Testing and Treating Prisoners for Hepatitis C
Carl was in and out of the Connecticut prison system for years, struggling to retake control of his life and overcome his addiction to heroin. One day, while being screened to work as a food handler in one facility, Carl made a startling discovery: He had hepatitis C. In fact, his liver was already severely […]
Oncology Value Models
Cancer treatment is better than ever before, thanks in part to more effective medications. But these medications often carry high price tags and co-pays, causing financial stress for cancer patients and their families. Although some medications benefit patients substantially, others offer only moderate improvement, prompting questions about when the high costs are justified. Such questions […]
Improving Cancer Patients’ Access to Precision Medicine
Treatments for cancer have improved dramatically in recent decades. The five-year survival rate – the percentage of people with cancer who will be alive five years after diagnosis – has gone up, while death rates due to cancer have decreased. Nevertheless, a substantial proportion of the population is still affected by cancer. The conventional avenues […]
Clinical Practice Guidelines and Patient Access
By David Charles, MD and Mary Ann Chapman, PhD When patients experience health problems, they trust their physicians to recommend the best possible treatments, taking into account their medical history, symptoms, and preferences. Physicians rely on their training and experience to make these important decisions. To assist physicians and help promote evidence-based health care, clinical […]
Access to Hepatitis C Cures for Medicaid Patients
For most of history, hepatitis C has been incurable after the development of chronic infection.
Multimodal Analgesia: Acute Pain Relief for the Whole Patient
In the last few decades, rising concerns about the misuse and abuse of opioids have brought pain and pain management to the forefront as a public health concern. In response, the National Institutes of Health and the Institute of Medicine released in 2015 the first-ever National Pain Strategy, calling on healthcare providers to customize pain […]
Medication for Long-Term Care Residents: Reducing Overuse Without Compromising Access and Care
By David Charles, MD and Mary Ann Chapman, PhD More than 2 million elderly Americans live in long-term care settings such as nursing homes. Residents of these facilities take an average of nine different medications each day, with the most common being medications for digestive problems, psychological symptoms, and pain. In 2011, 24% of residents in […]
Improving Patient Access to Immuno-Oncology Therapies
By Alan Marks, MD, and Mary Ann Chapman, PhD Despite major advances in cancer medicine (oncology), cancer remains a deadly disease, accounting for nearly 600,000 deaths in the US annually. For many years, the primary treatments for cancer have been surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Over the past decade, medications have been developed that act directly […]
Unresolved Policy Issues Impact Patient Access to Biosimilars
By David Charles, MD and Mary Ann Chapman, PhD More than five years have passed since Congress approved an abbreviated regulatory pathway for biosimilars under the Biologic Price Competition and Innovation Act as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Biosimilars are biological medications deemed highly similar, but not identical to, those already […]
Informed Prescribing: Physicians Need Complete and Specific Prescribing Information for Biosimilar Medications
By David Charles, MD and Mary Ann Chapman, PhD Every prescription medication approved in the United States is accompanied by a printed document for physicians called the prescribing information. The prescribing information is also known as the package insert or product label—not to be confused with the box or paper affixed to a medication bottle […]
