Mary Caffrey is the Executive Editor for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®). She joined AJMC® in 2013 and is the primary staff editor for Evidence-Based Oncology, the multistakeholder publication that reaches 22,000+ oncology providers, policy makers and formulary decision makers. She is also part of the team that oversees speaker recruitment and panel preparations for AJMC®'s premier annual oncology meeting, Patient-Centered Oncology Care®. For more than a decade, Mary has covered ASCO, ASH, ACC and other leading scientific meetings for AJMC readers.
Mary has a BA in communications and philosophy from Loyola University New Orleans. You can connect with Mary on LinkedIn.
PAPER OF THE WEEK: When Patients With Kidney Failure Still Don't Take Medication
February 8th 2020The article identifies issues such as poor socioeconomic background and lack of family and social support as factors in poor medication adherence, which today are recognized as social determinants of health
Medicare Advantage Proposal Includes Steps to Implement Kidney Care Plan
February 7th 2020The plan represents the latest element of the Trump administration’s comprehensive approach to renal care, which seeks to keep patients from advancing to dialysis. For those who do, the plan promotes transplants and home dialysis options.
Deeper Dive Into Rosiglitazone Data Reveals Link to CV Risk, Especially Heart Failure
February 6th 2020The most detailed look ever at data for rosiglitazone, the diabetes drug marketed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as Avandia, shows the one-time blockbuster significantly raises the overall risk of heart problems or cardiovascular death, calling attention to the need for more transparency in data collection.
CMS Agrees to Cover NGS for Medicare Patients With Breast, Ovarian, Other Cancers
January 28th 2020CMS said it is expanding coverage of next generation sequencing (NGS) for use as a diagnostic for patients with germline breast and ovarian cancer, paving the way for Medicare beneficiaries to receive more personalized medicine. However, an advocate said the wording of CMS' decision could actually limit testing access for some women with breast or ovarian cancer.
PAPER OF THE WEEK: From 2007, Disease Management Is Not Cheap or Easy
January 25th 2020Amid the disappointment that the Camden Coalition's "hot spotting" efforts did not reduce hospital readmissions, we note how a well-read 2007 paper in our archives showed that expenditures on disease management do not always produce a return on investment.
CAR T-Cell Therapy and Beyond: UCART 19 and Anti-BCMA Therapy
January 20th 2020A pair of interviews on investigational therapies whose sponsors reported updates at the 61st American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition: UCART19 from Servier and a revamped anti-BCMA therapy ide-cel from bluebird bio.
CAR T-Cell Therapy and Beyond: Off-the-Shelf Therapies Among Innovations at ASH 2019
January 20th 2020Coverage from the 61st American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida, featured results for allogeneic or "off the shelf" CAR T-cell treatments and bispecific antibodies.
PAPER OF THE WEEK: In 2002, Researchers Found Early Use of Etanercept Improved Quality of Life In RA
January 17th 2020As part of our anniversary celebration, today we launch “Paper of the Week,” which will look back at some of the most influential research articles and commentary that have appeared in The American Journal of Managed Care® over the past 25 years, and why they are important today.
When Less Is More: Halving Chemo Keeps Testicular Cancer at Bay, Study Finds
January 4th 2020Testicular cancer is the most common cancer to be diagnosed in men as younger men—those younger than age 40—and it can be particularly aggressive. Advances in therapy have improved survival rates, but if young men have chemotherapy after surgery, they may live with side effects for decades.
An Immune-Suppressing Target for Glioblastoma?
December 27th 2019A team at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston led by original pioneers in immuno-oncology have published a paper in Nature Medicine that discusses an immune-suppressing enzyme that was strongly present in glioblastoma but not in 5 other tumor types the team studied.
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down ACA Individual Mandate
December 19th 2019A federal appeals court today struck down the individual mandate—the heart of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires everyone to have health coverage and lays the groundwork for a risk pool that is more balanced between the sick and the healthy, the young and the old.