Diabetes

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

The rapid-acting insulin received tentative approval based on its similarity to Eli Lilly's Humalog.

Desmond Bell, DPM, CWS, said the patients he's seeing in his wound clinic are getting younger, suggesting that the challenge of preventing complications from peripheral artery disease will increase.

This week, the top managed care stories included responses to the disaster in Houston after Hurricane Harvey; the approval of the first gene therapy in the United States; and a new cardiovascular indication for a popular drug to treat type 2 diabetes.

The study finds that the GLP-1 receptor agonist can slow progression of kidney disease, one of the most costly and debilitating complications of type 2 diabetes.

There are positive signs among the youngest children in states where adult obesity rates are highest, but the challenge is to continue that progress as these children get older.

According to the CDC, 8.9% of children aged 2 to 5 are obese and more than 20% of youth are obese by the time they are 12 to 19 years old.

Patients with heart failure tend to have other health issues, requiring cardiologists to understand how to care for heart failure while keeping in mind treatment for these other comorbidities, said panelists at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2017, held August 26-30 in Barcelona, Spain.

The largest study of its type sought to pinpoint when the link between weight gain in pregnancy and childhood obesity occurs.

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

Placing formulary restrictions on brand name drugs shifts use toward generics, lowers the cost per prescription fill, and has minimal impact on overall adherence for antidiabetes, antihyperlipidemia, and antihypertension medications among low-income subsidy recipients in Medicare Part D plans.

A new report from Express Scripts examines patterns of costs and utilization associated with adherence to diabetes medications among a commercially insured population.

This lifetime economic analysis demonstrates vagal nerve blocking therapy to be a cost-effective alternative to conventional therapy in class 2 and 3 obesity patients.

Novo Nordisk announced that its diabetes drug liraglutide (Victoza) has been approved by the FDA for a new indication: it can reduce the risk of major cardiovascular (CV) events in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and existing CV disease.

This week, the top stories in managed care include a study on which mammogram recommendations to follow; findings that continuous glucose monitoring benefits patients with type 2 diabetes; and a new position statement on treating patients with diabetes and hypertension.

Researchers have outlined a 6-item risk stratification tool that successfully predicted the likelihood that patients with diabetes will have a hypoglycemia-related emergency department visit or hospital admission.

A Dexcom spokeswoman said there are already 20,000 Medicare patients in the pipeline with almost no advertisement of the policy change.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) today offered a position statement on treating diabetes and hypertension for the first time since 2003.

Children who were obese or at risk of obesity had less activity in the brain's self-regulation centers.

To avoid bias, the study did use aggressive titration protocols that might be found in a real-world setting. Still, patients using CGM saw greater reductions in A1C and more time in range.

A cardiovascular outcomes trial has already shown a reduction in cardiovascular events, but not deaths.

The findings suggest identifying children at risk of T2D and fixing their sleep could be a low-cost way to head off type 2 diabetes.

Cardiologists were thrilled with results of the FOURIER trial, but payers were less moved. Given the drug's $14,000 a year price, some wanted to know if they would see more than the 30% to 35% discounts they had been offered.

Those in the lowest income category had consistently light levels of activity, the study found.

Patient reported data can be a reliable source of information to ascertain comorbidities in patients with prostate cancer, says JAMA Oncology study.