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Understanding Opioid Use Among Patients With Cancer
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Tham Thi Le, PhD, MPH, lead author—then at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, now at AstraZeneca—and Linda Wastila, PhD, MSPH, senior author and the Parke-Davis Chair in Geriatric Pharmacotherapy, Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, discuss the findings of their investigation into opioid use by patients with a new cancer diagnosis and the opioid prescribing practices of their health care providers from 2007 to 2013.
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Tham Le, PhD, MPH, and Linda Wastila, PhD, MSPH. Drs. Le and Wastila are lead and senior authors, respectively, of “Patterns of Opioid Use in Commercially Insured Patients With Cancer,” which was published in the May issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®.
They took up their investigation after finding that most previous similar studies of opioid use focused on problems with opioid use among general populations and that patients with cancer are an often overlooked population where opioid use is concerned. They sought a greater understanding of which patients with cancer are at risk for undertreatment and who is at risk for a substance use disorder. Overall, they believe that policies concerning opioid misuse need strengthening while continuing to address the genuine pain needs of patients with cancer and that they need to balance the benefits of opioid prescribing with the risks.
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Disparities in Biomarker Testing Impact Nonsquamous NSCLC Outcomes: Surbhi Singhal, MD
September 6th 2025Surbhi Singhal, MD, of the University of California Davis, discussed disparities in biomarker testing among patients diagnosed with stage IV nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
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AI in Health Care: Balancing Governance, Innovation, and Trust
September 2nd 2025In this conversation with Reuben Daniel, associate vice president of artificial intelligence at UPMC Health Plan, we dive into how UPMC Health Plan builds trust with providers and members, discuss challenges of scaling AI effectively, and hear about concrete examples of AI's positive impact.
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Infertility Coverage Boosts ART Use and Pregnancy Success: Richard A. Brook, MS, MBA
August 26th 2025In this episode, Richard A. Brook, MS, MBA, discusses his study showing that infertility treatment coverage increases assisted reproductive technology (ART) use and improves pregnancy outcomes.
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Managed Care Reflections: A Q&A With Dora Hughes, MD, MPH
September 4th 2025To mark the 30th anniversary of The American Journal of Managed Care, each issue in 2025 includes a special feature: reflections from a thought leader on what has changed—and what has not—over the past 3 decades and what’s next for managed care. The September issue features a conversation with Dora Hughes, MD, MPH, chief medical officer and director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at CMS.
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