Health Care Delivery

Patients with obstuctive sleep apnea were found to be significantly more likely to have brain white matter hyperintensities, lesions known to signal brain aging and potential risk of Alzheimer disease.

Francis Collins, MD, PhD, will step down as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at the end of the year; the Biden administration ends a ban on federal funds for clinics that provide abortion referrals; the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective in preventing hospitalization and death 6 months after the second dose.

Analysis finds significant spike in deaths among nursing home residents due to the Delta variant; hospitalization charges for patients with COVID-19 vary widely; spotlighting the threat of heat waves and extreme weather conditions for pregnant women.

Aligned with increases in costs for both airplane and helicopter air ambulance transport, average estimated air ambulance costs rose 76.4% from 2017 to 2020, according to Robin Gelburd, JD, president of FAIR Health.

The study aimed to identify the usefulness of telemonitoring to detect and manage acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD).

Secukinumab was associated with a high rate of short- and long-term drug survival in the treatment of patients with psoriasis, with factors such as obesity and prior biologic use linked to discontinuation of use.

Artificial intelligence (AI) was used to predict response of high-grade extrauterine serous carcinoma (HGSC) to adjuvant platinum chemotherapy.

Consumer protections against surprise medical billing will go into effect January 1; Merck’s experimental oral COVID-19 antiviral drug shows efficacy against variants; an online questionnaire finds a 40% decrease in teen vaping from 2020 to 2021.

Highlighting the latest ophthalmology-related news reported across MJH Life Sciences™.

Although physicians’ clinical decisions serve as the biggest drivers behind the cost of care, hospitals have long been reluctant to take financial accountability. If such accountability is to be transformed from a diffuse fear to a manageable managerial task, institutional engagement with physicians will be a critical next step.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Susan Quaggin, MD, FASN, a nephrologist and the chief of nephrology/hypertension and director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular and Renal Research Institute at Northwestern University, as well as current president of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN). She discusses the recommendations of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and ASN Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Diseases and what comes next for laboratories, clinicians, and patients.

Risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR) was found to be decreased in young patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) who were treated with insulin pumps, with findings also indicating a 2.1-fold greater risk of DR in Black participants compared with White individuals.

Results of a representative study of patients at federally qualified health centers found Medicaid expansion was associated with reduced rates of uninsurance, improved blood pressure and diabetes control measures, and progress in closing racial care disparities over 5 years.

The Oncology Care Model (OCM) is scheduled to end in just a few months, but with no new model in place to succeed it and practices still struggling during the pandemic, OCM should continue in its current form, said Kashyap Patel, MD, CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associations, current president of the Community Oncology Alliance, and co-chair of Patient-Centered Oncology Care®.

A new report from the CDC details how testing for HIV and care for the disease among at-risk populations were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and proposes that self-testing may be a workable solution.

In the opening sessions at the Patient-Centered Oncology Care® conference, held September 23-24 both virtually and in Nashville, Tennessee, speakers focused on addressing disparities by getting involved and engaged with the community.

Rajesh Rajpal, MD, chief medical officer, global head of clinical medical affairs, Johnson & Johnson Vision, addresses ongoing and future innovations in eye lens technology and instruments for cataract surgery.

Advanced dementia and serum albumin levels were better predictors of poor outcomes, the investigators said, among older patients with Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).

Long-awaited reports released Thursday call for eliminating race in estimated glomerular filtration rate equations and point to alternatives in an effort to eliminate disparities in chronic kidney disease.

In a recent paper, researchers outlined the utility of minimal residual disease (MRD) among patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and how its monitoring at specific timepoints has proven useful for stratifying patients and helping to ensure appropriate treatment decisionsMRD

Misconceptions about the safety and necessity of vaccines were cited as the main reasons for lower-than-recommended vaccination rates among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to new research.

The current study found that those prescribed potentially inappropriate medications were actually less likely to revisit the emergency department within 30 days, in contrast to prior work.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we address how delays in routine care and other aspects of the pandemic are affecting payer organizations today, and how technology innovations like natural language processing can work to empower key initiatives in population health and beyond.

A new report shows patient readmissions and mortality dropped among patients aged 65 and older following the institution of an antibiotic stewardship program.

Considering the personal, societal, and economic toll of treatment-resistant depression, we must make it easier to access medicines and care that provide value, both for the patient and for the health care system.