- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Palliative Care and Healthcare Utilization
Genevieve Kumapley, PharmD, BCOP, discusses the importance of introducing palliative care to patients at the time of diagnosis. Specifically, she describes how a multidisciplinary team approach can affect the utilization of healthcare resources. If such an approach is taken early, there is significant potential for cost savings, she suggests.
Addressing palliative care early on, and in a multidisciplinary manner, helps all stakeholders understand the goals and preferences of the patient. As part of the team approach, members of a patient’s palliative care team discuss with the patient what tests and/or treatments will or will not be beneficial, says Dr Kumapley. By having these discussions and taking into account the patient’s preferences, the patient’s palliative care team can potentially decrease the overuse of healthcare resources, which may result in cost savings.
As a pharmacist, Dr Kumapley discusses the pharmacist’s role in palliative care. Pharmacists have the opportunity to improve patient adherence by helping patients recognize adverse events and understand how to properly manage them, she says.
New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
Listen
ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
Read More
Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
Listen
Contributor: For Complex Cases, Continuity in Acute Care Is Necessary
April 23rd 2025For patients with complex needs and social challenges like unstable housing, the hospital has become their de facto medical home—yet each visit is a fragmented restart, without continuity, context, or a clear path forward.
Read More
