- Center on Health Equity and Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Dr Karl Kilgore Discusses Benefits of CAR T-Cell Therapy for Medicare Patients
Medicare patients' health care utilization, including hospitalizations and emergency department visits, decreased after CAR T-cell therapy, said Karl Kilgore, PhD, senior research analyst at Avalere Health.
Medicare patients' health care utilization, including hospitalizations and emergency department visits, decreased after CAR T-cell therapy, said Karl Kilgore, PhD, senior research analyst at Avalere Health.
Transcript:
For Medicare beneficiares treated with CAR T-cell therapies, how did cost change before and after treatment?
In our sample of patients who got who got CAR T therapy, we looked at 6 months prior to CAR T and 6 months after. We looked at all costs, health care costs, pre and post, exclusive of the cost of CAR T itself. And we saw all costs decrease by 17%, post versus pre.
How were patients treated with CAR T-cell therapy cared for after receiving the treatment? What outcomes did they have?
We don't have a lot of information on the care itself. But in broad terms, we looked at healthcare utilization before and after. Specifically, we looked at hospitalizations and length of stay, and we look at emergency department visits. We found, for the population as a whole, that hospitalizations decreased by a significant margin and length of stay, or total days in the hospital, decreased by 17%, pre versus post. Emergency department visits were even more striking. The incidence of an emergency department visit, that is number of patients going to the emergency room, decreased by a third. Total emergency department visits, again for the entire population, decreased by nearly half after CAR T versus before.
Overcoming Employment Barriers for Lasting Social Impact: Freedom House 2.0 and Pathways to Work
April 16th 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our second episode, in which we learn all about Freedom House 2.0 and the Pathways to Work program.
Listen
Commonwealth Fund Report Details Pervasive Racial and Ethnic Disparities in US Health Care, Outcomes
April 18th 2024Using 25 health system performance indicators, the Commonwealth Fund 2024 State Health Disparities Report evaluated racial and ethnic disparities in health care and health outcomes both within and across US states and highlighted the urgent need for equitable health care policies and practices in the US.
Read More
Making Giant Strides in Maternity Health Through Baby Steps
April 9th 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are kicking off a special month-long podcast series with our strategic alliance partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our first episode, which is all about the Baby Steps Maternity Program and its mission to support women throughout every step of their pregnancy journey.
Listen
The Biden administration recently launched the Global Health Security Strategy, a new effort to combat the spread of infectious diseases; lawmakers zeroed in on the risks of massive consolidation in health care during the first congressional hearing on the Change Healthcare hack; the FDA recently announced the recall of a pair of heart devices linked to numerous deaths and injuries.
Read More
