Author: healthadmin
Pharmacists are among the most accessible health care providers in the system. Their responsibilities now extend far beyond dispensing to include immunizations, medication management, chronic disease support, and preventive care efforts. However, even as clinical expectations expand, much of a pharmacist’s day can still be spent on operational tasks, limiting time to engage with patients.At many pharmacies, the workday is defined by constant interruptions, including calls regarding prescription status, prior authorization and insurance issues, and system alerts that require immediate attention. Individually, these disruptions are routine, but together they create a reactive workflow that takes pharmacists away from intensive clinical…
The 5th annual Abarca Forward Conference, hosted at the headquarters of pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Abarca Health in San Juan, Puerto Rico, delved into important aspects of prior authorization (PA). This invitation-only event brought together payers, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, and clinicians to discuss how advances in technology and improved processes and communications can return PA to its roots in protecting patients while lowering healthcare costs.Abarca invited five leading PA companies to showcase their innovations and insights into today’s PA and utilization management transformation. Throughout the session, the speakers returned to one idea. The challenge is not just pre-approval, but the…
On a recent Saturday in Orem, it was sunny and warmer than usual, but the Cardons were indoors, surrounded by cardboard boxes and bubble wrap. As they cleared shelves and put away family photos, they spoke, sometimes tearfully, about the decision they slowly revealed to friends and neighbors. When the school year ends, the family of six leaves for Kansas City. This is something they never wanted to do, but Adrian and Jared Cardone are worried. Three of their four children strict asthma. When you get sick in the winter, you need supplemental oxygen, and when there’s smoke from wildfires,…
Most people think of Alzheimer’s disease as a disease of aging. But in reality, the changes that characterize the brain begin much earlier, around the third decade of life. In the early stages of these changes, protein tangles called tau begin to accumulate in a small region deep in the brain called the locus coeruleus, which is involved in sleep, attention, and wakefulness. Tau later spreads to other parts of the brain. The occurrence of tau tangles does not mean that a person has Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, Alzheimer’s disease affects nearly everyone to varying degrees. But because these changes…
The largest health insurance company and medical technology vendor Xeris Inc. must face a lawsuit alleging they conspired to reduce out-of-network reimbursements to health care providers, a federal judge ruled March 30. Judge Brian E. Murphy of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the plaintiffs, made up of several medical, dental, and chiropractic providers from multiple states, plausibly asserted antitrust standing and damages in this case. The judge denied Mr. Zellis and the insurance company’s joint motion to dismiss. The lawsuit centers on allegations brought by health care providers against Xellis, Aetna, Cigna, Elevance,…
A new study finds that metformin, a widely prescribed diabetes drug, may mimic one of the core biological effects of exercise in men with prostate cancer, increasing levels of molecules associated with energy balance and weight management even when patients are inactive. The findings suggest that metformin may help counter the metabolic burden of hormone therapy, when physical activity is often limited by fatigue and other side effects. The study, led by physician-scientists at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, was published in the journal EMBO molecular medicine. Exercise is one…
Some treatments used to treat cancer can increase the risk of later developing cancer that affects the blood. Population-based studies in Japan have revealed a gradual increase in the incidence of treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia (tAML) in recent years, particularly after breast cancer treatment. The findings are published on Wiley Online. cancera peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. tAML is an aggressive blood and bone marrow cancer that develops after chemotherapy or radiation therapy for the initial primary cancer and is thought to be caused, in part, by DNA damage caused by these treatments. To assess whether tAML is…
Texas lawmakers have made the boom in artificial intelligence data centers one of their top priorities and are also seeing a surge in campaign contributions from big tech companies. Data center developers have already donated millions of dollars to influence this year’s Texas elections as state officials debate new policies ahead of the 2027 legislative session. Texas has no limits on individual donations, so large campaign contributions are not uncommon. But the AI industry is well-funded, with some developers worth trillions of dollars. That dwarfs even the energy, real estate and utility companies that typically account for the bulk of…
Rosa Maria Carranza leans forward to support her three-year-old as she climbs a rock in the forested hills of northeast Auckland. Wearing hiking gear and a beaded necklace, Carranza, 67, wandered among trees and children on a sunny December morning. “Grab that branch,” she said in Spanish. “You can do it, my love!” Carranza, a child development expert who grew up swinging through the trees and swimming in rivers in El Salvador, said she feels at home in the woods at the outdoor preschool she co-founded. She has worked with children and teens as a child care provider and educator…
Drugs currently being tested to treat hepatitis C may also work on hepatitis E by blocking the virus from replicating. Hepatitis E infects millions of people worldwide and causes approximately 70,000 deaths each year. Despite its impact, there is still no approved vaccine or targeted therapy. This situation may soon change with the discovery of bemnifosbuvir, a compound with potent activity against hepatitis E virus (HEV). An international research team from Bochum and Heidelberg, Germany, and Beijing, China, identified the drug while screening a collection of antiviral compounds. Bemnifosbuvir belongs to a class of molecules known as nucleotide/nucleoside analogs. It…