Health Care Delivery

Specialty pharmacy was well positioned during the pandemic because it has a history of embracing digital solutions, said Heather Bonome, PharmD, director of pharmacy at the accreditation agency URAC.

In the years since its inception, debates around the 340B program have centered on whether savings actually benefit the underserved as intended. A new paper in The American Journal of Managed Care® analyzed secondary data on 340B participation and uncompensated care provision from general acute care and critical access hospitals between 2003 and 2015.

Theresa Juday, RPh, director, Specialty Product Development, CVS Health, discusses how payer interest in the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia has grown in recent years.

After the public health emergency is over, there will likely remain incentive to keep some administration of specialty therapies at home, in a less acute setting of care, said Lance Grady, market access practice director, Avalere Health.

Panelists of the opening session at Asembia 2021 Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Las Vegas address emerging shifts in specialty pharmacy, its impact on the health care system, and future implications post pandemic.

Use of comprehensive genomic profiling in patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was linked with significant improvements in progression-free survival and overall survival.

Michelle Afkhami, MD, from City of Hope, discusses best practices for oncology organizations to leverage molecular/genomic testing, the importance of identifying RET-positive patients early so they can receive targeted treatment, and more.

The incidence of chronic liver disease is expected to sharply rise by 2030, making it important to understand the factors that influence patient outcomes.

This analysis of health insurance claims data demonstrates rapid increase and sustained high utilization of telemedicine services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we discuss senior health needs amid the pandemic and how Centerwell Senior Primary Care's holistic, team-based approach and value-based care delivery contributed to upticks in senior patient visits despite fears of COVID-19.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine was found to be safe and effective in children aged 6 to 11 years; the Biden administration seeks to increase the availability of cost-effective rapid at-home COVID-19 tests; President Joe Biden will impose new vaccine requirements for international air travelers and lift current travel restrictions.

Pregnant women with psoriasis were found to be at increased risk of experiencing preterm birth and Cesarean delivery, with patients undergoing anti-rheumatic treatment during their first pregnancy indicated to be at significantly greater risk.

A pan-cancer reference atlas provides a framework for an immune-based patient stratification that study authors expect to be predictive for patient prognosis and immunotherapy response at an elevated level after further studies.

Posters presented at AMCP Nexus 2021 evaluated the health care resource utilization (HRU) and costs associated with the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel.

The first-of-its-kind port delivery system with ranibizumab serves as the first wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment in 15 years to provide an alternative to frequent eye injections.

The nation's top infectious disease expert expects COVID-19 vaccination to be made available for children aged 5 to 11 years by early November; Walmart recalls aromatherapy spray due to rare and deadly bacteria contamination; COVID-19–related brain fog has been found to persist in patients for months after infection.

This new study from Serbia compared outcomes on oral glucose tolerance tests between women who are pregnant and those who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Two abstracts presented at the CHEST Annual Meeting 2021 showed that patients with narcolepsy treated with once-nightly sodium oxybate, FT218, vs placebo exhibited significant improvements in sleep latency and cataplexy.

Approximately half of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy exhibited long lapses in care when prescribed ranibizumab across a 5-year follow-up.

Study findings suggest that the unique genomic variations of cerebrospinal fluid can be leveraged as a liquid biopsy to effectively and safely improve decision-making regarding treatment of patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with leptomeningeal metastasis.

Highlighting the latest ophthalmology-related news reported across MJH Life Sciences™.

The FDA approves Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 booster shots and will allow mixing-and-matching for boosters; the health-related effects of climate change are growing; there is a rise in poisonings tied to the antiparasitic drug ivermectin.

Physician and health policy advocates praised the emphasis on streamlining models and ending silos, but practices that invested in the Oncology Care Model (OCM) await key details.

Biologic-experienced patients with psoriasis exhibited significantly improved treatment adherence and lower discontinuation, nonpersistence, and switching rates over 18 months when prescribed ixekizumab vs secukinumab.

Adalimumab biosimilar AVT02 exhibited comparative efficacy, safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity to the reference drug Humira in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis.

There are currently no FDA-approved treatments for refractory chronic cough or unexplained chronic cough. At the CHEST Annual Meeting 2021, attendees heard a readout from a durability study as well as pooled analyses from 2 phase 3 trials for gefapixant.

This analysis of a hospital billing database describes inpatient length of stay, intensive care unit length of stay, comorbidities, and costs for patients with diabetes after admission with hypoglycemia from long-term care or home.

Paradoxical bronchospasm, although rare, should be recognized more often in spirometry tests, said pulmonologist Malvika Kaul, MD, who discussed study findings from a population of veterans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, where the possibly life-threatening condition was not picked up in lung tests.

Nicole Herbst, MD, a pulmonary and critical care fellow, talks about how visitor restrictions and communication practices in intensive care units (ICUs) during the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted provider job satisfaction and were linked to job burnout, according to a survey presented at the CHEST Annual Meeting 2021.

A panel discussion at the CHEST Annual Meeting 2021 discussed disparities related to race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status that have been shown to impact access to high-quality lung cancer care.