Following Scuttled Mergers, Insurers Consider Next Steps
Both the Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana megamergers have been blocked, so what is next for insurers? According to Bloomberg, the companies may consider other deals with the cash they have allocated. Plus, companies may try new deals with the hope that the Trump administration’s antitrust officials may be more open to large takeovers. Humana may still remain a sought after target for deals.
GOP Split on ACA Repeal Timeline
Some of the more conservative members of the Republican Party are calling for a faster repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They believe that President Donald Trump’s speculation that the repeal could happen next year, and even assertions from House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, that repeal would happen by the end of this year, are too slow, reported Kaiser Health News. This subset of the party is pushing to repeal the ACA now even without a replacement ready—something insurers and other stakeholders, as well as some party leaders now, are opposed to.
Should You Finish Antibiotics?
The instruction from doctors that patients finish prescribed antibiotics even when they feel better may go away. STAT reported that such a directive might actually be exacerbating antibiotic resistance. Patients who take antibiotics when they are no longer sick may drive bacteria in the body to develop a resistance so the antibiotics don’t work the next time there is an infection. The World Health Organization will debate the argument in March.
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.
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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.
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The Supreme Court seems likely to reject a challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone; the FDA is inspecting far fewer pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical research; AstraZeneca has sued to block an Arkansas law that it said would unlawfully expand the 340B program to include for profit-pharmacy chains.
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Poor Well-Being Scores Linked to Early Treatment Stoppage in Multiple Myeloma
March 27th 2024Investigators used the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General General Physical Wellbeing Scale to collect data on patient-reported treatment-related adverse effects, to provide clinicians guidance on predicting risk of early treatment discontinuation among ECOG-ACRIN E1A11 trial participants.
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