Drug overdose deaths are skyrocketing, with more than 100,000 people dying in 2021, according to the CDC. Obtaining treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs) has never been easy, and this month in Health Affairs, a recent paper examined trends in the use of treatment services to see what, if anything, changed from 2010 to 2019.

Despite an increase in insurance coverage over much of that time period and other policy changes, the results were disappointing, according to one of the authors interviewed about the findings on today’s Managed Care Cast.

Brendan Saloner, PhD, is an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who specializes in health policy, particularly policies that affect vulnerable populations, including those with drug problems and behavioral or mental health issues.

Trends Show Uptake of SUD Treatment Has Room for Improvement

Science

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with Illinois CancerCare's Pankaj Kumar, MD, and Stephanie Parker, PharmD, 2 authors of a commentary published in the May 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care.

Their commentary, "Access Denied: CMS’ Action Hurts Patients With Cancer in Rural America," discusses how recent CMS rules restricted the access of rural patients with cancer to medically integrated pharmacies, emphasizing the need for regulatory change.

Cancer Care Crisis: Experts Discuss CMS Restrictions Impacting Rural Patients With Cancer

In the series debut episode of Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity, Mary Sligh, CRNP, and Chelsea Chappars, of Allegheny Health Network, explain how the Urban Health Outreach program aims to improve health equity for individuals experiencing homelessness.

Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity: Urban Health Outreach

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with Karen Iapoce, senior director of government products and programs at ZeOmega. We discussed CMS's recent Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage final rule and how it affects enrollees and health plans.

CMS Medicare Final Rule: Advancing Benefits, Competition, and Consumer Protection

To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our final episode of this limited series and our conversation with Janine Jelks-Seale, MSPPM, director of health equity at UPMC Health Plan.

Tackling Health Inequality: The Power of Education and Experience

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the University of Pennsylvania's Ravi Parikh, MD, MPP, and Aaron Schwartz, MD, PhD, 2 authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®.

Their study, "Trends in Low-Value Cancer Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic," discusses how rates of low-value cancer services among adults with newly diagnosed cancer persisted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trends Show Uptake of SUD Treatment Has Room for Improvement

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