Jared Kaltwasser

3 days ago | managedhealthcareexecutive.com | Jared Kaltwasser

It’s been 8 1/2 years since the CMS first announced its value-based insurance design (VBID) pilot for Medicare Advantage programs. At the time, the agency said the program would give Medicare Advantage plans the flexibility to design plans that incentivize patients to use high-value care.

4 days ago | managedhealthcareexecutive.com | Jared Kaltwasser

Newly discovered mechanisms associated with chronic muscle inflammation in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) could point the way to new therapeutic options to slow progressive muscle weakness in patients. If validated in future studies, the findings suggest that currently available therapies might be repurposed to help preserve muscle function in patients with the disease. DMD is marked by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, eventually leading to loss of ambulation.

1 week ago | ajmc.com | Jared Kaltwasser

A handheld portable device achieves similar results to conventional oscillometry when testing resistance parameters in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new study found.1 The report, which was published in Physiological Reports, found that readings between the 2 techniques were similar for patients with mild (GOLD 1) COPD and for those with very severe (GOLD 4) disease.

1 week ago | ajmc.com | Jared Kaltwasser

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be a valuable tool for objectively measuring atopic dermatitis (AD) severity, a new report suggests.1 The study, which was published as a research letter in the journal Allergy, found that an AI algorithm can successfully score eczema severity, though the severity scores did not always align with patient-reported itch-intensity metrics. The chronic nature of AD necessitates long-term management and monitoring of the disease.

1 week ago | ajmc.com | Jared Kaltwasser

People with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) faced a significantly higher risk of severe disease and mortality in the early days of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a Swedish study published in the journal Blood Advancesfound.