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What We're Reading: Government Promotes Use of Long-Acting Contraceptives
What we're reading, June 16, 2016: the federal government is encouraging state Medicaid programs to promote long-acting contraceptives; Congress introduces a bill the prevent drug makers from thwarting generic competition; and new recommendation that people can choose the type of colon cancer screening they receive.
The federal government is encouraging state Medicaid programs to increase the number of enrollees using long-acting contraceptives. According to Kaiser Health News, long-acting contraceptives are advantageous because they are cost-effective, highly effective, require little maintenance, and have high patient satisfaction. The government is promoting use of these contraceptives because the United States has one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancies among developed nations, and states and the federal government spent a combined $21 billion on unplanned pregnancies.
Congress has again introduced a bill to prevent drug makers from thwarting generic competition. The bipartisan legislation would target companies that make it difficult to for generic companies to obtain samples of brand-name drugs, according to STAT. The bill would make it easier for generic companies to go to court over drug makers that refuse to make samples available. However, 2 previous legislative efforts have failed.
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is advising that adults can choose the type of colon cancer screening they feel most comfortable with. In addition to the recommended screening tests, USPSTF is now saying people can be screening using CT colonography, reported Reuters. The recommendation is directed at people ages 50 to 75 years.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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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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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.
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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.
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