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Despite a federal law enacted to respond to rising national drug shortages, a new study finds that although the numbers of national drug shortages appearing each year has decreased, the overall number of national shortages remains high.

This week, the top managed care stories included an exclusivity deal that has patients with type 1 diabetes unhappy, a report found the healthcare system could have saved $73 billion from greater use of generics, and The American Journal of Managed Care seeks your nominations for an emerging leader award.

Flip through any health-related magazine or website, and you’re bound to see articles touting the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle. But excessive standing can also take a toll on your health.

According to a new report released by the American Cancer Society, prevention, early detection, and interventions have worked for controlling cancer-but only for those cancer types for which these tools are available.

How doctors are using telemedicine to help relieve the desperate situation in war-torn Syria.

Recent coverage of our peer-reviewed research, in the healthcare and mainstream press.

Researchers in Germany have discovered that mitoxantrone-used to treat aggressive, relapsing, or progressive multiple sclerosis-can increase the risk of leukemia and colorectal cancer in those being treated.

Regeneron's CEO said ICER's methodology wasn't scientific. The nonprofit said analysis of a drug based on what people can afford to pay is the point of its work.

As CDC reports a record number of deaths from hepatitis C, it seeks to raise awareness of the need for screening and treatment. Authors and the editor of a special issue of The American Journal of Managed Care will take part in a briefing on the issue.

What we're reading, May 13, 2016: federal judge rules against Obamacare; Senate reaches deal for $1.1 billion to fight Zika; and Los Angeles is using healthcare funds to house the homeless.

Nonadherence to medications is a universal issue that has garnered significant attention in recent years. However, a new study concluded that medication nonadherence represents only a fraction of medication-related problems experience by patients.

The immunotherapy agent nivolumab was approved by the European Commission in combination with ipilimumab for the treatment of advanced melanoma, but rejected by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for use in patients with advanced lung cancer.

Cancer patients who receive a particular type of chemotherapy, called doxorubicin, run a risk of sustaining severe, lasting heart damage. But until now, there was no way of knowing who would experience this serious side effect.

In a blogpost on Health Affairs, 2 economists have challenged the claim made by researchers that packaging expensive, patented chemotherapy drugs into multiple vial sizes could reduce wastage and in turn significantly reduce healthcare costs.

The findings show poor diet can have immediate effects on the body, and they suggest ways to overcome them.

What we're reading, May 12, 2016: there are 18 bills in the House that address the opioid epidemic and Massachusetts residents don't think medical professionals are doing a good job carrying out a dying person's wishes.

While final decisions will come in Septembers, Aetna's early word comes in contrast with that of other large insurers heading into 2017.

Five states report that 1 in 3 adults meet the CDC definition of obesity, which is having a body mass index of 30 or more.

Less than 5% of individuals who received an opioid prescription are abusers, but they account for 32% of total opioid prescriptions and 40% of opioid prescription spending, according to a new report.

CancerCare's 2016 Patient Access and Engagement Report underscores barriers for patient access to care, as well as communication gaps with care providers, both of which have a significant impact on patient outcomes.

While health plans and PBMs have taken a variety of approaches to control spending on the new class of cholesterol fighting drugs, Cigna is the first to reach value-based agreements with the drug makers.

What we're reading, May 11, 2016: Hillary Clinton is floating the idea of letting more people buy into Medicare; American public not on board with speeding up FDA drug approvals; and Walgreens expands mental health treatment and service options.

Efficiencies that could be gained in healthcare information exchange present emerging opportunities to close discrepancies between evidence-based recommendations or best practices and the care that is actually delivered.

Algenpantucel-L, an allogenic whole-cell immunotherapeutic vaccine being developed to destroy a patient’s pancreatic cancer cells, has failed to improve overall survival (OS).

Exclusivity deals in managed care to hold down the cost of drug therapy are not new. But requiring persons with type 1 diabetes to use insulin pumps from a single manufacturer has brought out a whole different reaction.

Therapeutic substitution of branded drugs with generics approved for the same indication, in the absence of a generic equivalent, has the potential to yield considerable cost savings to the healthcare system and individual patients.

What we're reading, May 10, 2016: the FDA is looking to redefine "healthy"; leadership at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center is getting overhauled; and Senator Bernie Sanders' tax and spending proposals would add $18 trillion to the federal deficit.

Experiments with mice suggest a potential early treatment to avoid a deadly infection.

As the population ages, the role of caregivers for seniors becomes more important, and the idea of patient engagement is expanding to include caregiver engagement.

Nanostring Technologies has announced that its Prosigna Breast Cancer Gene Signature Assay has received a positive coverage decision from the commercial health plan Aetna.