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What We're Reading: Immune System Shown to Cure HIV; Premature Births Increasing; Handling Mental Health Crises
Researchers have found a second reported case of an immune system potentially curing a person of HIV; US premature birth rates are on the rise in minority groups; most Americans say mental health professionals should be first responders to mental health and suicide situations.
Woman’s Immune System Reportedly Cures Her of HIV
According to a study published yesterday in Annals of Internal Medicine, a woman in Argentina may have been cured of HIV by her immune system. Reported by NBC News, the 30-year-old mother, who received her diagnosis in 2013 and is also known as the “Esperanza patient,” would be only the second reported case of a so-called sterilizing cure for the virus via natural immunity. HIV is especially difficult to cure because of viral reservoirs, collections of long-lived immune cells, that can remain dormant for extended periods of time. So far, HIV has been successfully cured therapeutically in 2 people through complex and potentially dangerous stem cell transplants.
Premature Births Rising in Black, Native American Women
A study published yesterday by March of Dimes shows that the overall rate of premature births in the United States decreased for the first time in 6 years, but not in at-risk groups of Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native people. Despite decreasing in the United States from 10.2% in 2019 to 10.1% in 2020, the at-risk groups were conversely shown to now be up to 60% more likely to give birth prematurely compared with White women. Notably, the rate of preterm birth has increased by nearly 8% for Black women since 2014 and by 11% for American Indian/Alaskan Native people.
Poll Says Police Should Not Handle Mental Health Crises
A poll released yesterday by Ipsos on behalf of the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that a majority of Americans said mental health professionals, not law enforcement, should be first responders to mental health and suicide situations. Reported by The Hill, 72% of respondents had a favorable view of police, but more than 60% said they would be afraid that law enforcement would hurt a loved one when responding to a mental health crisis. Almost half also said they would be afraid to call 911 for a loved one experiencing a mental health crisis.
Kaiser Permanente was hit by a data breach in mid-April, impacting 13.4 million health plan members; GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) sued Pfizer and BioNTech for allegedly infringing on its messenger RNA technology patents in the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines; the CDC announced the first-known HIV cases transmitted via cosmetic injections.
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Navigating Medicare's Part D Subsidy Program to Achieve Value-Based Care
May 26th 2023On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the lead researcher from a study published in the May 2023 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about the impact of low-income subsidies on the uptake and equitable use of expensive orally administered antimyeloma therapy.
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Health Equity Conversations: Managing Underserved Communities and Value-Based Payment
May 23rd 2023On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we feature several leaders in diversity, equity, and inclusion advancing health equity in their respective organization’s policy and practice initiatives.
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Prices for care at hospital trauma centers vary across hospitals; drug shortages reached a record high during the first quarter of 2024; although 3 of the biggest makers of asthma inhalers pledged to cap out-of-pocket costs for some US patients at $35, these do not apply to daily inhalers used by the youngest kids with asthma.
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