A pharmacist-led intervention that targeted patients undergoing joint replacement surgery led to a significant reduction in post-surgical opioid use among hip replacement patients, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in The American Journal of Managed Care®.
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Randomized controlled trials don’t capture real-world evidence regarding how patients will actually interact with, adhere to, or find value in a costly new medical therapy, and current value frameworks and assessments don’t include this “real world” element. In the current issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, authors offer guidance on closing the gap between real-world and clinical trial data when formulating value frameworks.
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Casting messages widely throughout an electronic health record instead of using more focused direct messaging in diabetes care leads to more hospital visits and higher medical costs, according to a study published in the current issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®.
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What are the characteristics of physician practices that intended to join Medicare accountable care organizations in 2012? In the October issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, researchers probe 1398 practices to examine the different capabilities and experience levels needed to manage risk in these healthcare models.
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A new population health care model, how team functioning affects the health of patients, the factors that contribute to patient complexity, and how multistakeholder partnerships can come together to improve care are highlighted in the September issue of The American Journal of Accountable Care®.
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Invest in “Precision Health” to Better Care for High-Need, High-Cost Patients, AJMC® Study Says
September 20th 2018Significant investments are needed in new comprehensive data networks that connect and integrate clinical factors, social determinants of health, and genomic information from multiple health systems in order to improve care for high-need, high-cost patients, according to a commentary in The American Journal of Managed Care®. AJMC® interviewed one of the authors for additional details about this issue for a recent episode of Managed Care Cast, our podcast about managed care.
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Increasing Patient Contact With Doctors Cut Medicare Advantage Costs 28 Percent, AJMC® Study Says
September 14th 2018With the US population aging rapidly, payers, providers, and public policy makers are seeking ways to both improve quality of care and reduce rising costs. A new study in The American Journal of Managed Care® found that giving Medicare Advantage patients more frequent contact with their primary care doctors kept them healthier and cost 28 percent less than usual care.
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As skilled nursing facilities handle more complex care, the need arises for physician input before sending patients to the hospital. Study findings reported this month in The American Journal of Managed Care® show that using telemedicine for this purpose can lead to fewer hospitalizations and savings for Medicare.
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Following Choosing Wisely With Real-Time Support Tools Trimmed Hospital Stays, Cost in AJMC® Study
August 15th 2018Healthcare savings foreseen with adoption of electronic health records have fallen short of expectations but adding clinical decision support tools could change that. A new study in The American Journal of Managed Care® shows how Cedars-Sinai Health System achieved better care and savings by following Choosing Wisely recommendations.
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Cedars-Sinai/Optum: Study: patients do better when physicians follow computerized alerts
August 15th 2018When physicians follow computer alerts embedded in electronic health records, their hospitalized patients experience fewer complications and lower costs, leave the hospital sooner and are less likely to be readmitted, according to a study of inpatient care.
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ASCO Recap Available in AJMC®'s Evidence-Based OncologyTM
August 1st 2018An issue covering major clinical findings and managed care updates from the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology is now available from Evidence-Based Oncology™, a publication of The American Journal of Managed Care®.
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Medicare Chemo Costs Are Lower in Hospital Clinics Once Cancer Type is Considered, AJMC® Study Finds
July 19th 2018Critics of healthcare consolidation have cited higher costs of chemotherapy administration as an example of how mergers drive up costs. A new study in The American Journal of Managed Care®finds that while drug administration costs in hospitals are higher, chemotherapy drug spending among Medicare patients is lower, driven by less frequent use of therapy.
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From the role of data in treatment decisions to the use of apps in tracking patient responses, technology is now front-and-center in cancer care. A special issue of Evidence-Based Oncology™, a publication of The American Journal of Managed Care®, explores the rise of point-of-care tools.
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If you heard of a drug with a 387 percent return on investment, wouldn’t you want in? That was the result of a voluntary program in Maine that provided proper meals to high-risk Medicare patients leaving the hospital. Managed Care Cast explores results that appear in the current issue ofThe American Journal of Managed Care®.
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Lung Cancer Screening Not So Simple, Report in AJMC® Finds
June 15th 2018What seems like a straightforward idea—screen current and former heavy smokers for lung cancer—proves more challenging in practice, according to findings from a demonstration project at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System.
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Diversity Seen in How Medicare Part D Plans Add New Drugs
June 11th 2018Researchers from the University of Maryland at Baltimore tracked how quickly drugs in eight therapeutic classes made it onto formulary across hundreds of Medicare Part D plans over five years, and found that while plan differences mattered, drug characteristics mattered more in decisions.
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Dr. Michael Chernew Discusses Trump Drug Pricing Plan in Managed Care Cast, an AJMC® Podcast
May 23rd 2018Harvard healthcare economist Michael E. Chernew, PhD, who is co-editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Managed Care®, joins Managed Care Cast for a discussion of how the administration’s proposals draw attention to a fundamental challenge: the need to balance innovation with affordability in drug pricing.
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Can Patients Be Taught to Avoid Unnecessary Trips to the ER? A Study in AJMC® Suggests Some Can
May 15th 2018Efforts to cut down on unnecessary trips to the emergency room can take many forms. A new study by Kaiser Permanente, appearing in The American Journal of Managed Care®, suggests that the best education tools may vary depending on the patient’s age.
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The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) has been controversial since it began in 2013, with critics saying it unfairly penalizes facilities that serve patients with chronic health issues. A study in the current issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® finds that community factors also matter a lot in a very poor region: the Mississippi Delta.
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Evidence-Based OncologyTM Looks at Changing Ways to Pay for Cancer Care
April 25th 2018The current issue of Evidence-Based Oncology™, a publication of The American Journal of Managed Care®, examines how new reimbursement models are making cancer care more patient-centered, but making those models sustainable is challenging.
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Long-Term Cancer Survivors Fare as Well as or Better than Everyone Else, AJMC® Study Finds
April 17th 2018Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer have markedly changed the outlook for those who survive the first four years after cancer diagnosis, according to a new study in The American Journal of Managed Care.® Long-term cancer survivors do as well as or better than the rest of the US population, researchers find.
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