Health Care Delivery

Though the implementation of the Affordable Care Act has introduced various beneficial provisions for the American public, Joe Antos, PhD, the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute, said that he still sees room for improvement.

Subscribers migrated to Affordable Care Act—compliant plans with modestly higher costs, but had higher levels of insurance coverage and stronger consumer protections.

What We're Reading, July 12, 2016: Oregon's Health CO-OP to close down by the end of July; experts discuss fairer ways to decide on drug pricing; and gender bias in physician salaries at academic institutions.

The president predicts that in 20 years, the nation will look back on "Obamacare" as a moment of courage that has improved people's lives.

Jay Sheehy, senior vice president of product innovation at EmblemHealth, explained that being able to tailor your message to specific patient populations will help to better engage consumers, which will prove to be more successful for healthcare companies in the long term.

Hepatitis C is an enormously common disease that is often initially asymptomatic. New drugs are very effective, but expensive, and there has been reluctance to cover these treatments. Authors that published research in the hepatitis C special issue present their findings.

The number of individuals experiencing difficulty paying for healthcare or medicines has hit a record low since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

This week in managed care, the top stories included a report on how much Americans spend on complementary health approaches, more trouble with the Affordable Care Act's risk adjustment program, and researchers linked the BRCA1 gene to deadly uterine cancer.

Experts at a summit convened by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) agreed that progress in health information technology can help break the walls between compartmentalized data that lives within distinct data systems, to improve patient outcomes.

According to Kelly J. Clark, MD, MBA, president elect of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, payers and pharmacy benefit managers can aid in patient access to the medication they need to treat addictive disease by ensuring an evidence-based prior authorization protocol, just as they would for a patient with a chronic disease.

What we're reading, July 6, 2016: the Department of Veterans Affairs has made progress, but still has a long way to go; court upholds 6-month delay for biosimilars; and Apple promotes organ donation with iPhone app.

Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade moved to protect existing policyholders after HealthyCT learned June 30, 2016, it would have to pay CMS $13.4 million under the ACA Risk Adjustment program, which has been heavily criticized.

What we're reading, July 5, 2016: South Carolina's Obamacare health insurance exchange is close to collapse; hepatitis C virus treatment restrictions are being slowly lifted; and a special feature on what foods are healthy.

This week, the top stories in managed care include the largest healthcare fraud takedown, one successful accountable care organization imparted its secrets, and a report identifies pharmacy trends in the public health exchanges.

In the most recent Web-based session of The American Journal of Managed Care’s ACO & Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition, speakers examined 3 practice transformation models.

What we're reading, July 4, 2016: a hospital is offering free housing to get super-utilizers out of the emergency room; campaigns for patients to gain access to stem cell treatments are gaining momentum; and why hospital/physician integration and consolidation probably won't lower costs.

In the last 5 years urgent care has seen a rise in popularity. Here are 5 facts about urgent care clinics.

What we're reading, June 30, 2016: one doctor makes the case for the FDA moving away from a simple approval/no approval system; Massachusetts and Gilead come to an agreement over hepatitis C drug rebates; and Georgia considers Medicaid expansion.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Improved health literacy will help consumers understand plans and benefits so that they can make better decisions and Florida Blue has focused on experiential marketing where customers are engaged in community events, outreach programs, and educational sessions, explained Anne Jessup, senior director of digital channels at Florida Blue.