Diabetes

A one-minute look at managed care news during the week of February 9, 2015, including an announcement of a new Affordable Care Initiative and a potential change to recommended dietary guidelines.

This retrospective cohort study in a Medicare Advantage population posits that type 2 diabetes mellitus complications pose an excess burden on healthcare resource use and related costs.

The situation with hepatitis C drug costs is setting an interesting precedent for the rest of healthcare and one that needs to be watched closely, according to Keith Hoffman, PhD.

If the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee drops cholesterol from the list of "nutrients of concern," it will be consistent with a 2013 task force finding as well as the panel's focus on dietary patterns, or the mix of foods that Americans eat and their effect on population health.

The effect of switching from multiple daily insulin injections to an insulin pump on insulin and other diabetic drug expenditures in type 2 diabetes.

An editorial accompanying the meta-analysis discussed the challenges physicians face when evaluating individual patient needs against guidelines. In the United States, the movement toward reimbursement based on population health measures has raised questions about whether it makes sense for patients to be given multiple medications to achieve small improvements toward targets. Results must be weighed against increased side affects or large out-of-pocket expenditures.

A disease management program at the University of Minnesota revealed only some targeted chronic diseases benefitted from the program while others were unaffected.

After nearly 6 years overseeing public health initiatives, Margaret Hamburg, MD, commissioner of the FDA will be stepping down, according to various sources.

In his blog post on FDAVoice, Peter Lurie MD, MPH, associate FDA commissioner for public health strategy and analysis, announced the introduction of a draft form and a draft guideline that can be used by a physician to request access to an experimental drug or biological product that is still under development.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is a comparatively small part of the federal budget, but its research priorities for FY 2016 affect areas that consume huge sums.

The dual inhibitor tablet, a combination of an SGLT-2 inhibitor and a DPP-4 inhibitor, is expected to stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin and stimulate the liver to produce less glucose, and also prevent glucose reabsorption.

Although estimates suggest more than 8% in the state suffer from diabetes, federal budge cuts have been partly responsible for the lack of funding.

Addressing primary medication nonadherence through a telephonic intervention from the physicians office was not any more successful than the usual phone calls from the pharmacy.

Meeting enrollment goals for the Affordable Care Act proved the easy part for the HHS in 2015. The hard part will come March 4, 2015, when the US Supreme Court will hear a case that could eliminate financial subsidies for millions who signed up, putting their health coverage at risk.

The Share system has been classified as a novel but low-to-moderate risk device, exempt from the requirement for premarket submissions.

With diabetes rates projected to rise sharply, automated retinal screening may represent an attractive low-cost option to meet the growing demand for routine screening services.