Officials Revise Goals on Containing Ebola After Signs of Wider Exposure in Mali
November 23rd 2014The leaders of the United Nations and the World Health Organization expressed renewed alarm on Friday about Ebola's tenacity in Africa and, in particular, its potential to ravage a fourth country, Mali, where they said hundreds of people had been exposed to an infected cleric who died last month.
Read More
The Extended "Fix" for Canceled Health Insurance Policies: Latest State Action
November 22nd 2014In March, the Obama administration released guidance extending the renewal of health insurance policies that do not meet the Affordable Care Act's coverage standards through October 1, 2016. At least 9 states that did not adopt the administration's original transitional policy are now allowing renewals of noncompliant policies after January 1, 2014.
Read More
With Third Lawyer, Republicans File Lawsuit Over the ACA
November 22nd 2014Republicans finally filed a lawsuit against President Obama's healthcare reform law, the Affordable Care Act, after approving the suit in July. They are challenging the employer-based coverage aspect of the law, as well as Treasury payments to insurers.
Read More
MSKCC Research Provides Lead On Immuno-oncology Resistance
November 22nd 2014Scientists at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have identified that tumor mutation burden could help predict responders to ipilimumab treatment. The report has been published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Read More
Salk Scientists Want to Target the Protein Interactome for Drug Discovery
November 21st 2014The study, published in Cell Reports, evaluates the dynamic protein interactions that promote different diseases including cancer. By capturing these interactions, the authors hope to discover new drug targets.
Read More
CDC Data Show How Managed Care Missed Opportunities With New Diabetes Cases
November 21st 2014A new study shows only a small share of patients with private insurance who were newly diagnosed with diabetes in 2011-2012 enrolled in self-management training, raising questions about how well managed care could address both long-term health and cost control for this important group. These patients are a target for special attention under the ACA.
Read More
Providers Becoming More Open to Digital Health Technology Use
November 20th 2014Clinicians are showing increased openness toward using digital technology and are becoming more comfortable with trusting tools like at-home test results, according to a new report from PwC's Health Research Institute.
Read More
FDA Pushes Rule on Labeling by Generics to Next Year
November 19th 2014With an aim to create parity between brand-name and generic drugs, the FDA was expected to pass a rule next month that would allow generic manufacturers to independently provide safety updates on their labels. The decision has now been pushed back by 9 months.
Read More
CMS Healthcare Cost Transparency Tools Found Lacking
November 19th 2014In an effort to foster greater transparency of healthcare costs, the government and private sector entities are offering tools that provide cost and quality information to consumers. But just how effective are these tools?
Read More
New Data for Vectra DA Test in Rheumatoid Arthritis Presented at ACR
November 19th 2014Results presented today at the American College of Rheumatology in Boston show that a 12-biomarker test did a better job of predicting radiographic progression in patients with RA. The study demonstrates how biomarkers are becoming important in managed care outside of cancer treatment.
Read More
The Argument For Better Patient-Centered Care in Oncology
November 19th 2014After 4 years of living with inflammatory breast cancer, Amy Berman, RN, BS, senior program officer at the John A. Hartford Foundation, she still felt fine, which she attributed to her care choices, she explained during her speech at The American Journal of Managed Care's Patient-Centered Oncology Care meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.
Read More
ASCO Members Take a Stand on Access to Care for Low-Income Individuals
November 18th 2014In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, medical oncologists have delineated their recommendations to improve cancer care and provide better access to quality care for those patients with financial issues and on Medicaid.
Read More
More Than Half of Low- and Moderate-Income Adults Cannot Afford Their Deductibles
November 18th 2014One-fifth of adults with health insurance spent at least 5% of their income on out-of-pocket healthcare costs over the past year with low-income adults the most likely to have high costs, according to a report from The Commonwealth Fund.
Read More
Great American Smokeout Takes Aim at Young Tobacco Users
November 18th 2014Thursday is the Great American Smokeout, an event founded on this date in California in 1976. This year, the event comes amid the 50th anniversary celebration of the report to the US Surgeon General that started public health efforts to curb tobacco use.
Read More
Merck's Vytorin Achieves Primary, Secondary Endpoints in IMPROVE-IT Study
November 17th 2014Patients taking Merck's Vytorin, which combines simvastatin with the non-statin Zetia, experienced fewer major cardiovascular events than patients treated with simvastatin alone, according to the results of the IMPROVE-IT study.
Read More