AJMC® in the Press, December 15, 2017

An article in Healthline centered around the question of "why don’t people with high deductibles make changes?" As the article explored the question, they cited a study published in The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®). The study, “Impact of Consumer-Directed Health Plans on Low-Value Healthcare,” found that high-deductible health plans encouraged patients to cut healthcare spending indiscriminately instead of cutting low-value services specifically. The AJMC^® published study was also highlighted in articles published in Health Exec’s, Becker’s Hospital Review’s, and Twin Cities Business’s articles on how unnecessary medical spending does not decrease with high-deductible plans. The authors of the study concluded that consumer-directed health plans in their current form may represent too blunt an instrument to specifically curtail low-value healthcare spending.

The National Pharmaceutical Council’s CER Daily Newsfeed on Wednesday mentioned an article published on AJMC.com. “Survey: Disconnect in Perceptions of Healthcare Experience Among Stakeholders,” found that there is a significant disconnect between patients, physicians, and employers in their perceived values and priorities in healthcare.

Health Data Management highlighted an AJMC^® published study in its article on a health IT tool that aids care for patients with chronic disease: population health coordinators. The study, “Chronic Disease Outcomes From Primary Care Population Health Program Implementation,” found that the use of central population health coordinators led to greater improvement in short-term chronic disease outcome measures compared with patients in practices not assigned a central program health coordinator. The study was also mentioned by Medical Xpress in its article on centralized population health coordinators improving care for patients with chronic disease. The study authors concluded that a population health management program using a health IT tool improved process and outcome measures for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.