The top stories in managed care, including what providers really think about the use of quality metrics, readmission rates for Medicare patients, and preventing drug-resistant infections.
This week HHS found that competition among health plans in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces helped consumers find the best prices. However, there are now concerns that if the mergers between Aetna and Humana, and Anthem and Cigna go through that they will decrease competition levels that led to better prices and premiums.
The use of quality metrics to assess providers’ performances is viewed negatively by primary care providers, along with financial penalties for unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions. However, providers believe health information technology is having a positive impact on quality of care.
Under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, 2592 hospitals will lose a combined $420 million dollars due to penalties as a result of their Medicare readmission rates. One in 5 Medicare patients is still readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge.
Neurologists Share Tips for Securing Patient Access to Gene Therapies
March 19th 2025Tenacious efforts at every level, from the individual clinician to the hospital to the state to Congress, will be needed to make sure patients can access life-saving gene therapies for neuromuscular diseases.
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Varied Access: The Pharmacogenetic Testing Coverage Divide
February 18th 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the author of a study published in the February 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® to uncover significant differences in coverage decisions for pharmacogenetic tests across major US health insurers.
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The Impact of Cost Sharing on High-Value Care
March 14th 2025Michael Chernew, PhD, professor of health care policy and director of the Healthcare Markets and Regulation Lab, Harvard Medical School, shares how cost-sharing policies shape access to critical health care services and influence value-based insurance design.
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