Peter Wehrwein has been the lead editor of Managed Healthcare Executive since February 2020.
Hepatitis B Vaccination Efforts in Africa Are Flagging
July 20th 2023Vaccinations at birth are particularly low, according to a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Models suggest that more than 500,000 hepatitis B-related deaths would be averted if some key vaccination goals were met.
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Johns Hopkins Tweaks Name of Health Insurance Plans To Reflect Large, Varied Roles
July 19th 2023In addition to a health plan for employees, Johns Hopkins Health Plans has a Medicare Advantage plan, a Medicaid managed care plan and a plan for the families of people who are on active duty in the U.S. military.
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MA, Traditional Medicare Differences in Inpatient Rehabilitation Narrowed During the Pandemic
July 14th 2023Researchers at the University of Wisconsin also found that the length of stays in inpatient rehabilitation facilities decreased during the 2020 pandemic months relative to 2019 but that payments per episode increased.
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Spending on Home Healthcare Projected to Grow Faster Than Other Category, Say CMS Actuaries
July 13th 2023In their annual projections of healthcare spending, the actuaries foresee spending on home healthcare growing at annual rate of 7.7% from 2025 to 2031, which is faster than annual growth of 5.6% for health expenditures overall.
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7 Things To Know About Hepatitis D
July 10th 2023It is dependent on the hepatitis B virus, so as vaccination against hepatitis B has increased, the prevalence of hepatitis D has decreased. A new treatment drug, Gilead's Hepcludex (bulevirtide), has been approved by European drug regulators but not by the FDA.
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Paxlovid Shows No Benefit in Younger, Vaccinated, Healthy Adults, Study Finds
July 7th 2023Results reported in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases did show protection against serious outcomes (emergency room visits, hospitalizations,death) among adults,18-50, with cancer and cardiovascular diseases but no such benefit among those without those diseases. The study also showed no Paxlovid benefit among those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.
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FDA approves Roctavian, the First Gene Therapy for Hemophilia A
June 30th 2023The price tag of $2.9 million is typical of a new wave of gene therapies. The manufacturer, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, is offering arrangements that will link the price paid by payers to how well patients respond to the treatment.
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Pearson Stepping Down as Head of ICER, Emond Taking Over
June 28th 2023Sarah K. Emond, M.P.P., will take over as president and CEO of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) next year. Steve Pearson, M.D.,M.Sc., founded the organization, which has become the leading cost-effectiveness assessment organization of pharmaceuticals in the U.S.
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A Step Forward, Perhaps, for Safe Step Act and Exemptions from Step Therapy
June 19th 2023Legislation designed to smooth the path to exemptions from step therapy has been incorporated into the Pharmacy Benefit Reform Act, one of several bills targeting pharmacy benefit managers that is making legislative headway in the Senate.
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Another Dispatch From the Accumulator-Maximizer Wars
June 1st 2023Vanderbilt’s Stacie Dusetzina and colleagues explain how the ‘copay adjustment’ programs work in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine and also shed light on third strategy used by insurers and pharmaceutical benefit managers, the alternative payment program.
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Some Years of Progress in Narrowing Black-White Mortality Differences. Then COVID-19 Happened
May 17th 2023Results reported in JAMA comparing Black and White populations show a narrowing and then leveling off of excess mortality and potential years of life lost before the difference widened again in 2020.
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Medicaid Redetermination, Sanders' Healthcare $$$ Plans & AI for Mental Health | The AM News Cycle
May 17th 2023Medicaid redetermination may result in a favorable payer mix for some providers if people switch to ACA and employer-based coverage that has higher payer rates. But that is a pretty big if.
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