Oral anticancer medications are frequently used to treat patients with cancer. We found significant time and energy burdens for clinic staff and patients in obtaining these drugs.
Using a prioritization algorithm in an oncology pharmacy system at the Johns Hopkins University, patient wait times for chemotherapy administration were significantly decreased.
Evaluation of a national retail pharmacy automatic refill program for patients on medication for chronic disease demonstrated significantly improved patient adherence and reduced medication oversupply.
The authors comment on the growth of drug plans with tiers for "non-preferred" generics, and argue that most are inconsistent with established principles of formulary design.
The authors examined 2 high-risk classification methods to compare and contrast the patient populations, and to identify the preferred method for predicting subsequent emergency department visits.
New hepatitis C medications have been quickly adopted into practice and increased treatment rate. The median out-of-pocket costs of new medications were relatively low.
Payer considerations regarding unintended pregnancy is discussed by Maria Lopes, MD, MS, and Kevin Stephens Sr., MD, JD.
Atrial fibrillation patients with mental health conditions are less likely to be eligible for warfarin receipt, and those who are eligible receive warfarin at lower rates.
Pharmacy and medical claims data showed that patients whose clinicians had access to pharmacogenetic test results had increased adherence and overall cost savings.
A formal protocol for urgent care center evaluation of potential acute coronary syndrome safely precluded emergency department visits among 84% of those eligible.
Calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) has comparable diagnostic accuracy as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), the gold standard for diagnosing osteoporosis. Although it cannot replace DXA for diagnosing osteoporosis, it can be used as an effective prescreening tool prior to a DXA scan, researchers said it a recent study comparing the performance of the 2 screening methods.
A longitudinal case-control design was used to evaluate the effects of the patient-centered medical home model on medical costs and utilization among chronically ill patients.
This retrospective study strongly suggests that splitting a 10-mg ezetimibe tablet yields a 5-mg dose that is clinically equivalent to the 10-mg dose.
To promote future partnerships among colleges of pharmacy and accountable care organizations, this article describes several initial challenges to partnership formation, including those related to agenda setting and resource utilization.
Specifically trained care managers are essential for quality gains from a dementia care management program; even higher quality accrues with coordination across community and primary care.
Health-related quality of life is a psychometrically sound outcome measure for high-cost, high-need populations. Unlike health care spending, it does not exhibit mean reversion.