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The midterm election is less than a month away, and a new poll tracking how Americans view healthcare issues finds that a majority of voters in 2 bellwether states—Nevada and Florida—prefer a candidate who supports keeping the Affordable Care Act (ACA)'s protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Researchers have created a database that shows how 409 different tumor cells respond to 122 therapies, which will allow clinical trials to proceed for this aggressive blood cancer.

Previous studies have noted a lower quality of care in for-profit nursing homes, but those studies have typically focused on individual clinical effects. A new study looking at a broader list of neglect found that residents in for-profit homes are almost twice as likely to experience adverse health problems from substandard care.

UnitedHealthcare has announced it is listing 3 biosimilars as preferred drugs; Express Scripts has decided it will cover Eli Lilly’s and Amgen’s migraine drugs and will not cover Teva Pharmaceutical's drug; black men are more likely to get and die from prostate cancer compared with white men, but they are underrepresented in prostate cancer research because of a general distrust of the healthcare system.

A study has found no evidence that bleomycin plus granulocyte-stimulating factor (G-CSF) increases the risk for bleomycin-induced pulmonary toxicity in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma.

Last week, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced results from the phase 3 CheckMate -331 trial that investigated nivolumab (Opdivo) versus the current standard of care, chemotherapy, in the treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) who relapsed following platinum-based chemotherapy. The trial found that nivolumab did not significantly increase overall survival compared with chemotherapy.

Medicare beneficiaries who live in housing that offers supportive social services use the hospital less than seniors who live in the same neighborhoods in housing without such amenities.

Results of a study about an implantable device for chronic pain relief showed it reduced disability by about 27%, according to patient-reported outcomes about this nondrug pain treatment.

Starting April 1, 2019, Express Scripts will offer its SafeGuardRx Migraine Care Value program, which will help patients achieve better outcomes with preventive therapies and offer a value-based design for plan sponsors.

The FDA has developed 2 lists with molecular targets to increase drug development for pediatric cancers; there have been at least 62 cases in 2018 of children who have been affected by a rare paralyzing illness; a recent survey has found that health insurance has failed in its basic function of protecting people from financial ruin in case of costly health issues.

Piecemeal solutions to implement value-based payment arrangements will not be able to effectively enact change. Authors in The New England Journal of Medicine argue that a range of complementary solutions need to be pursued simultaneously based on previously successful tactics on a smaller scale.

The novel vaccine—eOD-GT8 60mer—stimulates the immune system to initiate a key first step in the generation of potent proteins, known as broadly neutralizing antibodies.

Treating lung conditions like asthma in pregnant women is a challenge, as it requires knowledge of both the safety of treatments during pregnancy as well as understanding the risks of the disease for both the woman and the infant, noted a review of a new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) information system for prescribers.

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) have the potential to enhance drug development, regulatory decisions, and shared decision making, and the benefits of using PROs are broadly agreed upon, but there are a variety of challenges facing stakeholders.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma touted the growth in enrollment in Medicare Advantage programs during an appearance at a conference run by America’s Health Insurance Plans on Tuesday.

The idea for putting drug prices in TV ads was part of the blueprint, American Patients First. The pharmaceutical industry opposes the plan on First Amendment grounds.

Oral theophylline has been used as a bronchodilator to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for decades, but it has fallen out of favor due to the side effects that come with the higher doses that are required to achieve any beneficial effect. A recent study sought to determine if adding low-dose theophylline to inhaled corticosteroids for COPD would reduce the number of exacerbations.

President Donald Trump named a Maine official opposed to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act for a position that puts her in charge of the national program; an unvaccinated child in Florida has died from the flu, becoming the first person to die from the disease this season; Kaiser Health News has created a database to track up to 10 years of pharmaceutical company contributions to any or all members of Congress.

A large meta-analysis did not find any beneficial effects to vitamin D supplementation for reducing fractures, falls, and bone mineral density, according to a recent study published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

As CareMore Health touts success in keeping Medicaid patients out of the emergency department, a separate report shows lack of access to Medicaid keeps the poor in many states from seeking care.

Medicare Advantage (MA) plans have been improperly denying many medical claims to both patients and physicians; low-income people in states that haven't expanded Medicaid are much more likely to forgo needed medical care, citing costs, than those in other states; dozens of vulnerable House Republicans have recently signed on to bills or resolutions in support of protecting pre-existing conditions.

Myeloproliferative neoplasms have varied progression rates, and a complex genetic landscape may contribute to heterogeneity in the outcomes of patients with these diseases.

Multiple myeloma (MM) occurs 2 to 3 times more frequently in Americans of African descent than in Americans of European descent, and a new study has identified 3 gene types that account for this disparity.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have not had a significant impact on cancer care costs and utilization. While cancer care costs did decline from before the introduction of ACOs to after, there was no significant difference in spending decreases between ACO practices and non-ACO practices caring for patients with cancer.

The analysis of data from EMPA-REG OUTCOME arrives as the FDA weighs the future of these large trials.

A recent study looked at regimens concordant with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines for Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) in order to describe categories of nonconcordant treatments; evaluate patient- and provider-level factors associated with nonconcordance; and determine the impact of nonconcordance on mortality, Medicare spending, and rates of healthcare utilization.

The time is right for providers to rethink how patients are able to check in for their visits.

A new study identified 3 novel genetic variants associated with chronic back pain, which is a leading cause of disability worldwide.