What We're Reading, October 22, 2015: can aspirin prevent the recurrence of cancer, Clinton wants careful scrutiny of insurance mergers, and small businesses race against time to comply with the ACA.
Does an Aspirin a Day Keep the Cancer Away?
England’s federal healthcare system, the National Health Service (NHS), is funding a huge clinical trial that will confirm, or not, the beneficial effects of daily aspirin in preventing cancer recurrence. The study, planned for a period of over a decade, will recruit about 11,000 patients across 100 study centers in the United Kingdom, with 2 groups taking either a daily dose of aspirin (100 mg or 300 mg) or a placebo. The trials plans to recruit patients who are, or recently were, treated for bowel, breast, oesophageal, prostate, or stomach cancer.
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Clinton Skeptical of Consumer Benefit From Insurance Mergers
While shareholders of insurance giants Aetna and Humana approved the proposed merger of the 2 companies earlier this week, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton released a statement yesterday calling for careful scrutiny of the Aetna-Humana and Anthem-Cigna mergers. “I am very skeptical of the claim that consumers will benefit from them because the evidence from careful studies shows that too often the companies end up pocketing profits rather than passing savings to consumers,” Clinton said in the statement.
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Small Businesses in a Frenzy to Comply With ACA Demands
This is the time for owners of business with less than 100 but more than 50 full-time employees to prepare to meet Obamacare’s requirements—affordable insurance for employees and their dependents come January 1. This, along with the need to file tax forms by the end of January that includes information on the amount they spent on employee coverage and the Social Security numbers of the employees and their dependents, might require expensive outsourcing—a nightmare for some small businesses.
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Exploring Medicare Advantage Prior Authorization Variations
March 26th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the March 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on variations in prior authorization use across Medicare Advantage plans.
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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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Poor Well-Being Scores Linked to Early Treatment Stoppage in Multiple Myeloma
March 27th 2024Investigators used the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General General Physical Wellbeing Scale to collect data on patient-reported treatment-related adverse effects, to provide clinicians guidance on predicting risk of early treatment discontinuation among ECOG-ACRIN E1A11 trial participants.
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