Health Care Delivery

How counties, cities, and schools are saving money by importing drugs for employees; insurers are finally turning a profit on their Obamacare plans; new report projects the number of Americans with Alzheimer's disease will more than double by 2060.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, is eyeing spending cuts to Medicare and Medicaid; Louisiana's Medicaid program reported lower-than-expected spending and a potential surplus; ACA enrollment continues to climb, but expected to fall short of 2017 due to shorter enrollment period.

The rate of healthcare spending in the United States slowed down last year to levels previously seen between 2008-2015, driven by much slower growth in spending for retail prescription drugs, as well as hospital care and physician and clinical services. Private payers, Medicaid, and Medicare­ also saw lower rates of spending growth.

Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, makes her tax bill vote contingent on more Obamacare funding; some states are setting up programs to recycle leftover drugs; and pregnant women deal with medication uncertainty.

Researchers at Duke University found there is substantial room for improvement in providing consumers with ready access to healthcare prices online.

Republican leaders begin work Monday reconciling the differences in the Senate and House tax legislation, hoping to send a final bill to President Trump before Christmas. Senate Republicans passed the bill by 51-49 just before 2 am on Saturday.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

Flu season in North America is off to an early start; exercising regularly might not offset a generally sedentary lifestyle; short-term health plans are being packaged to circumvent Obamacare restrictions.

A look at the millions of tax filers who chose the penalty over insurance coverage; the cost of unnecessary or excessively expensive medical care; Takeda begins the first Zika vaccine trial.

Health insurers warned that giving states the ability to define their own essential health benefits will confuse consumers and undermine the insurance markets.

Physicians’ response to policy changes in the Affordable Care Act show that changing cost-sharing formulas can make a difference, according to results reported by Drs. Joseph Ladapo and Dave Chokshi.

Some states prepare to end the Children's Health Insurance Program with no new funding; shifting healthcare landscape reveals odd partnerships; Affordable Care Act sign-ups slow in third week of open enrollment.

The National Center for Health Statistics has issued its early estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, conducted between January and June 2017. The report presents selected estimates, based on data for 39,480 people in the first 6 months of the year, on health insurance coverage for the US population.

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

This week, the top stories in managed care included new hypertension guidelines lowering the threshold for high blood pressure, Trump nominating a new HHS secretary, and many consumers now have access to less expensive ACA plans.

The FDA issued new guidelines to speed up the review process for gene therapies; a new report calculates the potential societal benefits of eliminating the opioid epidemic; and one-third of Americans are unaware that the ACA's open enrollment season has begun.

Study finds 2 competing opioid treatments have similar outcomes; GOP tax bill includes repeal of the ACA's individual mandate; and a study finds a correlation between screen time and depression in teenage girls.

The dependent coverage provision was associated with an increase in total and private expenditures and a decrease in out-of-pocket medication expenditures paid, especially among higher-income groups.

As oncology moves toward more deep diagnostic testing and as standard of care continues to quickly evolve, technology advancements are necessary to continue to improve patient access to clinical trials, explained Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, the chief medical officer, chief scientific officer, and senior vice president of oncology at Flatiron Health.

While consumers must buy coverage or face penalties under the individual mandate for now, there is speculation that a Trump tax plan could remove this feature of the Affordable Care Act.

A battle between hospitals and pharmaceutical companies is brewing over the 340B program; Uber and other companies relying on independent contractors lead the push to get people to enroll in Obamacare plans; the government intends to crack down harder on fentanyl-related substances.

President Donald Trump is expected to name an ex-Eli Lilly executive as his pick for HHS secretary; Connecticut's new budget will cut Medicaid eligibility; Nebraska lawmaker seeks a Medicaid expansion ballot vote.

First day Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment surpassed numbers from last year; CVS will offer next-day and same-day prescription delivery in 2018; and voter confusion surrounds Ohio's drug-pricing ballot measure.

With the ACA putting emphasis on preventive care, there has been an immediate increase in breast and coloreactal cancer screenings. A recent study found that incidence rates of early-stage breast and colorectal cancer increased in 2014, but did not vary for late-stage breast and colorectal cancer.

The report from PwC states that people who met criteria for traditional Medicaid enrolled in larger numbers after the ACA, apparently with help from navigators.