- Center on Health Equity and Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
What We're Reading: Risk of Unsafe Prescribing for Dual Users of VA and Medicare
What we’re reading, December 12, 2016: veterans with dementia who used both the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system and Medicare were more likely to be prescribed potentially unsafe medications; HHS will begin to conduct on-site privacy compliance audits in 2017; study finds that women with strong social connections have better breast cancer outcomes.
A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine examined the risk of unsafe medication prescribing for veterans with dementia receiving care from the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system, some of whom also used Medicare Part D. The dual VA-Medicare users had more than double the odds of exposure to any potentially unsafe medication, with an adjusted average of 44.1 additional days of exposure compared to the VA-only users. The study authors wrote that “receipt of prescription medications across unconnected systems of care may increase the risk for unsafe prescribing.”
The HHS Office for Civil Rights will begin conducting a “small number of on-site audits in 2017” to ensure compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), according to an official. Senior advisor Linda Sanches said the agency is “looking for evidence that [providers] are implementing the policies and procedures” designed to protect patient privacy. The HIPAA audits were supposed to begin last year, but HHS did not release its phase 2 audit protocol until this spring.
Outcomes for women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer varied based on the size of their social networks, according to a study published in Cancer. Socially isolated women had higher risks of breast cancer recurrence, breast cancer-specific mortality, and total mortality than women with larger social networks. Specifically, higher breast cancer-specific mortality was predicted by the lack of a spouse/partner or community ties for older white women, and a lack of relatives or friendship ties for nonwhite women.
Prices for care at hospital trauma centers vary across hospitals; drug shortages reached a record high during the first quarter of 2024; although 3 of the biggest makers of asthma inhalers pledged to cap out-of-pocket costs for some US patients at $35, these do not apply to daily inhalers used by the youngest kids with asthma.
Read More
Navigating Health Policy in an Election Year: Insights From Dr Dennis Scanlon
April 2nd 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with Dennis Scanlon, PhD, the editor in chief of The American Journal of Accountable Care®, about prior authorization, price transparency, the impact of health policy on the upcoming election, and more.
Listen
The Biden administration recently launched the Global Health Security Strategy, a new effort to combat the spread of infectious diseases; lawmakers zeroed in on the risks of massive consolidation in health care during the first congressional hearing on the Change Healthcare hack; the FDA recently announced the recall of a pair of heart devices linked to numerous deaths and injuries.
Read More
Exploring Medicare Advantage Prior Authorization Variations
March 26th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the March 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on variations in prior authorization use across Medicare Advantage plans.
Listen
