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High-Deductible Health Plans and Their Potential Impact on the US Drug Epidemic
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Matthew D. Eisenberg, PhD, lead author of a study published in the October issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® that investigated the use of high-deductible health plans and their impact on substance use disorder care and spending.
High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) have gained traction in recent years as a means to reduce unnecessary health care spending. The monthly up-front premiums are low, but the high deductibles can lead to higher downstream costs for individuals and families. Potential downsides include the risk of patients deterring or avoiding necessary care.
A team headed by Matthew D. Eisenberg, PhD, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, recently investigated the impact of HDHPs through the lens of the ongoing epidemic of substance use disorder (SUD) in the United States. The article detailing their study’s findings appears in the October issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®.
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Dr Eisenberg on his team’s findings that these plans may have reduced SUD service use through the shifting of costs to their members, thereby exacerbating this already troubling epidemic that has resulted in declines in life expectancy and increases in drug- and alcohol-related deaths.
Impact of Medicaid Institution for Mental Diseases Exclusion on Serious Mental Illness Outcomes
December 17th 2025Medicaid’s Institution for Mental Diseases (IMD) rule bars federal funding for psychiatric facilities with more than 16 beds, but findings indicate that state waivers allowing treatment of serious mental illness in IMDs do not increase overall psychiatric hospitalizations.
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Physician-Pharmacy Integration in Cancer Care: Pillars of Medically Integrated Pharmacy
December 16th 2025The foundation of medically integrated pharmacy includes 7 critical pillars. This commentary focuses on the benefits of 3 of those pillars: abandonment, adherence, and access/affordability.
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