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Howard Wolpert, MD, senior physician in adult diabetes at Joslin Diabetes Center, director of Joslin Institute for Technology Translation, and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, recognizes 3 issues with current care delivery models that with modification, can change diabetes care in this emerging digital health era. These factors, he pointed out, include: a serious lack of diabetes specialists, an unsuccessful acute-based therapeutic model that concentrates on prescriptive dose adjustment, and an unrealistic care delivery model of patient scheduled office visits. Dr Wolpert believes that care models currently in place are not effectively promoting patient engagement, self-care and self-management skills. Further, they do not adequately satisfying the needs of a patient with a chronic disease like diabetes who may require 24/7 support.

Dennis P. Scanlon, PhD, faculty member and health services researcher at Penn State University, and associate editor of The American Journal of Managed Care, leads a discussion on diabetes and patient care management that is concentrated on patient behavior, patient motivation, and ultimately, patient adherence. He is joined by Paul Ciechanowski, MD, MPH; Todd Prewitt, MD, FAAFP; Trishan Panch, MD, MPH; and Ronal Tamler, MD, PhD, MBA, CDE.

Osama Hamdy, MD, PhD, FACE, leads a discussion on how clinicians and diabetes educators can integrate clinical practices and multi-disciplinary approaches in managing patient lifestyles, and are more effective when covered by insurance. He is joined by Andrew S. Pumerantz, DO, FACP; Melinda Maryniuk, MEd, RD, CDE; Albert Tzeel, MD, MHSA, FACPE; and Edward Phillips, MD.

Frank Hu, MD, PhD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, provides insight into the report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which spends days reviewing hundreds of thousands of scientific studies in order to develop the report that will later become the basis for policy decision making, according to Dr Hu.

A Women's Health Initiative clinical trial has found that overweight or obese postmenopausal women are at an increased risk of aggressive breast cancer.

The federal law to ensure parity in mental health services passed in 2008, but CMS is just now adopting rules for what that means for 21 million Americans in Medicaid managed care.

A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia found that a TV program questioning the link between statin use and cholesterol reduction resulted in more than 60,000 Australians reducing or discontinuing the medication.

With a growing world population and a growing proportion of elderly, more people are living in suboptimal health around the world. A third of the world's population experienced more than 5 ailments in 2013, according to a study published in The Lancet.

An analysis of the Medicaid expansion plans of 6 states that have been granted Section 1115 waivers identified both the promise and limits that have emerged through these alternative expansion approaches.

This week the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions was held in Boston with results on 2 cardiovascular outcomes trials for diabetes drugs, and FDA advisory panels voted in favor of 2 PCSK9 inhibitors.

Some hospitals in the United States are marking up costs approximately 10 times the Medicare-allowed costs. This equals a markup of more than 1000% for the same medical services.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is drafting language that will help create an in vitro center within the FDA to define risk categories for laboratory-developed tests (LDTs), and set timelines to accelerate the approval process for LDTs.

Hospital spending rose 9.2% from the same period a year ago. Experts attribute the rise to patients who had been previously uninsured seeking care, some of it for complex conditions.

An initiative aimed at speeding the drug development process to ensure patients have faster access to innovative treatments, several provisions of the bill have received mixed reviews.

Although there are numerous companies providing natural language processing services, there are only a handful that are focusing their efforts on direct-to-person coaching. Here are 2 companies who chose to submit a review of their agents and their capabilities.

There was a strong connection between the proportion of patients a physician already had enrolled in hospice care and whether or not other patients would enroll in hospice, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

Delegates from the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have voiced a strong support to banning non-medical exceptions to childhood vaccination, citing a danger to public health.

State policies have had little impact on closing the margin between supply and demand for organ donations, according to a study published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine.

A proposed soda tax failed at the ballot last fall but may be revisited. Warnings would apply to outdoor advertising in the city limits.

The drug, baricitinib, is a JAK-STAT inhibitor being developed for rheumatoid arthritis. Research by scientists at the Unviersity of Michigan found a key role for the pathway in diabetic patients suffering from kidney disease.

The study found that early palliative care consultations in hospitalized cancer patients significantly reduced the cost of hospital stays.

FDA's advisory panel voted 11-4 to give the green light to Amgen's entrant in the PCSK9 inhibitor race, but not after a lengthy discussion on who should get the drug.

Several primary care and obstetrician-gynecology practices that participated in Cigna's Collaborative Care initiative presented promising results.

Editorials that appeared during the run-up to the FDA advisory committee meetings noted the lack of long-term cardiovascular data and the need to be cautious about lowering cholesterol at any cost.

Developed jointly by Sanofi and Regeneron, alirocumab (Praluent) was approved 13-3 by an FDA advisory committee.

A preliminary review of Amgen's evolocumab antibody (Repatha) by the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee, raises a few safety concerns and a call for ongoing monitoring, especially in patients with a high-risk of cardiovascular disease.

Denise L. Faustman, MD, PhD, announced the phase 2 trial during the 75th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. The 150 patients will be studied for 5 years.

The Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics came together for a half-day forum that concentrated on examining and studying the future of the Medicare program. In a 5-part working paper series, healthcare stakeholders examined trends, asked questions, and formulated proposals that would prepare the Medicare program for this incoming class of seniors.

A recently published study evaluated patients admitted in hospitals in Canada and in the United States for their risk of death within a year of hospitalization.

However, not everyone supports the bill's provisions that promote the development of pediatric rare disease drugs through the "voucher" incentive.