Health Care Delivery

With the Affordable Care Act expanding access to healthcare coverage, health plans have to handle consumers who are very different: some are very new to healthcare, some are more knowledgeable, some are healthy and never use care, and some are chronically ill, explained Robin Wright King, MBA, of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Despite a federal law enacted to respond to rising national drug shortages, a new study finds that although the numbers of national drug shortages appearing each year has decreased, the overall number of national shortages remains high.

This week, the top managed care stories included an exclusivity deal that has patients with type 1 diabetes unhappy, a report found the healthcare system could have saved $73 billion from greater use of generics, and The American Journal of Managed Care seeks your nominations for an emerging leader award.

According to a new report released by the American Cancer Society, prevention, early detection, and interventions have worked for controlling cancer-but only for those cancer types for which these tools are available.

How doctors are using telemedicine to help relieve the desperate situation in war-torn Syria.

What we're reading, May 13, 2016: federal judge rules against Obamacare; Senate reaches deal for $1.1 billion to fight Zika; and Los Angeles is using healthcare funds to house the homeless.

The immunotherapy agent nivolumab was approved by the European Commission in combination with ipilimumab for the treatment of advanced melanoma, but rejected by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for use in patients with advanced lung cancer.

While final decisions will come in Septembers, Aetna's early word comes in contrast with that of other large insurers heading into 2017.

CancerCare's 2016 Patient Access and Engagement Report underscores barriers for patient access to care, as well as communication gaps with care providers, both of which have a significant impact on patient outcomes.

What we're reading, May 11, 2016: Hillary Clinton is floating the idea of letting more people buy into Medicare; American public not on board with speeding up FDA drug approvals; and Walgreens expands mental health treatment and service options.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)’s Value Framework evaluates the clinical benefit, toxicity, and cost of new interventions compared with the standard of care. ASCO’s CMO, Richard Schilsky, MD, FACP, FASCO, explains their plans to make the framework useful for clinical decisions at the point of care.

Peter Bach, MD, MAPP, director, Center for Health and Policy Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, speaks about DrugAbacus, the importance of using value frameworks, and using the European market as a model to recalibrate the healthcare system in the United States.

Measuring the quality of oncology care and associating it with reimbursement, and high drug prices remain important concerns of value-based outpatient cancer care. A healthcare economist reviews the current status and suggests a potential path forward.

The percentage of Democrats with an unfavorable opinion of the Affordable Care Act has increased, because more of them want to expand what the law does.

At the spring live meeting of the ACO & Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition in Scottsdale, Arizona, attendees heard presentations and participated in workshops that discussed better integration of care, improved use of technology, and the future of healthcare and the Affordable Care Act.

A new analysis of websites that provide information on pancreatic cancer, published in JAMA Surgery, has found that they overestimate the reading ability of the population and might even misguide them.

What we're reading: Arizona revives its Children's Health Insurance Program; new medical schools focus on creating a new type of physician; and Cigna believes its deal with Anthem won't close until 2017.

Six years after the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, a physicians' group says corporate interests are pushing aside the concerns of doctors and the needs of patients.

What we're reading, May 5, 2016: obtaining life-ending medications under California's new law won't be easy come June 9; Arizona is now the only state to not participate in CHIP; struggling insurers propose big premiums increases on Obamacare plans.

What we're reading, May 3, 2016: low-quality, low-cost hospitals received bonuses from Medicare; Brigham and Women's Hospital is publicizing its mistakes; and Tenet expects other insurers will fill the void when UnitedHealth leaves the exchanges.

Access to surgery in early-stage patients with non-small cell lung cancer is dependent upon the extent of racial segregation in the patient’s neighborhood, according to a new study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

A survey compares healthcare access and affordability among different types of coverage for low-and moderate-income adults.

The departure of UnitedHealth from most Affordable Care Act exchanges will have a relatively small effect on premiums across the country, but the effect could be more pronounced in rural areas and southern states.

Insurance plans offered through the Affordable Care Act are placing fewer drugs on the specialty tier of formularies than they were 2 years prior, according to a new study from Avalere.

Oral anticancer agents are being launched at significantly higher prices compared with a decade ago, which can prove a barrier to patient access, according to a new analysis published in JAMA Oncology.