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Employee wellness programs are now being supported by apps developed by technology giants like Google and Apple. But are they really helping keep patients engaged and on-track with their health goals?

With an aim to create parity between brand-name and generic drugs, the FDA was expected to pass a rule next month that would allow generic manufacturers to independently provide safety updates on their labels. The decision has now been pushed back by 9 months.

In an effort to foster greater transparency of healthcare costs, the government and private sector entities are offering tools that provide cost and quality information to consumers. But just how effective are these tools?

Results presented today at the American College of Rheumatology in Boston show that a 12-biomarker test did a better job of predicting radiographic progression in patients with RA. The study demonstrates how biomarkers are becoming important in managed care outside of cancer treatment.

After 4 years of living with inflammatory breast cancer, Amy Berman, RN, BS, senior program officer at the John A. Hartford Foundation, she still felt fine, which she attributed to her care choices, she explained during her speech at The American Journal of Managed Care's Patient-Centered Oncology Care meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.

The study, published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, identified race, insurance status, and the treatment center as variables that influenced treatment received by individuals with early-stage lung cancer.

In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, medical oncologists have delineated their recommendations to improve cancer care and provide better access to quality care for those patients with financial issues and on Medicaid.

One-fifth of adults with health insurance spent at least 5% of their income on out-of-pocket healthcare costs over the past year with low-income adults the most likely to have high costs, according to a report from The Commonwealth Fund.

ZMapp, which has been developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical, was successful in 5 of 7 Ebola-infected patients; but the mechanism of it's action in those patients was not very clear.

The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, studied the BMI of children in Southern California over a period of 8 years, and studied it's correlation with environmental pollutants.

Thursday is the Great American Smokeout, an event founded on this date in California in 1976. This year, the event comes amid the 50th anniversary celebration of the report to the US Surgeon General that started public health efforts to curb tobacco use.

Patients taking Merck's Vytorin, which combines simvastatin with the non-statin Zetia, experienced fewer major cardiovascular events than patients treated with simvastatin alone, according to the results of the IMPROVE-IT study.

An electrical device glued to the scalp can slow cancer growth and prolong survival in people with the deadliest type of brain tumor, researchers reported on Saturday in Miami, at a meeting of the Society for Neuro-Oncology.

Despite challenges with reimbursement and physician buy-in, healthcare organizations are committed to implementing telemedicine programs, according to a survey of healthcare leaders, mostly C-suite executives.

The collaboration between the 2 drug giants will prove a big boost to Merck's cancer immunotherapy MSB0010718C, and will also improve it's global oncology business.

After last year's disastrous start, the first day of open enrollment in year 2 of the Affordable Care Act had fewer hiccups. HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathew Burwell was reporting success from this weekend.

At its third annual conference, Patient-Centered Oncology Care 2014, The American Journal of Managed Care addressed new challenges in cancer care: more patients have coverage, but they may be "underinsured" or barred from academic centers. Amid rising drug costs and regulations that threaten community practices, the head of the largest oncology organization outlined a path toward value-based reimbursement.

In a press release based off-of results presented at the Society for Melanoma Research 2014 International Congress in Zurich, Switzerland, BMS announced results from phase 3 of the CheckMate-066 trial.

Following encouraging results from a second phase of a phase 1 trial, the researchers have planned a second phase, to be initiated in January 2015. The vaccine will be administered to glioblastoma patients just before they begin chemotherapy.

Yesterday, speakers opened Patient-Centered Oncology Care, sponsored by The American Journal of Managed Care, with a discussion of how to bring palliative care into the mainstream in cancer care. While progress has been made, a cultural bias against discussion end-of-life issue remains an obstacle.

Genentech announced that Avastin has been approved to treated platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, inc combination with chemotherapy, which now expands Avastin's use to 6 tumor types.

Peter Yu, MD, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, (ASCO) discussed the organization's efforts throughout 2014 to reform reimbursement and take on issues of value and quality in cancer care during Patient-Centered Oncology Care, the annual gathering sponsored by The American Journal of Managed Care.

The study, published in NEJM, found that in addition to supply chain and manufacturing problems, lack of competition may be adding to their costs.

A Kaiser Permanante study surveyed bladder cancer patients and found that current and former smokers were aware of a connection between smoking and their disease.

The cost-value discussion in oncology continues in Europe as NICE lists 40 drugs that it plans to reassess in terms of cost versus patient benefit.

A Republican legislative leader who was a top negotiator in creating Arkansas' private option will be the new governor's chief of staff. The pick is viewed by some as a sign that the private option may have a defender in the incoming administration. Meanwhile, Arkansas' hospitals are highlighting the difference the private option has made in reducing the ranks of uninsured seeking treatment.

A national survey published in JAMA Surgery identified too many repeat surgeries in women with breast cancer.

Following the Supreme Court's decision to hear an appeal for the ACA subsidy lawsuit King v Burwell, a DC appeals court has halted work on a similar case it was reviewing.

As cost containment becomes increasingly important in healthcare, the findings of a recent study in the Annals of Family Medicine on the impacts of continuity of care could have an impact on how healthcare systems deliver care.

Although open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act's insurance Marketplaces is almost here, a 10-question survey from Kaiser Family Foundation found that the health law's target audience still struggles with understanding insurance coverage.