Population Health

Pandemic anxiety continues to hurt Americans' mental health, while concerns about the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) splits by party affiliation and background.

On today’s episode of Managed Care Cast, we feature a short excerpt of an upcoming interview in the August issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® with Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH, North Carolina's secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, as part of our yearlong Q&A series. We discussed the state's upcoming transition to Medicaid managed care, the pandemic, her advice to public health workers in the face of criticism, and how what is learned from the pandemic can help inform the future of managed care going forward.

Two experimental vaccines, one from AstraZeneca and the other from CanSino Biologics, have shown promising results against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a phase 1/2 trial and a phase 2 trial. Results for both were published in The Lancet.

The attorneys general who spoke about the suit—California’s Xavier Becerra, Massachusetts’ Maura Healey, and New York’s Leticia James—said they found it difficult to believe that the administration would adopt the rule in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019, which is disproportionately affecting communities of color.

The talk by Ned Sharpless, MD, director of the National Cancer Institute, preceded presentations on some of the earliest findings about the effects of COVID-19 on cancer: It appears that patients treated with chemotherapy for lung or thoracic cancer shortly before being diagnosed with COVID-19 face a higher risk of death, and so do patients with cancer who take the combination of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin.

Following an announcement that hospitals are to bypass the CDC and send all coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)–related information to a central database, questions have been raised as to the future of COVID-19 data transparency and politicization.

Between 2002 and 2015, data showed an increase in the percentage of intimate partner violence (IPV)–related emergency department claims paid by private insurance in the United States. This finding suggests the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may have increased women’s willingness and ability to seek medical attention for IPV-related injuries and disclose IPV as the source of the injuries, according to a study published in Women’s Health Issues.

The explosive growth of telehealth seen in March 2020 continued unabated in April, claims data show.

The Affordable Care Act encourages preventive care, like cancer screenings, by eliminating copays, so that additional years will only see the number of lives saved grow, noted Fumiko Chino, MD, assistant attending radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, in an interview prior to ASCO20 Virtual, this year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

This study examines the New Jersey Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program using hospital web surveys and key informant interviews and finds progress toward data-driven population health management for low-income patients.

Oklahomans vote to expand Medicaid amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; Anthony Fauci, MD, cautions Congress that the daily number of new COVID-19 cases could reach 100,000 if outbreaks are not suppressed; public health departments must fight the spread of COVID-19 with lower funding and insufficient staff.

Voters in Oklahoma will decide whether or not to amend the state's constitution to expand Medicaid; new studies find that nearly 300 children in the United States have contracted a rare inflammatory disorder related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); the House of Representatives passed a bill aimed to bolster the Affordable Care Act.

Lockdown because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not an option in impoverished and war-torn countries; the FDA grants emergency use clearance to Danaher Corp's COVID-19 antibody test; strategizing amid misinformation spread on the pandemic.

The Trump administration and Republican state attorneys general called on the Supreme Court to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare). President Trump has endorsed repealing the ACA since his 2016 campaign, while Republican lawmakers have largely opposed the law since its inception in 2010.

During the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations Virtual 2020 Spring Conference, panelists discussed how data sharing can be implemented in health care systems and spur the evolution of population health management.

Technology has made it easier to deliver health care in the home in recent years, but the financing models have not caught up just yet.

During AHIP’s Institute & Expo Online 2020, the conversation focused on the impact the pandemic has had on health coverage and what can be done to improve health equity, among other issues.

Bold Goal is Humana’s effort to address holistic health needs in key markets, in part by working with community partners to address social determinants of health. The program seeks to tackle barriers such as lack of food or housing and social isolation that contribute to chronic disease.

Research has established an association between social risk factors and child health outcomes, while professional medical organizations have endorsed screening for such factors in clinical settings. Providing an in-person patient navigator to address family social needs leads to a decrease in child health care utilization, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

A study released Monday used national Medicare data to try and understand disparities between black and white patients in avoidable hospitalizations for ambulatory care–sensitive conditions.

Medicaid expansion was associated with a decrease in nonprofit hospitals’ burden of providing uncompensated care, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. However, hospitals did not redirect this financial relief toward spending on additional community benefits.

There will never be all mandatory payment models or all value-based models, but we can craft a value-based model around just about anything as long as everybody agrees on what the criteria is, said Lili Brillstein, CEO of Brillstein Collaborative Consulting, and former Director for Episodes of Care at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

When deciding which treatments to cover, states and commercial payers must wrestle with opportunity costs as new therapeutics come to market. A panel at Virtual ISPOR 2020 discussed some of the factors that go into those decisions.

At the opening session of this year's Virtual ISPOR 2020 conference, panelists shared their views on what future health care systems can learn from the current pandemic crisis.

The cost of giving birth in the United States can vary by thousands of dollars depending on where the birth takes place. In Arkansas, inpatient birth charges come out to roughly $8300, but that total rises to nearly $20,000 in New York.

Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Lupin) announced positive results from its phase 3 trial assessing the efficacy and safety of secnidazole (Solosec) in female patients with trichomoniasis. Although trichomoniasis is common in the United States, the risk of being infected with the infection is nearly 10 times higher for African American women compared with non-Hispanic white women.

Northeastern states formed a consortium to purchase personal protective equipment and other supplies to cope with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); the pandemic highlights public health identitity crisis; President Trump revises US pandemic death toll.

Day 1 of Virtual COA 2020, this year’s Community Oncology Conference, kicked off with the panel discussion, “Top Oncology Issues Now & Looking Ahead,” led by Bo Gamble, director of Strategic Practice Initiatives at the Community Oncology Alliance. Topics covered ran the gamut: from Zoom being everyone’s new middle name to telehealth to caring for patients’ medical and social needs and beyond.

In the United States, heart failure affects a patient population of over 6.5 million. Through medication management, transportation, and emotional support, among the many tasks they assist with, these patients’ caregivers provide services valued at $7.9 billion annually.