Managed Care Cast

This week, the top managed care news included COVID-19 vaccine eligibility opens to all adults nationwide; a spotlight on payment models and value-based care; barriers to mental health care for children and teenagers.

The United States is now 5 months into its national vaccine rollout. Although hundreds of millions of doses have been successfully administered, the process has hit several snags along the way, including, but not limited to, disparities in administration and a failure to collect racial data on nearly half of those vaccinated at the national level.

But to achieve this feat, health systems have had to adjust to shifting vaccine eligibility requirements, ensure outreach efforts are successful, and combat misinformation within their communities, all the while scheduling appointments and making sure shots get into arms.

In an effort to meet some of the logistical challenges of the rollout, Kyruus works alongside health care organizations and provides search, scheduling, and data management solutions to help connect patients with the right care.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Chris Gervais, the chief technology and security officer at Kyruus, and Erin Jospe, MD, chief medical officer at Kyruus.

The authors of a study in the April 2021 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® discuss the possible reasons behind the link between care fragmentation and hospitalizations in veterans with diabetes, as well as potential opportunities to address disjointed care in the context of the widespread telehealth uptake seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the chief strategy officer for Well Being Trust, one of the authors of a recent report about how well health insurers and state Medicaid programs are covering mental health care for children and compliance with federal law. We discuss the unique challenges that youth face, the health disparities, racism, and community trauma that has been experienced in the past year, and some creative ways that organizations and communities can consider increase access to mental health supports.

This week, the top managed care news included a pause in distribution of J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine; FDA clears first AI device to find possible cancerous hot spots during colonoscopies; lessons from years of public health budgetary neglect.

Neglecting public health in state budgets for more than 10 years created an environment that was ill-suited to deal with the challenges of COVID-19 as well as other issues. On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with one of the authors of a recent paper that examined state funding trends from 2008 to 2018 and discuss what could be done in the future to avoid past mistakes.

In an article published this month in Health Affairs, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and the College of Health Solutions from Arizona State University, took a close look at state spending in 8 categories of public health spending during an 11-year period to understand the extent to which funding has not kept up with pressing and emerging issues.

The stagnation in public health spending occurred during a time of rising mortality in the United States and funding, which was cut during the Great Recession, was not restored.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Beth Resnick, DrPH, MPH, a coauthor of the study, a senior scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins, where she is also the assistant dean for Public Health Practice and Training.

This week, the top managed care news included a European safety committee finding very rare blood clot links with AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine; new report predicts shifts in the cancer landscape by 2040; the connected nature of type 1 diabetes with other autoimmune diseases.

The Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe, or CeSHHAR, was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Harare (hurrahree), Zimbabwe. CeSHHAR conducts evidence-based research related to HIV/AIDS, its prevention, and policy making, along with providing and implementing sexual and reproductive health education and interventions among several at-risk populations.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the executive director of CeSHHAR, Frances Cowan, MD, MSc, MRCP, MBBS, professor of global health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, about CeSHHAR’s history, its programs, and continuing to make inroads against this 4-decades-old pandemic.

This activity is supported by an educational grant from Boehringer Ingelheim.

Today, we are bringing you part 2 of a 2-part podcast series discussing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In part 2, moderator Neil Minkoff, MD, chief medical officer of Coeus Healthcare, leads a discussion with a panel of experts about personalized approaches to COPD management and treatment efficacy.

This week, the top news in managed care included COVID-19 cases surging as vaccine eligibility expands nationwide; Senate bill seeks to limit use of step therapy in employer health plans; a look into local and global awareness of the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic.