US Trends In Anticancer Medicine Pricing And The Impact Of Competition, 2014-20.

Prices of anticancer medicines (including chemically synthesized medicines and biologics manufactured from living organisms) are a subject of concern, as they contribute to spending by health plans and patients. We describe prices and evaluate the impact of competition among 185 anticancer medicines, using IQVIA data from the period October 2014-February 2020. We calculated the price of each medicine, defined as volume-weighted wholesale costs net of prompt-pay discounts and gross of rebates, without and with inflation adjustment, and summarized them by patent status, formulation, and therapeutic class.

340B Participation and Safety Net Engagement Among Federally Qualified Health Centers.

Importance: The 340B program provides discounts on outpatient drugs to certain hospitals and federally supported clinics (covered entities) that can be used to generate revenue to fund safety net care. While numerous studies have found no association between 340B and safety net care provision for most hospital covered entities, less is known about whether federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), the largest group of covered entities after hospitals, use the program to enhance safety net care.

Objective: To assess whether a proxy for 340B revenue was associated with increased safety net care provision among FQHCs.

Characteristics of short-term acute care hospitals that experienced a ransomware attack from 2016 to 2021.

As cybercrime increasingly targets the health care sector, hospitals face the growing threat of ransomware attacks. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that prevents users from accessing their electronic systems-demanding payment to restore access. In response, momentum is gathering to enact policy that will help hospitals strengthen their cybersecurity defenses.

340B Contract pharmacy growth by pharmacy ownership: 2009-2022.

The 340B program grants eligible health care providers ("covered entities") access to discounted prices for outpatient prescription drugs. Covered entities frequently rely on retail pharmacies ("contract pharmacies") to dispense discounted drugs. This analysis describes contract pharmacy participation by ownership: the top 4 chains, grocery chains, small chains, and institutional independent pharmacies.

Implementation Activities in Smoke-Free Public Housing: The Massachusetts Experience.

A 2018 rule requiring federally-subsidized public housing authorities (PHAs) in the United States to adopt smoke-free policies (SFPs) has sparked interest in how housing agencies can best implement SFPs. However, to date, there is little quantitative data on the implementation of SFPs in public housing. Massachusetts PHAs were among the pioneers of SFPs in public housing, and many had instituted SFPs voluntarily prior to the federal rule.

National Trends and Outcomes Associated With Presence and Type of Usual Clinician Among Older Adults With Multimorbidity.

Importance: Declining primary care visit rates and increasing specialist visit rates among older adults with multimorbidity raise questions about the presence, specialty, and outcomes associated with usual clinicians of care for these adults.

Objective: To examine trends in the presence and specialty of usual clinicians and the association with preventive care receipt and spending.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This survey study used repeated cross-sectional analyses of Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data from 2010, 2013, and 2016.

SmokefreeTXT for Homeless Smokers: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Homeless smokers want to quit smoking but face numerous barriers to doing so, including pervasive smoking among peers and a lack of social support for quitting. An SMS (short message service) text messaging intervention could address these challenges by providing virtual daily support for homeless smokers who are trying to quit but coping with multiple triggers to smoke.

Objective: This study aimed to assess whether a free SMS text messaging program, added to evidence-based pharmacotherapy and counseling, improved smoking abstinence among homeless adult smokers.

Subsistence difficulties are associated with more barriers to quitting and worse abstinence outcomes among homeless smokers: evidence from two studies in Boston, Massachusetts.

Background: Three-quarters of homeless people smoke cigarettes. Competing priorities for shelter, food, and other subsistence needs may be one explanation for low smoking cessation rates in this population. We analyzed data from two samples of homeless smokers to examine the associations between subsistence difficulties and 1) smoking cessation readiness, confidence, and barriers in a cross-sectional study, and 2) smoking abstinence during follow-up in a longitudinal study.

Financial Incentives for Smoking Abstinence in Homeless Smokers: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction: Three-quarters of homeless people smoke cigarettes. Financial incentives for smoking abstinence have appeared promising in nonexperimental studies of homeless smokers, but randomized controlled trial (RCT) data are lacking.

Methods: We conducted a pilot RCT of financial incentives for homeless smokers.