{"title":"MA Part B Makes Controversial Jump Into Step Therapy.","authors":"Richard Mark Kirkner","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Step therapy is common in commercial insurance but new to MA. Insurers defend it as an evidence-based way to put some guardrails on ill-advised, costly prescribing. Practitioners, medical societies, and drugmakers complain, though, that CMS's guidance is vague, and gives plans too much latitude in dictating step edits.</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"13-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Heaps of Health Care Waste. In Washington State, They Are Sifting Through It.","authors":"Michael D Dalzell","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A report from the Washington Health Alliance looks at 48 treatments, tests, and procedures identified by the Choosing Wisely campaign as having little clinical benefit in certain circumstances and, in many cases, the potential to cause harm.</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"19-21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"HRT Has an Uncertainty Problem. Does Compounding Make It Worse?","authors":"Jan Greene","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been around since the 1960s to help menopausal women who struggle with symptoms caused by the ebbing of estrogen. In 2002, a major study said that HRT could raise cardiovascular and breast cancer risks. Enter compounding. Too risky?</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"32-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessing the Legal and Practical Implications of Copay Accumulator and Maximizer Programs.","authors":"John S Linehan","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Drug manufacturers have relied on coupons to promote access to branded drugs by reducing patients' out-of-pocket costs. Insurers and PBMs, on the other hand, have opposed coupons because they undermine the effectiveness of cost-sharing requirements and benefit designs that incentivize cost-effective drug prescribing and purchasing choices.</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"42-44"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"More Medicare Advantage Plans Offering Post-acute Discharge Care.","authors":"Erik Johnson","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As plans and providers collaborate to manage post-discharge care, they will also need to take heed of the nonclinical variables. Limitations in performing activities of daily living (ADLs) and social determinants of health (SDOH) have as great an impact on health care spending among the elderly as the presence of chronic conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"48-49"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37066400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Medicare Advantage Plans Are Paid: The Devils-and the Insights-Are in the Details.","authors":"Timothy Kelley","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Is Medicare Advantage a ripoff of taxpayers, a godsend for integrated, cost-effective care, or somehow both? Contributing Editor Timothy Kelley walks you through the details of quality star ratings, preliminary adjustments, the quartile system, regional plans, risk scores, coding intensity adjustments, and rebate percentages.</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"22-29"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Taking Members From Disconnected to Engaged.","authors":"Carrie Cowdin","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Members are looking for a customized health care experience. With analytics, health plans can deliver it. Three key areas will help plans to close gaps in care and improve outcomes. They are: identifying at-risk members, tailoring communications and care settings, and increasing member motivation.</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"46-47"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Flying Blind With Medication Management.","authors":"Sanjiv Luthra, Danny Sands","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The problem of nonadherence must be addressed. We must improve the sharing of a patient's real-time medication compliance with care teams so that they are able to intervene in the right way at the right time. We must also educate patients. Medications can't be effective if people don't take them.</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Medicare Advantage Advantage-For Insurers, It's a Sweet Deal, Indeed!","authors":"Joseph Burns","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Let the good times roll! CMS overpays for MA coverage, and that allows insurers to give enrollees extra benefits that traditional Medicare does not cover. But there's this thing called \"politics,\" with rumblings that insurers have too sweet a deal. Will the spigot be turned off?</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"30-31"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"U.S. Women's Health: Not So Great.","authors":"Jan Greene","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Commonwealth Fund reports that U.S. women have more chronic illness, are less satisfied with their care, and have more trouble affording it-often skipping needed care because of cost-than women in comparable nations. Could universal coverage be the cure?</p>","PeriodicalId":39329,"journal":{"name":"Managed Care","volume":"28 2","pages":"36-40"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"37067445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}