The special enrollment period for Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage has opened to low-income Americans; the FDA approves the first drug for a rare genetic epilepsy disorder; the National Institutes of Health to launch biomarker testing program for pediatric tumors.
CNN is reporting that a special enrollment period has been created for low-income Americans who missed the deadline to sign up for 2022 Affordable Care Act coverage. Most individuals whose incomes fall 150% below the federal poverty level can now enroll for plans with $0 premiums through the federal exchange’s website, with other plans available for a few dollars. The enrollment period is set to last for the rest of 2022, and it will also target those experiencing certain life changes, such as losing job-based coverage, getting divorced, or aging out of a parent's policy.
The FDA announced the approval of the first drug to treat cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 deficiency disorder (CDD), a rare genetic epilepsy, in patients aged 2 and older. Medpage Today is reporting that the approval of ganaxolone, sold as Ztalmy, a neuroactive steroid that acts as a positive allosteric modulator of the GABAA receptor, is based on results of the Marigold Study, which showed that patients with CDD aged 2 to 19 years exhibited a 30.7% median reduction in their 28-day frequency of major motor seizures when given the drug vs a 6.9% reduction for those who received placebo (P = .0036). CDD is one of the most common genetic forms of epilepsy, with an incidence of approximately 1 in 40,000 to 60,000 live births.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced the launch of the Molecular Characterization Initiative for pediatric tumors, which will offer biomarker testing, also called tumor molecular characterization, to children, adolescents, and young adults. Noted to be in support of President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, free biomarker testing will now be available to pediatric patients with newly diagnosed central nervous system tumors who are being treated at hospitals that are affiliated with the Children’s Oncology Group. The Molecular Characterization Initiative will expand later this year to include soft tissue sarcomas and other rare tumors.
Dr Dalia Rotstein: Physicians Must Be Aware MS Affects People of All Backgrounds
April 24th 2024Dalia Rotstein, MD, MPH, emphazises the importance of awareness that multiple sclerosis (MS) impacts patients from various backgrounds as clinicians think through ways to improve access to care and research efforts in MS.
Read More
Navigating Health Literacy, Social Determinants, and Discrimination in National Health Plans
February 13th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the February 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on how health plans can screen for health literacy, social determinants of health, and perceived health care discrimination.
Listen
The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) vote to ban most employers from issuing and enforcing noncompete clauses could have varying impacts on the health care workforce; federal regulators vastly under-enforced antitrust laws in the hospital sector during the last 2 decades, resulting in increased health costs; the FDA recently found genetic evidence of the H5N1 bird flu virus in pasteurized commercially purchased milk.
Read More
Drs Raymond Thertulien, Joseph Mikhael on Racial Disparities in Multiple Myeloma Care Access
December 28th 2023In the wake of the 2023 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, Raymond Thertulien, MD, PhD, of Novant Health, and Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation, discussed health equity research highlights from the meeting and drivers of racial disparities in multiple myeloma outcomes.
Listen
What We’re Reading: Abortion Privacy Rules; Alzheimer Drug Hurdles; Nursing Home Staffing Overhaul
April 23rd 2024New health privacy rules aim to protect patients and providers in an evolving abortion landscape; some physicians express concerns about efficacy, risks, and entrenched beliefs in treating Alzheimer disease; CMS addresses longstanding staffing deficits in nursing homes.
Read More
Award-Winning Poster Presentations From AMCP 2024
April 23rd 2024At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 2024 annual meeting, multiple poster presentations concerned with health equity, data collection, glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists, and more were acknowledged for their originality, relevance, clarity, bias, and quality.
Read More