November 2020

Generic use has increased over time in Medicare Part D, but substantial variation across plans persists in a number of common classes.

This study identified characteristics of patients with colorectal cancer who traveled farther for surgery and found that those who traveled tended to stay longer at the hospital.

Primary care physicians did not refer the majority of patients with severe nephropathy to specialists; nonreferred patients had fewer comorbidities and might be better kidney transplant candidates.

Using Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, the studied intervention reduced hospital inpatient telemetry time by 51.25% while increasing American Heart Association (AHA) guideline–based usage.

The authors report overutilization of telemetry monitoring in a community setting, increasing the cost of health care and potential harm to patients with unnecessary interventions.

This study, which provides the first description of episode spending patterns for safety-net hospitals nationwide, demonstrates that episode spending does not vary by safety-net status.

Diabetes and multiple chronic conditions increase overall Medicare spending, but spending increases even more in minority beneficiaries compared with White beneficiaries with similar comorbidity combinations.

The authors investigated whether patient coordination and caregiver support for Alzheimer disease reduced health care utilization and expenditures among enrollees in the Memory Program in South Carolina.

Fee-for-service billing codes can serve as bridges for organizations to build care management capabilities and transition from volume- to value-based payment and care delivery.

To mark the 25th anniversary of The American Journal of Managed Care®, each issue in 2020 will include a special feature: an interview with a thought leader in the world of health care and medicine. The November issue features a conversation with William H. Shrank, MD, MSHS, chief medical officer of Humana.

The authors introduce a mobile phone app that may effectively prevent and manage coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in outpatient hemodialysis patients in Sichuan Province, China.

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) must focus on enhancing the nonemergency medical transportation Medicaid benefit to improve patient access during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency as states reopen.

This report highlights the unique challenges faced by home health programs in addition to discussing how technology and policy changes have helped the elderly homebound during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.