Laura Joszt, MA

A majority of physicians reported in 2018 that their financial situation had remained the same, and fewer said they were worse off compared with the previous year, according to the 90th annual Physicians Report.

The percentage of US adults who used strategies to reduce prescription drug costs, such as skipping medication doses, asking the doctor for a lower-cost medication, and using alternative therapies, was stable from 2015 to 2017 and was down from 2013 to 2015.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can be analyzed in patients with cancer to detect minimal residual disease (MRD). Two abstracts, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019, evaluated ctDNA analysis and ways of tracking MRD.

When breast cancer spreads, it often goes to the bones, and new research has found that exposure to dim light at night may contribute to this spread. Results from the animal study were presented at ENDO 2019, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society.

Conference coverage updates from the Community Oncology Alliance's annual meeting.

Updates from the Association of Community Cancer Centers annual meeting.

Policy updates from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's annual meeting.

Clinical updates from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's annual meeting.

When antibiotics were discovered, they were considered a miracle. Decades of overuse have created a current public health crisis with a growing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, not all hope is lost in the fight against antibiotic resistance. There are programs in place to promote judicious use of antibiotics and policies and funding to help incentivize development of new antibiotics.

FDA has approved a monoclonal antibody to treat postmenopausal women who have a higher risk of bone fracture.

In the past 5 decades, there has been a steady rise in the prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to estimates using a validated algorithm across 5 large US administrative health claims data sets. The research was published in Neurology.

Genetic alternations in colorectal cancer (CRC) are linked to different survival and treatment outcomes, according to a study that used next-generation sequencing (NGS) of tumor DNA. The study was published in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Rising healthcare costs and challenges with access to care have given rise to innovations in healthcare and new partnerships. Now, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) is partnering with Duke University Health System (Duke Health) to create a new health insurance company to meet the needs of seniors.

Older men are less likely than older women to have their bone mineral density measured and be prescribed treatment for osteoporosis.

Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who give birth do not face an increased risk of relapses postpartum. New research being presented in May at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting found the time right after pregnancy is one of the periods in which MS symptoms may not flare back up.

As novel therapies drive up the cost of drugs, it is becoming increasingly difficult for community oncologists to keep costs below value-based care program targets, according to a new survey from Integra Connect.

Increased transparency, value-based pricing, and other policy reforms are necessary to ensure that Americans can access medications at affordable prices, a panel of experts said during a US Senate hearing January 29, 2019.

Panelists discuss what PCSK9 inhibitors are, the evidence to support them, and challenges with operationalizing them in practice.

Electronic medical record data on patients with multiple sclerosis is generally consistent with research data and can be used to expand research opportunities, according to a new study.

A lack of diversity in cell lines used for laboratory studies means underrepresented populations and minorities might not benefit from precision medicines as quickly as people from European ancestry.

The Department of Justice now backs the ruling from a district court judge in Texas that said the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) is invalidated without the individual mandate, which was removed when Congress reduced the penalty to $0.

While no one country has perfected use of digital health, there are some takeaways from what other countries are doing successfully, according to John D. Halamka, MD, MS, chief information officer, Beth Israel Deaconess Health System.

Researchers found that a prescription for healthy food can improve health outcomes for beneficiaries in Medicare and Medicaid.

A diverse panel of representatives from different practice models provided insights into what has worked for them and what has not in trying to improve cancer care. The discussion took place in Washington, DC, at the Association of Community Cancer Centers

Patients with high-risk breast cancer who receive a 21-gene assay genomic test may be able to avoid chemotherapy and ultimately save a significant amount of money.

Value-based insurance design (VBID) aligns patient cost sharing with the value of clinical services, so that patients pay less for high-value services and more for unnecessary, low-value services. While there has been increased interest in VBID, with CMS expanding the VBID demonstration in Medicare Advantage to all 50 states, the situation on the state exchanges is different: The plan has to be cost neutral, so in order to remove cost sharing for high-value services, cost sharing has to increase for other, low-value services.

While the high price of drugs is an issue, what is really important is the actual cost patients are faced with at the pharmacy counter, said Ted Okon, executive director of the Community Oncology Alliance, and Daniel Klein, president and executive director of the Patient Access Network Foundation, at the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID), V-BID Summit.

A compressed vaccine schedule for older adults could help increase uptake and decrease the impact of the influenza vaccine’s waning effectiveness as months go by, but such a schedule would not be beneficial if flu season peaks early or if a compressed schedule results in a decrease in vaccine uptake.