Health System

Two doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine have reduced efficacy against the Omicron variant; a federal appeals court reinstates the Biden administration’s health care worker vaccine mandate in 26 states; a new combination therapy may reduce breast cancer progression.

Patients with comorbid nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and chronic plaque psoriasis were shown to have significantly lower estimated glomerular filtration rate levels and greater prevalence of more advanced chronic kidney disease.

Results presented at the 63rd Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting showed that using polatuzumab vedotin instead of vincristine in R-CHOP improved progression-free survival in patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Frederick Locke, MD, vice chair, Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy Program, co-leader, Immuno-Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses findings of the phase 3 ZUMA-7 trial presented at ASH 2021 and how use of axicabtagene ciloleucel can be optimally applied in a real-world setting.

Sattva S. Neelapu, MD, professor and deputy department chair in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma in the Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses findings of the ZUMA-12 study examining axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) as a first-line treatment option for high-risk patients with large B-cell lymphoma.

Mark Wildgust, PhD, vice president, Global Medical Affairs, Oncology, Janssen, speaks on progression-free survival, complete response, and overall survival benefits observed with ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) in CARTITUDE-1 and other studies presented at the 63rd Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting and Exposition.

Lori Muffly, MD, associate professor of medicine, Blood & Marrow Transplantation, Stanford University, discusses findings of her study showing disparities in clinical trial enrollment and patient outcomes for at-risk pediatric minority populations with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Findings about the willingness of primary care providers to prescribe artificial pancreas systems have positive implications for increasing access to and reducing disparities around this technology by alleviating the need to see a specialist.

Posters review how a patient’s neighborhood impacts access to the liver transplant waitlist and how Medicaid expansion improved waitlist mortality.

Researchers at the University of Rochester are analyzing facial muscle movements through videos taken over webcams or smartphones to train a machine learning algorithm with the hope that it can predict Parkinson disease at an earlier stage.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, vice president of health services research at the National Pharmaceutical Council, speaks on common misconceptions when designing value-based benefits.

Andre Goy, MD, MS, chairman and executive director of the John Theurer Cancer Center, provides an overview of the emerging data at ASH 2021 on CAR T-cell therapy as a second- and first-line treatment.

Pfizer predicts that a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine may be needed to quell the Omicron variant; CMS officials share figures on enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA); City of Hope announces acquisition of Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

Children with uncontrolled asthma had a 3- to 6-times the risk of hospitalization for COVID-19, the investigators found.

British study finds higher immune response when mixing Pfizer, AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines with Moderna; World Health Organization strongly advises against the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19; disparities in pay by gender among physicians.

Patients with psoriasis were found to have a more than 20% increased risk of developing incident venous thromboembolism (VTE) and peripheral vascular disease (PVD), with notable at-risk groups including women and those with concomitant psoriatic arthritis.

Results of a systemic review found evidence potentially supporting the use of smart phone applications among mothers with gestational diabetes.

Early data suggest the Omicron variant may cause less severe cases of COVID-19; a new JAMA study finds the average young adult overweight; spotlighting vaccine discrimination in Africa.

Peter Dicpinigaitis, MD, professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and director of the Montefiore Cough Center, discusses what he and others have seen during the pandemic in patients with chronic cough who had COVID-19.

Mild cognitive impairment has been proposed as a marker for the prodromal phase of Parkinson disease (PD), but little is known about its presentation in community-dwelling older adults.

A high comorbidity burden, including psychiatric, autoimmune, and systemic conditions, was found in US adult ambulatory populations with atopic dermatitis.

Robert J. Hopkin, MD, clinical geneticist, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, addresses major unmet needs in Fabry disease, ranging from uncontrolled pain to irreversible damage prior to treatment initiation.

Results of a retrospective study conducted in China assessed the safety and efficacy of ixazomib for multiple myeloma.

A study examining the relation between rituximab infusion and hospitalization as a result of COVID-19 for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) found that the 2 were not related, contradicting past research.

This commentary describes 4 dimensions of trust that have been illuminated by contributions from leading health care organizations to the ABIM Foundation’s Trust Practices Network.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, hear from a multiple sclerosis (MS) specialist about how millennial patients are different (or not) in how they approach their disease.

A mobile app was shown to be feasible in identifying risk of obstructive sleep apnea and associated symptoms, as well as promoting management recommendations among an outpatient cohort.

The CDC expands its recommendation on booster shots to all adults aged 18 and older amid Omicron variant concerns; a federal judge temporarily blocks COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health workers in 10 states; the Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments on Mississippi’s landmark abortion case tomorrow.

President Joe Biden will provide an update today on his administration’s response to the Omicron COVID-19 variant; marked rise in lung transplants for patients with COVID-19 sparks ethical questions; an independent panel of experts will advise FDA tomorrow on the use of Merck’s COVID-19 antiviral pill.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, vice president of health services research at the National Pharmaceutical Council, discusses the shift to a value-based system from a fee-for-service one and how the health care system can incentivize high-value care.