May 7th 2025
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) policy summit, “Primary Care and Oncology Collaboration to Improve Patient Outcomes,” took place May 6, 2025, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
CMS Targets Health Care Disparities in ESRD Rulemaking for 2022
July 2nd 2021The proposed changes to the payment model for end stage renal disease (ESRD) would make it the first payment model under the CMS Innovation Center to directly address health equity by incentivizing increased rates of home dialysis and kidney transplants.
Read More
To Advance Health Equity, Use the Data—Don’t Just Collect Them, Officials Say
June 23rd 2021At a session of AHIP 2021 Institute and Expo Online, the head of North Carolina's health and human services department and a health equity policy advisor in the Biden administration discussed how collecting and using data to achieve health equity is ultimately a policy decision.
Read More
Understanding the Intersection Between COVID-19, Firearm Ownership, and Suicide
June 22nd 2021Michael D. Anestis, PhD, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health, discusses his research on firearm ownership and suicide, in addition to steps needed to help decrease rates of gun-inflicted suicide and gun violence in general.
Listen
MedPAC to Congress: Change MA Benchmarks, Slow Down on APMs
June 18th 2021The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) suggested several changes to Medicare Advantage (MA) plan benchmark calculations, with the intent to generate yield savings for Medicare, and urged CMS to streamline alternative payment model (APMs) where it can.
Read More
Commercial and Medicare Advantage Payment for Anesthesiology Services
June 16th 2021Mean in-network commercial allowed amounts and charges per anesthesia conversion factor are 314% and 659% of traditional Medicare rates, respectively. Medicare Advantage payments align with traditional Medicare prices.
Read More
Community-Based Initiative Doubles Accrual Rate of Black Participants in Cancer Trials
June 9th 2021An initiative launched with the intent to deliver equitable cancer care improved the enrollment rates of Black participants in cancer clinical trials by focusing on community outreach and engagement.
Read More
Who’s Driving the Growth of Medicare Advantage Plans?
June 9th 2021In this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with a coauthor of an article in June’s Health Affairs examining the racial and ethnic composition of beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans and the potential implications as the program continues to grow.
Listen
Softer Alignment of Medicare ACOs May Still Lead to Higher Prices for Office Visits
June 7th 2021The researchers created a model that simulated what would happen when health systems and providers began working together in Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) in arrangements that did not extend to outright mergers or acquisitions.
Read More
Contributor: It’s Time for Medicare to Cover Oral Alternative Therapies for Iron Deficiency Anemia
June 6th 2021The founder of the Renal Support Network discusses why patients with chronic kidney disease want Congress to change Medicare policy to allow payment for oral treatments for anemia caused by iron deficiency.
Read More
What We’re Reading: Boosting Vaccine Rates; Purdue Pharma Immunity; Decriminalizing Psychedelics
June 3rd 2021President Joe Biden announces a new initiative to get more adults vaccinated against COVID-19; Purdue Pharma may be immune from future opioid-related lawsuits; the California senate approves a bill decriminalizing psychedelic drugs.
Read More
Preventing Respiratory Illness and Death Through Tighter Air Quality Standards
June 1st 2021On this episode of Managed Care Cast, a research scholar at the Marron Institute of Urban Management at New York University discusses the latest findings in the Health of the Air report, which was presented at the recent American Thoracic Society 2021 International Conference.
Listen
COVID-19 Control in the United States: The Case for Masking
In the control of COVID-19, the future perfect of the vaccine should not be the enemy of the present good, which is masking.
Read More
After an ICU Stay, Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries Have More Disability
May 19th 2021It is already known that dual-eligible older adults are at an increased risk for death in the year following a stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), but it previously wasn't known whether dual-eligible status is linked with functional decline after an ICU stay.
Read More