Higher rates of delay in starting advanced inflammatory bowel disease therapies linked to insurance delays, intravenous infusions, and lack of pharmacy support.

Background: Because biologic and small molecule therapy is expensive, payors have mandated pre-authorizations for these medications, often resulting in a lengthy approval process. The aims of this study are to assess the frequency of and risk factors for delays in starting advanced therapies assessing insurance, care team, and patient-related factors.

Methods: Retrospective, multi-center study of adult inflammatory bowel disease patients with prescriptions for an advanced therapy in two geographically distinct academic gastroenterology practices; one with and the other without a dedicated pharmacist.

Lack of Diversity in Transplant Hepatology Fellowship Program Directorship.

Background: Diversity in medicine has garnered significant attention in recent medical workforce research, as studies consistently reveal the beneficial impact of race-concordant visits on patient outcomes, adherence, and satisfaction. While diversity among residency and fellowship program directors has been studied in other fields, little is known about the diversity within niche fellowship programs such as transplant hepatology. This study aims to investigate the demographic information of program directors in transplant hepatology fellowship programs.

Association of Medicare Program Type with Health Care Access, Utilization, and Affordability among Cancer Survivors.

Background: The Medicare Advantage program provides care to nearly half of Medicare beneficiaries, including a rapidly growing population of cancer survivors. Despite its increased adoption, it is still unknown whether or not the program improves healthcare access, outcomes, and affordability for cancer survivors.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥ 65 years with a self-reported history of cancer from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey.

Examining Public Communication About Surgical Cancer Care on Twitter.

Introduction: Social media platforms like Twitter are highly utilized for communicating about cancer care. Although surgery is the primary curative treatment for solid malignancies, little is known about online communication behaviors regarding this treatment modality. This study tracked online discussions and characterized participants to better characterize the content of public communication about surgical cancer care.