All News

Syapse, a leading precision medicine company, and Roche have joined forces to advance precision medicine in oncology. They will work together to bring real-world data to providers, bring oncology into the value-based care era, advance patient-reported outcomes, and optimize clinical trial recruiment.

AstraZeneca’s epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor, osimertinib (Tagrisso), is on the fast track in 2018 to become a first-line treatment for adult patients with locally-advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have EGFR mutations.

Alex Azar, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next secretary of HHS, suggested during his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) would be the most effective tool to negotiate for lower drug costs, and said that PBMs should negotiate physician-administered drugs covered under Medicare Part B.

Eisai’s multiple receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib and Merck’s anti–PD-1 therapy pembrolizumab as a combination therapy for patients with renal cell carcinoma received the designation based on results from the renal cell carcinoma cohort in Study 111.

Older adults who are prescribed many medications that require frequent trips to the pharmacy are more likely to not refill their prescriptions on time, but patients who participate in medication synchronization programs have improved adherence to cardiovascular medications, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

Brenda Schmidt, CEO of Solera Health, discusses the historic launch of the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program scheduled for this April and how her company is helping providers and other stakeholders get ready.

Three hospital groups are appealing a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit challenging the new cuts to the 340B program; report finds poor oversight of data repository resulted in $36.7 billion in payment errors in 2017; a new executive order will expand mental health care for new veterans.

The announcement comes after CMS canceled an Obama-era proposal for mandatory bundled payments in cardiac care, as well as a mandatory expansion of a program in joint replacements.

Psychological factors negatively affect quality-of-life scores in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, according to a recent study published in the International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

It’s true, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are complicated, admitted Tim Wentworth, president and CEO of Express Scripts, during his presentation at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, California. However, the company is built to succeed in the future of healthcare, he said.

A recent study from Australia found that the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms was associated with an increased risk of persisting neck pain and disability in motor vehicle crash survivors with whiplash injuries.

When patients with rheumatoid arthritis experience failure of an anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy, clinical guidelines support either cycling to a different anti-TNF agent or switching to a treatment with a different method of action (MOA). However, payers often require cycling of anti-TNF options before they will reimburse for treatments with a different MOA.

Federal budget watchdogs have drastically lowered their estimate of what it will take to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) because of 3 factors related to tax law changes affecting the Affordable Care Act at the end of last year that basically make it cheaper to insure children through CHIP than through insurance marketplaces.

Cross-sectoral partnerships between Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) and healthcare and non-healthcare organizations are an effective way of addressing determinants of health among older adults, according to a recent study published in Health Affairs.

While public funding through the National Institutes of Health has created a foundation for healthcare research, the private sector can benefit from getting more involved, said Bill Gates, philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft.

A report from the American Cancer Society estimated new cancer cases and deaths for 2018 and took a look at the most recent data to determine cancer incidence through 2014 and mortality through 2015.

Despite recent setbacks, drug makers and investors are still optimistic about finding an Alzheimer disease treatment; the United States' already moderately severe flu season could get worse; a charity that assists patients with out-of-pocket drug costs is suing the government over communication restrictions with drug donors.

Dry eye was found to be a comorbid pain condition among US veterans, raising the suggestion that pain specialists screen for this disorder in their chronic pain patients, researchers reported recently.

The study confirms reports heard throughout the country in the years since implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

The approval will expand the currently approved indication for the prevention of skeletal-related events in patients with bone metastases from solid tumors to also include patients with multiple myeloma.

A new guideline from the American Psychiatric Association to treat alcohol use disorder focuses on the use of evidence-based pharmacological treatments.

CDC to hold workshop that prepares for a public health response to a nuclear detonation; hospitals face shortage of intravenous bags after Hurricane Maria damages production in Puerto Rico; Idaho's governor signs executive order to loosen the Affordable Care Act's rules on health coverage requirements.

A subset of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with highly expressed CD49d have poorer outcomes while on Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib, which antagonizes B-cell receptor (BCR) signals. However, a team of researchers may have found a way to treat these patients.

Although an additional one-time screening at any age between 15 and 30 yields important gains in HIV diagnosis rates and life expectancy for HIV-infected people, screening at age 25 would provide the most favorable clinical outcomes and the best value for money, according to a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

New drugs to treat multiple myeloma (MM) have provided clinical benefits, but a study published in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy found not all of them can be considered cost effective.

As health IT continues to have a growing impact, new draft guidances, regulations, and innovations have been introduced to better enhance interoperability and the healthcare experience for both providers and patients. The arrival of 2018 brought multiple updates in health IT that will likely have lasting implications.

The factory-calibrated continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system is being touted as less expensive, and a spokeswoman said it will not require bundling with a meter, which is required for a competitor.

Several studies have suggested that inflammation plays a role in Huntington disease (HD), and a recent review, published in Neural Regeneration Research, explored the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory agents that have been investigated as possible treatments for HD.

Draft framework from the Office of the National Coordinator on Health IT seeks to build a single on-ramp to advance interoperability in the United States through the Trusted Exchange Framework.

This week, the top managed care stories included an analysis of how healthcare spending has changed in the United States; a study finds people willing to try e-cigarettes smoke less and are more likely to quit; and a new cholesterol test that doesn't require fasting gives more accurate results.