Schumer Offers ACA Fixes
With not enough Senate Republicans on board to pass legislation to repeal and replace, or even just repeal, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York) is offering is own ideas on how to proceed. According to The Washington Post, Schumer has provided 3 ways Democrats and Republicans can work together to fix the ACA. However, he did tell his party members that no deals can include tax cuts for wealthy Americans or cuts to Medicaid.
Alzheimer’s Drug Pipeline Booming
The last Alzheimer’s drug to be approved in the United States was in 2003, but that may change soon. There are 27 drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease in phase 3 clinical trials. Overall, researchers expect nearly 3 dozen new drugs could reach the market in the next 5 years, despite decades of failed drugs in the space and underinvestment. By 2050, there could be as many as 16 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease.
Few Hispanics Participate in Clinical Trials
A report from Kaiser Health News highlighted how Hispanics are often left out of clinical trials, with detrimental effects. Enrollment in clinical trials provides access to experimental, cutting-edge treatments, which means they could be left out of getting access to potential cures. In addition, lack of representation in clinical trials means researchers have less data on how drugs work among Hispanics. A new campaign from the FDA is trying to fix the situation by educating Hispanics about medical studies.
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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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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The Supreme Court seems likely to reject a challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone; the FDA is inspecting far fewer pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical research; AstraZeneca has sued to block an Arkansas law that it said would unlawfully expand the 340B program to include for profit-pharmacy chains.
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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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