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.
NIH Study: Depression in Early Pregnancy Linked to Gestational Diabetes
September 20th 2016While obesity is a known risk factor in gestational diabetes, women who were obese and also were depressed when they became pregnant were at greater risk of gestational diabetes than those who did not have depression.
ACLU Sues Colorado Medicaid Over Limits on Hepatitis C Treatment
September 20th 2016The dispute between the ACLU and Colorado Medicaid has been seen in other states and with other payers. Policy questions on treatment for hepatitis C virus were examined in a special issue of The American Journal of Managed Care.
Intarcia Poised to Seek FDA Approval for ITCA 650 After Positive A1C, CV Results
September 19th 2016Officials say the company will file with FDA some time in the third quarter of 2016 to begin the approval process for the novel delivery system that brings a continuous, microscopic dose of exenatide to patients with type 2 diabetes.
Minorities, Southerners in Medicare Less Likely to Take High Blood Pressure Medication
September 14th 2016The authors said this is the first study to examine antihypertension nonadherence down to the county level. Recommendations include greater use of combination therapy to reduce pill counts for patients with multiple chronic conditions, and synchronizing pharmacy visits to avoid multiple trips.
Express Scripts to Give Refunds if Patients Don't Stay on Expensive Drugs
September 8th 2016Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts said payers and employers are increasingly frustrated about paying in excess of $3000 a month for drugs that patients soon abandon, meaning they experienced little medical benefit.
Back-to-Back Reports From CDC: Americans Gaining Weight, Using More Marijuana
September 2nd 2016The state-by-state obesity figures revealed huge health disparities. Obesity rates for whites reached 35% in just 2 states, while the rates reached 35% for blacks in 34 states and the District of Columbia, and 11 states for Hispanics.
Study of Diabetes Self-Management Program Finds Parity Between In-Person, Digital Formats
September 1st 2016A diverse group of 1242 patients received diabetes self-management education either in-person or online and achieved lowered blood glucose and depression levels, had fewer symptoms of hypoglycemia, and exercised more.
New Jersey's Christie Touts "Cost-Cutting" Medicaid Expansion
August 31st 2016Since New Jersey's Republican governor shares power with a Democratic legislature, acceptance-if not full-throated support of Medicaid expansion-was not a surprise in 2013. But this week's event was seen by political observers as a sign Christie wants to be compared with Ohio's John Kasich.
Time in Range, Quality of Life Gain Attention at FDA Diabetes Workshop
August 31st 2016Researchers and patients alike are increasingly interested in therapies that do more to limit the day-to-day, and hour-to-hour fluctuations in blood glucose that consume the time and energy of those living with diabetes.
Too Much Focus on Tight A1C Control May Be Misguided in Diabetes Care, Mayo Clinic Study Finds
August 30th 2016The authors are among those concerned that patients with diabetes may be given more medication than they can tolerate or afford to achieve small improvements in A1C, without any other health benefits.