The AMS Blog

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are using an emerging medical imaging technique with deep learning to diagnose colorectal cancer in real time. In a pilot study, investigators developed a deep learning-based pattern recognition optical coherence tomography (OCT) system that automates image processing and identified tumors with 100 percent accuracy, compared with pathology reports. A paper published in the journal Theranosticscontends that it is the first study to report using OCT combined with deep learning to distinguish healthy colorectal tissue…

Read More Read More

November 19, 2019 – Oregon Health & Science University Health system implemented a drug pricing tool into its Epic Systems EHR that will help providers discuss medication costs with patients. The price transparency tool automatically factors in information that is not typically available to the patient right away such as the price of the co-pay, deductibles, and need for prior authorization. The clinician can readily compare the price of the medications and the patient will have the price as soon as the prescription is…

Read More Read More

Dive Brief: The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review on Tuesday said it will assess the value of pricey one-time and short-term curative treatments like gene therapies differently from standard drugs taken chronically because of uncertainties over both their costs and benefits over time. Important adjustments include preparing both optimistic and conservative scenarios about the durability of the treatment and allocating cost savings in a way to prevent assessments that justify extremely high prices. Two gene therapies have been launched…

Read More Read More

The prices for emergency medicine and anesthesiology services, the two most common sources of surprise medical bills, increased significantly in hospitals in recent years, a new study found. The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, examines markups greater than Medicare reimbursement across 2,042 U.S. hospitals. The study comes as Congress is considering how to eliminate surprise medical bills that come from out-of-network charges. The study looked at changes in hospital markups from 2012 to 2016 for the emergency department, anesthesiology…

Read More Read More

BOSTON — A shorter course of direct-acting antiviral therapy (DAA), plus a well-known cholesterol-lowering drug, prevented hepatitis C virus infection in recipients of HCV-infected organs, a researcher said here. A small group of patients who were given glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (Mavyret) plus ezetimibe (Zetia) for one dose before, and 7 days, after transplant from an HCV-positive donor did not acquire HCV infection, and patients were able to complete their course of treatment prior to being discharged from the hospital, reported Jordan Feld,…

Read More Read More

Dive Brief: Patients with spinal muscular atrophy who took Roche and PTC Therapeutics’ oral drug risdiplam performed better on motor function than those taking placebo 12 months after beginning treatment, the companies said Monday.  Participants in the SUNFISH trial were between two and 25 years old and had a less severe form of the disease than those currently treated with Novartis’ gene therapy Zolgensma. Novartis recently suspended part of a Zolgensma trial in similar patients because of inflammatory responses observed in an…

Read More Read More

A surgeon has implanted electrodes in the brain of a patient suffering from severe opioid use disorder, hoping to cure the man’s in­trac­table craving for drugs in the first such procedure performed in the United States. The device, known as a deep brain stimulator, is designed to alter the function of circuits in the man’s brain. It has been used with varying degrees of success in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder and even depression. It is seen as…

Read More Read More

A method to set drug prices that places a dollar value on a year of life, known as quality-adjusted life year, is growing more popular in the U.S., according to The Wall Street Journal. The QALY method was developed in the 1960s as a strategy to fairly price drugs. It determines a dollar figure on a year of healthy life, calculates how much health a drug gives back to a sick patient, and prices the drug accordingly. Under the method, one…

Read More Read More

The powerful gene-editing technique known as CRISPR has raised a lot of hope in recent years for its potential to offer new ways to treat many diseases, including cancer. But until now, scientists have released very little information about results of tests in patients. On Wednesday, researchers revealed data from the first study involving U.S. cancer patients who received cells genetically modified with CRISPR. The highly anticipated results, while quite preliminary, seem to be encouraging, scientists say. “This is a very important first…

Read More Read More

PredictDx | Risk Assessment Percentiles PredictRx | Pediatric Values Reporting | Client Reporting 1. Risk Assessment Percentiles The Risk Assessment feature allows Predict Suite members to make well-informed, data-backed, quick appraisals on claimants with a trigger diagnosis by state and percentile. The Risk Assessment can be used at any time through the contracted year. Whether It’s a current claimant or a new diagnosis, in one simple view members can understand where the year spend may lead. The assessment can be even more…

Read More Read More