AJMC in the Press, August 19, 2016

Two articles in the new issue of The American Journal of Managed Care are gaining notice in the healthcare press this week. David Salazar of DrugStore News was among those who wrote about “The Impact of Formulary Drug Exclusion Policies on Patients and Heatlhcare Costs,” which is a review 26 studies. The article, by researchers at the Tufts Medical Center’s Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, in the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health, found that while there are exceptions, most research shows that exclusions save money without harming patients.

The article, “Opinions on the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program: Results of a National Survey of Hospital Leaders,” drew plenty of reader and press interest. Jacqueline Belliveau of RevenueCycle Intelligence covered the results of the survey, which found that two-thirds of respondents feel CMS’ financial penalties for not meeting 30-day readmission targets are having a major effect on their efforts to decrease readmissions. The authors, from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, also found that three-quarter of the leaders faulted CMS for failing to account for differences in the socioeconomic mix of hospital populations.