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What We're Reading: Government Blocks Some Seamless Conversions Efforts in Medicare
What we're reading, October 28, 2016: Medicare blocks some efforts to automatically move customers eligible for Medicare into Medicare Advantage; the first lung cancer vaccine developed in Cuba will be tested in the US; and American Red Cross and Teladoc partner for disaster relief.
CMS is barring efforts from some health insurance companies to automatically move consumers eligible for Medicare into Medicare Advantage. According to Kaiser Health News, there are 29 insurers that are currently allowed to do seamless conversion to switch a customer from a commercial plan when they become eligible for Medicare at age 65. The problem is the conversion is not clear for some seniors, who first learn they’ve been moved into a new plan when they receive an expensive out-of-network provider bill or learn they’ve been given a new primary care doctor.
A lung cancer vaccine developed in Cuba will be tested in the United States for the first time. The trial at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York, will enroll up to 90 patients and will take 3 years to complete, reported The Washington Post. The vaccine has already been approved in some other countries. The US trial will test the vaccine in combination with the immunotherapy Opdivo to see if pairing the 2 improves effectiveness.
A partnership between the American Red Cross and Teladoc will help deliver medical care to communities affected by natural disasters. The companies announced that the partnership will make Teladoc’s network of physicians available to people helped by Red Cross. The virtual services will make it possible for victims of natural disasters to access health services.
Laundromats as a New Frontier in Community Health, Medicaid Outreach
May 29th 2025Lindsey Leininger, PhD, and Allister Chang, MPA, highlight the potential of laundromats as accessible, community-based settings to support Medicaid outreach, foster trust, and connect families with essential health and social services.
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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.
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FDA Expands Access to Approved CAR T-Cell Therapies by Eliminating REMS
June 30th 2025The FDA has removed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) for approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for hematologic malignancies, aiming to ease provider burden and expand patient access.
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