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Edmund Pezalla, MD, Discusses How Consumers Can Have a More Active Role in Healthcare Decision Making
Edmund J. Pezalla, MD, MPH, national medical director, Aetna Pharmacy Management, says Aetna engages consumers in decision-making in a variety of ways.
Edmund J. Pezalla, MD, MPH, national medical director, Aetna Pharmacy Management, says Aetna engages consumers in decision-making in a variety of ways. The insurer provides tools for the employed population, which include virtual people and other digital programs about benefit designs. They also offer tools for the general population, which include iTriage to help them find a provider or facility. All of the health plan’s tools increase consumers’ access and allow them to compare costs.
“For patients who are in the exchanges, both the public and the private exchanges, [these tools] help them to make decisions about what kind of benefit will work for them in their point of life,” Dr Pezalla says. “There’s a lot of things that can help them to choose a plan—and it’s not just a matter of cost or choosing just on ‘I’ve heard of that doctor and hospital’—but choosing a plan that will work for them, both in terms of their medical situation and their financial situation.”
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Using AI, Socioeconomic Factors to Predict Outcomes After Allo-SCT for AML
August 16th 2025Artificial intelligence (AI) and socioeconomic factors enhance risk stratification for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) post transplant, aiming to reduce hospital readmissions and disease progression.
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Hope on the Horizon for Underserved Patients With Multiple Myeloma: Joseph Mikhael, MD
August 12th 2025Explore the disparities in multiple myeloma treatment and how new initiatives aim to improve clinical trial participation among underrepresented patients during a conversation with Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, FASCO, chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation.
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Accessing pediatric dermatology care is challenging due to a shortage of specialists and general dermatologists' reluctance to treat children, but increasing their comfort level with seeing children could help bridge the gap, explained Elizabeth Garcia Creighton, of University of Colorado School of Medicine.
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