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What We're Reading: County at Risk of Having No ACA Plans in 2017 Gets an Insurer
What we're reading, September 8, 2016: An Arizona county at risk of having no Affordable Care Act plans in 2017 gains an insurer; the difficulty of obtaining medical records; and Ohio county offers immunity for anyone turning in deadly drugs.
A county in Arizona that had been at risk of having no insurers selling plans on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange will no longer have to worry. The Wall Street Journal reported, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona has stepped up to the plate and will offer plans on the ACA exchange in 2017 in Pinal County. The county was at risk of having no ACA plans when Aetna announced in August that it was withdrawing from the exchange in Arizona. Approximately 10,000 had signed up for ACA plans in Pinal County.
Despite investment to digitize medical records, most medical histories still exist on paper, scattered among various providers. The notion that a person’s medical records is a single, easy-to-access file is fiction, according to The New York Times’ blog The Upshot. Not only can getting records be difficult, but few patients can understand the pages of lab readings, billing codes, and handwritten notes.
In Ohio, one county judge is offering immunity for anyone who turns in deadly drugs. The ruling came in response to a surge in overdoses in the area—nearly 300 overdoses have been reported in the Cincinnati area since August 19, according to the Associated Press. The offer of immunity is so who find potentially deadly drugs, such as heroin, can turn them into a law enforcement agency without fear or prosecution. Authorities say there has been a recent increase in street sales of heroin that has been mixed with carfentanil, a powerful animal tranquilizer.
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.
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NSAIDs vs bDMARDs: Sex Disparities in Treatment Initiation for Axial Spondyloarthritis
April 12th 2024New research examining treatment initiation patterns among patients with axial spondyloarthritis revealed significant sex-based disparities, shedding light on the process from diagnosis to therapeutic intervention.
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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.
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What We’re Reading: Medicaid Coverage Unwinding; Subscription-Based Health Care; Measles Surging
April 12th 2024Nearly a quarter of adults disenrolled from Medicaid are now uninsured; a new bill in Alaska will allow primary care providers to offer care based on monthly fees; the CDC warns of a 17-fold increase in measles cases in the first quarter of 2024.
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Study Urges Personalized Care to Boost Quality of Life in Patients With MM
April 11th 2024Treatment and management of multiple myeloma (MM) is continuously evolving, and in this analysis, investigators discuss ever-present issues and potential solutions to optimize care for this patient population.
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