Latest Conference Articles

What is the role of inflammation in major depressive disorder (MDD)? In a session called “What’s Hot: An Inflammatory Take on the Immune System in Psychiatry,” Charles L. Raison, MD, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, presented recent findings in this area, including how subgroups of depressed individuals show increased levels of inflammatory biomarkers.

A survey of people with depression seeking information about their perspectives and experiences living with the disease found that even though most took antidepressants, 42% of patients did not find them helpful, according to a poster presented at Psych Congress 2018.

The core feature of internalized stigma is shame, and it leads to avoidance of treatment or help for patients with mental illness, explained Joseph McEvoy, MD, professor of psychiatry and health behavior, Medical College of Georgia.

In the last 30 years, there have been easier to prescribe, safer antidepressants for major depressive disorder, as well as the introduction of easy-to-learn approaches to therapy, but 40% or so of people suffering from depression aren’t in treatment, explained Michael Thase, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Postpartum depression is the most common obstetric complication, said Marlene Freeman, MD, yet there is a surprising level of debate over how to define it and missed opportunities for screening.

Most commonly, depression severity is measured by instruments that focus on the symptoms of depression, said Mark Zimmerman, MD, director of outpatient psychiatry and the Partial Hospital Program at Rhode Island Hospital, and a professor of psychiatry at Brown Medical School.

There is a high prevalence of burnout, and maybe 2 or 3 factors contributing to that, explained W. Clay Jackson, MD, DipTh, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, department of family medicine, University of Tennessee College of Medicine.

It isn’t often that a nurse practitioner is mobbed by audience members at the end of a session at a psychiatry conference, but Maria Mangini, PhD, FNP-BC, has hands-on, practical knowledge about using cannabis to bring relief to thousands of patients.

A new session at the Academy for Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2018 allowed for sharing ideas that have recently been put into practice.

There has been dramatic growth in the number of labels relevant to precision medicine, but there remains a gap in the number available and what health plans actually cover, explained Kibum Kim, PhD, MSc, research assistant professor, University of Utah.

Dan Mendelson, MPP, founder, Avalere Health, outlines the impact recent healthcare policy changes have on pharmacists and providers.

A life-saving therapy is challenging to administer and poses financial risks for patients and institutions alike. Speakers at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2018 address some approaches to paying for it while CMS develops long-term policies.

Program audits are the chief tool used to evaluate how well health plans deliver care to an ever-growing share of Medicare's 60 million beneficiaries.

Real-world evidence helps to inform high-quality care in a number of different ways, and health information technology has really improved the quality and the caliber of real-world data available, explained Jennifer Graff, PharmD, vice president of comparative effectiveness research, National Pharmaceutical Council.

Christopher Diehl, PharmD, MBA, BCACP, clinical pharmacist, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, discusses how the role of pharmacists has evolved with presence of value-based models and how pharmacists can ensure these value-based models succeed.

The combination therapy lets patients take a single pill once a day for treatment, which leads to improved adherence. Results of the study were presented at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2018 in Orlando, Florida.

A major bill to curb opioid abuse and the Trump administration's blueprint to rein in drug prices highlighted a busy year in the legislative and regulatory arena for the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.

The introduction of new curative—or durable—treatments has brought 3 challenges to the reimbursement landscape, explained Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, senior advisor, Center for Biomedical Innovation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Current key market trends include biosimilar, cancer, and orphan drug approvals, explained Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, a senior clinical consultant in Emerging Therapeutics for Express Scripts.

Express Scripts' Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, gave her overview of the specialty pharmacy pipeline for 2019 and beyond at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Nexus 2018 meeting in Orlando, Florida.

It’s fair to say that the initial results of immunotherapy in neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) have been somewhat disappointing, explained Thorvardur Halfdanarson, MD, associate professor of medicine and consultant in medical oncology, Mayo Clinic.

The proposed risk adjustment changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) are welcome but moving accountable care organizations (ACOs) to risk too soon could harm the program, said Stephen Nuckolls, CEO of Coastal Carolina Quality Care.

The push to get accountable care organizations to take on risk faster could lead to more participation in Medicare Advantage, said Rob Fields, MD, assistant profession, family medicine and community health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and senior vice president, chief medical officer, population health at Mount Sinai Health System.

Scott Paulson, MD, co-director of the Gastrointestinal Research Program for The US Oncology Network, medical director for the Neuroendocrine Research and Treatment Center at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, Baylor University Medical Center, explains the current standard of treatment and novel approaches being taken in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs).

CMS’ proposed changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) doesn’t represent a major shift in policy stance toward accountable care organizations (ACOs), said Joe Antos, PhD, the Wilson H. Taylor Resident Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute.

Heloisa Soares, MD, assistant professor, University of New Mexico Cancer Center-Albuquerque, discusses the importance of treating neuroendocrine tumors with a multidisciplinary team, as well as the importance of engaging patients and their families in their care.

By encouraging more providers to take on risk faster, the current administration may actually be disincentivizing providers from participating at all, which would reduce the number of accountable care organizations (ACOs), said Allison Brennan, MPP, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Association of ACOs.

Private payers are getting more engaged in accountable care organizations (ACOs), said Clif Gaus, ScD, president and CEO of the National Association of ACOs.

The proposed changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program that move accountable care organizations (ACOs) to take on risk in just 2 years is not going to be enough time for most ACOs, although some may be ready in that time, said Stephen Nuckolls, CEO of Coastal Carolina Quality Care.

Contracts for accountable care organizations (ACOs) can be very different depending on who the payer is, according to Katherine Schneider, MD, MPhil, FAAFP, president and CEO of Delaware Valley ACO.