensive heart disease with and without chronic kidney disease as prevalent diagnoses, underlining coding variability and implications for research.

Continuously Updated Forecasting of SARS-CoV-2 in a Regional Health System

This study presents a methodology for forecasting demand of COVID-19 on health resources in an integrated health system.

Provider Barriers in Uptake of Biosimilars: Case Study on Filgrastim

Previous studies have found modest uptake of biosimilars in both commercial and Medicare populations. This study finds that the uptake varies between the rural and urban provider settings.

Looking Ahead: The Next Frontier in ALK+ NSCLC Therapy

Panelists discuss how promising ongoing and upcoming clinical trials may reshape sequencing strategies in ALK+ non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Nearly All Patients Who Received Exa-Cel for SCD Are Hospital Free After a Year, Data Show

Haydar Frangoul, MD, MS, medical director, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology for Sarah Cannon Research Institute at TriStar Centennial Children’s Hospital, Nashville, presented the data on the long-term efficacy and safety for participants with sickle cell disease (SCD) who received exa-cel.

Mortality Gap Between Puerto Rico and the US Mainland Among Medicare Advantage Enrollees

Among Medicare Advantage enrollees, the mortality of Hispanic enrollees in Puerto Rico was significantly higher than that of Hispanic enrollees in the US during 2010-2022.