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Melissa Andel on Adding Dental, Hearing, Vision Benefits to Medicare
It’s right to acknowledge that dental, hearing, and vision are important for total health care for Medicare beneficiaries, said Melissa Andel, MPP, vice president of health policy at CommonHealth Solutions.
It’s right to acknowledge that dental, hearing, and vision are important for total health care for Medicare beneficiaries, said Melissa Andel, MPP, vice president of health policy at CommonHealth Solutions.
There are considerations to add dental, hearing, and vision benefits to Medicare: what impact might that have on seniors’ health?
I don't think anybody disputes the importance of dental health as part of a person's overall physical health. And then, obviously, vision and hearing is just as important. And so, to make sure that the component are available to all Medicare beneficiaries, not just those beneficiaries who are in Medicare Advantage plans, you know, and now that about 40% of Medicare beneficiaries do have those benefits through Medicare Advantage plans. But I do think that it's a good idea to add that.
The process of adding it and how you go about doing that and how you set the fee schedule and payments and work that out with the dentist and the audiologists and the optometrists, you know, that is a whole other discussion. But I do think it is right to acknowledge that those 3 things are important for total health care.
Early Detection Strategies for Interstitial Lung Disease in Rheumatology: Janet Pope, MD, MPH
August 11th 2025Janet Pope, MD, MPH, discusses screening and diagnostic approaches for interstitial lung disease in patients with systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other connective tissue diseases.
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Hope on the Horizon for Underserved Patients With Multiple Myeloma: Joseph Mikael, 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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AI Meets Medicare: Inside CMS’s WISeR Model With Sanjay Doddamani, MD, MBA, Part 2
August 5th 2025In this second part of his interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Sanjay Doddamani, MD, MBA, a former senior advisor to CMMI and founder and CEO of Guidehealth, continues a dialogue on the future of value-based care and the promise—and limits—of AI-enabled innovation, reflecting on challenges like rising Medicare costs and patients’ growing financial burdens.
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IgE Mediation in Pediatric Atopic Dermatitis, Concurrent Immune Disorders: Amy Paller, MD
August 4th 2025Amy Paller, MD, pediatric dermatologist and clinical researcher at Northwestern Medicine's Feinberg School of Medicine, discussed the potential impact of reducing immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels in pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis.
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Taletrectinib Recommended in NCCN Guidelines for ROS1-Positive NSCLC
July 31st 2025Taletrectinib was added to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology as a preferred option for the first-line and subsequent treatment of advanced ROS1-positive non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
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