AJMC Staff

In this interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Sigrun Hallmeyer, MD, medical director of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital’s Cancer Service Line and co-director of medical research at Advocate Aurora Health, in Illinois, touches on several important topics within the melanoma space.

Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration program, which began in 2008, has helped states transition more than 107,000 people to community settings rather than living in institutional facilities.

People who experienced childhood poverty and other adversities are at greater risk of premature death in adulthood; Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is 73% effective in protecting children younger than 5 years; women experience more symptoms of heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases than men.

The FDA is considering Pfizer/BioNTech’s request for its updated COVID-19 booster; California Governor Gavin Newsom rejects bill allowing supervised injection sites; a new report from the CDC shows 2019-2020 life expectancy fell in all states.

Sixteen states requested that they be allowed to weigh in on the US Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Idaho’s strict abortion ban; the Biden administration laid out a rule that would clarify contested medical bill criteria; a federal judge made working a requirement to receiving Medicaid in Georgia.

The Biden administration plans to shift COVID-19 test and treatment costs from the government to individuals and insurers; an old FDA rule is being used to limit access to contraceptives; study results suggest almost half of cancer deaths are attributable to preventable risk factors.

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CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, called public guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic “confusing and overwhelming”; CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart were ordered to pay $650.6 million to 2 Ohio counties after improperly dispensing prescription painkillers; a new screening method can detect extra or missing chromosomes in embryos and fetuses within hours.

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A new FDA rule will allow hearing aids to be purchased without prescriptions; the FDA has received more than 48,000 reports of faulty Philips respiratory devices between May and July; HHS has extended postpartum Medicaid in Hawaii, Maryland, and Ohio.

Nearly 5 years after approval of the first CAR T-cell therapy, treatment is moving into second line, and patients have more options than ever for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. How do physicians choose? Bita Fakhri, MD, MPH, hematologist-oncologist at the University of California San Francisco, discusses the process.

President Joe Biden is anticipated to sign the $750 billion climate, health care, and tax legislation into law today; the United Kingdom is first to approve Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine targeting both the original and Omicron variants; nearly 2000 mental health employees of Kaiser Permanente are on strike over staffing shortages.

The World Health Organization renamed the Congo Basin and West African monkeypox variants; irregular daily eating patterns can throw off circadian rhythm and negatively impact mood; concussion studies primarily have male participants.

More efforts need to be made to remove unconscious bias when implementing approved diabetes technologies into clinical practice for all patients, said Viral Shah, MD, an endocrinologist and scientist.

The CDC announced it would be loosening recommendations to battle COVID-19 to put more responsibilities on individuals; Mount Sinai Health System has started building a database of patient genetic information; parts of the country see racial disparities in individuals contracting monkeypox.

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Policy observers and industry stakeholders debate the possible spillover effects of Medicare drug pricing reform in the employer-based insurance market; a California federal judge rules Walgreens could be held liable for not investigating suspicious orders of opioids in San Francisco; a blood test performed the day of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can predict which patients may die and who may survive with a disability.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals’ pimavanserin (Nuplazid) was not extended by the FDA to include Alzheimer-related psychosis; HHS/Health Resources and Service Administration vow to strengthen rural health care; a new deal has the United States paying $26 million for Siga Technologies’ Tpoxx.

Darolutamide, sold as Nubeqa, is an androgen receptor inhibitor, which works to limit prostate cell growth by preventing the binding of hormones, or androgens, to proteins known as androgen receptors.

Pfizer has agreed to purchase Global Blood Therapeutics for $5.4 billion; Kelley v Becerra threatens access to preventive care services protected by the Affordable Care Act; monkeypox vaccine doses will be administered via intradermal injection rather than subcutaneously.

Facilitating access to treatments for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) remains a top issue.

Only 7300 doses of the new Novavax vaccine have been administered with over 27 million Americans still unvaccinated; women in states where abortion is banned are managing abortions medically on their own outside of clinician care; affordable access to naloxone may become easier.

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President Joe Biden signed an executive order to help people travel between states for an abortion; Eli Lilly was ordered to pay $61 million after allegedly underpaying the Medicaid drug rebate program; CVS plans to acquire or take a stake in a primary care industry by the end of 2022.

Kansas voters rejected an anti-abortion measure while the Department of Justice sued Idaho to protect abortion access; the US uninsured rate hit a record low of 8% at the start of 2022; the Senate passed an expansion of veteran health care, sending it to President Biden’s desk.

While therapies for type 1 diabetes (T1D) are becoming more advanced, the problem is patients can't access them, said Viral Shah, MD, an endocrinologist and scientist.

The White House named Robert J. Fenton Jr as the nation’s monkeypox response coordinator; 4 bipartisan senators introduced a bill codifying access to abortion and contraception into federal law; eating highly processed foods may be linked to faster cognitive decline.

The first case of polio in the United States in nearly a decade demonstrated a potential link to vaccine-derived viruses in Jerusalem and London; the world’s first HIV-positive heart transplant has been performed in the Bronx; North Carolina is on the path to Medicaid expansion.

Viral Shah, MD, an endocrinologist and scientist, discusses ongoing research on preventing bone fractures in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

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