Diabetes

The largest group of endocrinologists first declared obesity a disease in 2012. Guidelines call for making relief of weight-related complications the first priority, not weight loss per se.

Authors from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy highlight the role that pharmacists can play in care optimization for seniors with chronic conditions.

Now that Medicare is poised to pay for the Diabetes Prevention Program, the next question is how to make it scalable.

The smallest overall increase in the MMI in 15 years is masked by the fact that employees are bearing an increasingly large share of healthcare costs.

A recent study showed patients with type 2 diabetes did better if given the combination therapy at the outset than if given 1 of the components as monotherapy.

What we're reading, May 23, 2016: Oklahoma governor vetoes bill banning abortion; the FDA approved a new nutrition label highlighting sugar added; and 7 years after death panels, conversations on end-of-life planning are becoming more common.

How does the largest payer in a state with a large senior population respond to the rising need for diabetes care and prevention?

Finding diabetes and treating it early can prevent high healthcare costs in the long term, the authors day.

The updated label reflects research that shows how hard it is to consume key nutrients and maintain calorie limits in a diet overwhelmed by sugar. The label will be a legacy of First Lady Michelle Obama's focus on better nutrition to combat childhood obesity.

The authors discuss a simple strategy for payers to ensure more patients with type 2 diabetes achieve control of A1C.

A recent Diabetes Care study found flaws in Medicare's competitive bidding program for diabetes test strips. Two of that study's co-authors discuss the findings and why CMS should suspend the bidding program.

Right now, islet transplant therapy requires donated cells. The hope is that lab-grown islets could vastly expand the pool of patients who could get treatment.

Telemedicine works well with diabetes because it is a condition that works with a lot of numbers and data, and physicians can look at that data remotely rather than requiring a face-to-face visit, explained David Brumley, MD, MBA, senior medical director at Tufts Health Plan.

Researchers set out to analyze the clinical outcomes in a real-world clinical setting of patients with T2D who switched to Toujeo from another basal insulin.

A new study established the association between variation in state-level health outcomes and the allocation of state spending between healthcare and social services.

The findings are consistent with other results that have shown sizable drops in A1C, as well as the ability to control blood pressure in patients who previously failed to meet targets.

The report highlights insights from experts at the recent meeting, Patient-Centered Diabetes Care. Failing to treat obesity will only cost more later, experts said.

This week, the top managed care stories included an exclusivity deal that has patients with type 1 diabetes unhappy, a report found the healthcare system could have saved $73 billion from greater use of generics, and The American Journal of Managed Care seeks your nominations for an emerging leader award.

Recent coverage of our peer-reviewed research, in the healthcare and mainstream press.

Regeneron's CEO said ICER's methodology wasn't scientific. The nonprofit said analysis of a drug based on what people can afford to pay is the point of its work.

In a statewide telephone survey, patient-reported indicators of the patient-centered medical home correlated with improved process measures in diabetes, cholesterol screening, vaccination, and care access.

The findings show poor diet can have immediate effects on the body, and they suggest ways to overcome them.

Five states report that 1 in 3 adults meet the CDC definition of obesity, which is having a body mass index of 30 or more.

While health plans and PBMs have taken a variety of approaches to control spending on the new class of cholesterol fighting drugs, Cigna is the first to reach value-based agreements with the drug makers.

Exclusivity deals in managed care to hold down the cost of drug therapy are not new. But requiring persons with type 1 diabetes to use insulin pumps from a single manufacturer has brought out a whole different reaction.

Therapeutic substitution of branded drugs with generics approved for the same indication, in the absence of a generic equivalent, has the potential to yield considerable cost savings to the healthcare system and individual patients.

At the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting, Jenny Sung, PharmD, MS, MBA, associate vice president of evidence-based medicine research at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, discussed a poster being presented on the safety, efficacy, and economic benefit of Toujeo.

Experiments with mice suggest a potential early treatment to avoid a deadly infection.

FDA's requirement for large, cardiovascular safety trials for all new diabetes and obesity drugs has created a "cottage industry" that some see as necessary but others feel drives up drug costs.

This week, the top stories in managed care included Express Scripts expressing a desire to partner with retail health clinics, a study that found oral cancer agents are being launched at much higher prices, and The American Journal of Managed Care's hepatitis C virus special issue was published online.