Antidepressants Could Improve Cardiovascular Outcomes, Study Suggests
March 6th 2015In patients with depression, antidepressants may be more important than statins, according to a study conducted at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, which will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session in San Diego.
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Encouraging Continued Participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program
March 5th 2015CMS has proposed several possible changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program in an effort to attract new participants and to encourage current participants to continue with the program beyond their initial 3-year commitment.
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Twitter a Predictor of Insurance Exchange Enrollment
March 5th 2015Twitter can be used as a real-time measurement of public sentiment for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the positivity and negativity of tweets could be used to determine state-level marketplace enrollment, according to researchers.
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Outpatient Departments Treat Sicker, Costlier Patients Than Physician Offices
March 5th 2015New proposals from Congress would decrease Medicare payments to hospital outpatient departments, which traditionally serve patients who are more likely to be minority, poorer, and have more severe chronic conditions compared with patients treated in physician offices.
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New Guidelines for Treating Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma Issued
March 5th 2015A guideline has been issued that outlines the use of 3-D computed tomography-based radiation therapy planning and volumetric image guidance to more effectively treat pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma and to reduce the radiation dose to normal tissue, thus decreasing the risk of late side effects.
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Study of Heart Failure Patients Defines How Avoiding Risk Factors Can Add Years to Life
March 5th 2015The study, which will presented next week at the meeting of the American College of Cardiology, defined how much avoiding diabetes, obesity, and hypertension before age 45 matters if one is later diagnosed with heart failure.
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HHS Shifts Money to Pay for HealthCare.gov
March 4th 2015In their latest attack on the Affordable Care Act, House Republicans question why the Obama administration transferred money last year from the National Institutes of Health and the CDC to pay for the operation of the federal health insurance marketplace.
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GAO Finds Much Work Remains for CER Dissemination
March 4th 2015While some progress has been made to disseminate comparative effectiveness research as mandated by the Affordable Care Act, the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality has not taken actions to fully address requirements, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.
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Dr Wayne Katon, Pioneer for Collaborative Care in Mental Health, Dies at 64
March 4th 2015After more than 3 decades helping individuals with mental health issues, Wayne Katon, MD, director of the division of health services and epidemiology, and vice chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of Washington Medical School, passed away on March 1 from lymphoma at the age of 64 years.
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Questions of Context, Practical Effect Highlight Oral Arguments in King v. Burwell
March 4th 2015The Supreme Court's liberal wing grilled the petitioner's attorney on whether today's argument squared with what he said in the 2012 challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Justice Kennedy asked how states could be forced to set up exchanges or see their residents lose tax credits.
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Brain Tumor Patients Fare Poorly if Uninsured or on Medicaid, Study Reports
March 4th 2015Brain tumor patients who are uninsured or use Medicaid stay hospitalized longer and develop more medical complications than those with private insurance, University of Florida Health researchers have found.
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Multibillion Spent on Drug Development, But Is It Helping?
March 4th 2015While the pharmaceutical industry has always justified the billions spent on developing a candidate drug molecule, the process has definitely seen some important changes. This article evaluates whether these revolutionary changes have influenced drug development for the better.
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Catch Up on King v. Burwell Before Oral Arguments
March 3rd 2015On March 4, The American Journal of Managed Care will be live-reporting the news from the Supreme Court oral arguments in the case of King v. Burwell. In the meantime, here is a recap of the news leading up to the lawsuit's day in court.
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Barriers Prevent Widespread Use of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs
March 3rd 2015While the majority of primary care physicians are aware of and use state prescription drug monitoring programs to reduce drug abuse and diversion, many do not access these programs routinely, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
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Study Evaluates Cost-Benefit of US Spending on Cancer Care
March 3rd 2015The study in Health Affairs published by Samir Soneji, PhD, an assistant professor at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, found that despite a sharp rise in healthcare spending,caner mortality rates are very high in the US compared to Western Europe.
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Study Finds Overuse of Antipsychotics in Dementia Patients
March 3rd 2015Federal investigators say they have found evidence of widespread overuse of psychiatric drugs by older Americans with Alzheimer's disease, and are recommending that Medicare officials take immediate action to reduce unnecessary prescriptions.
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Study Findings Validate the Use of Adjuvant Systemic Therapy in Gastrointestinal Tumors
March 3rd 2015The use of adjuvant systemic therapy for localized gastrointestinal stromal tumors has significantly increased over time, a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology, has found, and patients treated with the therapy have better survival than those treated with surgery alone, researchers say.
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