Utilization of Syndromic Vaginitis Diagnostic Testing Reduces 6-Month Follow-Up Outpatient Service Healthcare Costs-A Real-World Data Analysis.

Background/objectives: Vaginitis is a common infection among women of reproductive age. Although various diagnostic methodologies exist, diagnosis without the utilization of available diagnostic tests remains prevalent. This study aimed to assess downstream healthcare utilization and the cost of patients with and without diagnostic testing.

Clinical and economic outcomes of a pharmacogenomics-enriched comprehensive medication management program in a self-insured employee population.

Clinical and economic outcomes from a pharmacogenomics-enriched comprehensive medication management program were evaluated over 26 months in a self-insured U.S. employee population (n = 452 participants; n = 1500 controls) using propensity matched pre-post design with adjusted negative binomial and linear regression models.

Prediction of Future Medical Costs by Modifiable Measures of Health.

Introduction: Strategies to mitigate rising health-care costs are a priority for patients, employers, and health insurers. Yet gaps currently exist in whether health risk assessment can forecast medical claims costs. This study examined the ability of a health quotient (HQ) based on modifiable risk factors, age, sex, and chronic conditions to predict future medical claims spending.

Role of Pharmacogenomics in Comprehensive Medication Management: Considerations for Employers.

Rising prescription costs, poor medication adherence, and safety issues pose persistent challenges to employer-sponsored health care plans and their beneficiaries. Comprehensive medication management (CMM), a patient-centered approach to medication optimization, enriched by pharmacogenomics (PGx), has been shown to improve the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutical regimens. This has contributed to improved health care outcomes, reduced costs of treatments, better adherence, shorter durations of treatment, and fewer adverse effects from drug therapy.

Early Insights From a Pharmacogenomic-Enriched Comprehensive Medication Management Program Implementation in an Adult Employee Population.

Objectives: The aims of the study are to assess adoption of a pharmacogenomic-enriched comprehensive medication management program in a self-insured employer setting and to better understand medication risks that affect employees.

Methods: Employees were identified to be at high risk of medication mismanagement and were subsequently provided with a program and process to improve their health. DNA testing, a clinical decision support system, and pharmacists were used to identify medication safety and effectiveness issues and to recommend appropriate changes.

Model for Mitigation of Workplace Transmission of COVID-19 Through Population-Based Testing and Surveillance.

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a widespread impact on societies across the globe. As part of the effort to control transmission in the United States, many businesses either closed or instituted nonpharmaceutical control measures and allowed only essential workers on-site. During summer and fall of 2020, employers began formulating "return to work" strategies designed to mitigate the risk of transmission among employees.

Return to Work: Managing Employee Population Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has abruptly transformed the outlook of employer health benefits plans for 2020 and 2021. Containing the spread of the virus and facilitating care of those infected have quickly emerged as immediate priorities. Employers have adjusted health benefits coverage to make COVID-19 testing and treatment accessible and remove barriers to care in order to facilitate the containment of the disease.

Self-Insured Employer Health Benefits Strategy Established a Negative Cost Trend While Improving Performance.

This case study describes the collaboration between a self-insured employee benefits team and a national health insurance provider to control costs while maintaining program quality and promoting population health. In 2015, Quest Diagnostics well exceeded the full-year expense target for their ∼60,000-life Group Health Insurance (GHI) program. Through proactive changes, physician executive leadership, health plan collaboration, disease-specific population health initiatives, and plan design, Quest GHI annual employer health care cost trend subsequently improved from a year-over-year trend of 5.

NCCN Biosimilars White Paper: regulatory, scientific, and patient safety perspectives.

Biologics are essential to oncology care. As patents for older biologics begin to expire, the United States is developing an abbreviated regulatory process for the approval of similar biologics (biosimilars), which raises important considerations for the safe and appropriate incorporation of biosimilars into clinical practice for patients with cancer. The potential for biosimilars to reduce the cost of biologics, which are often high-cost components of oncology care, was the impetus behind the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009, a part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.