Open enrollment for ACA health plans is extended after glitches on Healthcare.gov; EPA watchdog found that the agency's health monitoring during Hurricane Harvey was lacking; Purdue Pharma splits ties with the lobbying organization PhRMA.
After complaints stemming from website glitches on Healthcare.gov, the federal marketplace for buying individual health insurance, the government restarted enrollment for ACA health plans today and set the new deadline for this Wednesday, December 18, at 3 am ET. NPR reports that consumers who already have an account can shop for plans and find out whether they qualify for subsidies to lower the costs of plans at the marketplace website.A report by the EPA’s Office of Inspector General suggested that state and federal regulators told residents who live in and around Houston, Texas, the nation’s fourth largest city, that there was no public health risks during Hurricane Harvey even though it lacked a full range of data to definitively make that assertion, according to The Washington Post. The report also details that while no instances were found of the EPA relaying inaccurate information during Harvey about air quality, none of the air quality sampling done by the agency proved useful to assessing health risks.Opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma has split connections with PhRMA, the lobbying organization charged with representing the drug industry in Washington, according to Stat. The move is attributed to keeping a low profile amid multiple lawsuits citing the opioid manufacturer’s marketing of its drug OxyContin, as well as the company filing for bankruptcy. The split adds to the high-profile breakups between Purdue and institutions ranging from the consulting firm McKinsey & Company to JPMorgan Chase.
Navigating Health Literacy, Social Determinants, and Discrimination in National Health Plans
February 13th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the February 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on how health plans can screen for health literacy, social determinants of health, and perceived health care discrimination.
Listen
Need for Pharmacogenomic Testing in Mental Health Care Explored at AMCP 2024
April 17th 2024Presenters from Mayo Clinic discussed the benefits of implementing pharmacogenomic testing in mental health care for the betterment of patient outcomes, reducing medical costs, and more at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 2024 annual meeting.
Read More
Drs Raymond Thertulien, Joseph Mikhael on Racial Disparities in Multiple Myeloma Care Access
December 28th 2023In the wake of the 2023 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, Raymond Thertulien, MD, PhD, of Novant Health, and Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation, discussed health equity research highlights from the meeting and drivers of racial disparities in multiple myeloma outcomes.
Listen
Study Highlights Disparities in Access to In-Network Mental Health Care vs Medical Care
April 17th 2024While health plans often employ reimbursement rates as a tool to incentivize provider participation within their networks, study results showed reimbursement rates for office visits with medical/surgical clinicians were on average 22% higher than behavioral health clinicians.
Read More