HEOR News

Medicare and Medicaid Open Coverage of Anti-Obesity Drugs for Heart Patients (Endpoints News)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that anti-obesity drugs should be covered for patients getting them for additional medical conditions, such as reducing the risk of major cardiovascular events.
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WHO to Begin Development of Parallel Recommendation and Regulatory Pathways; Shortening the Time Taken for People to Access Health Products (WHO)

To shorten time to access innovative health products in low/low-middle income countries, WHO is adopting its expedited, parallel prequalification and emergency usage list recommendation and review process—used during the pandemic for COVID-19 products—to all products, instead of continuing to do these processes sequentially.
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Abortion Law Emergency-Exemption Guidance Proposed by Texas Medical Board (STAT News)

The Texas Medical Board, responding to pressure from the state Supreme Court and widespread uncertainty among physicians, has proposed draft guidance in an attempt to clarify what constitutes emergency grounds for a legal abortion.
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WHO Launches New Toolkit Empowering Health Professionals to Tackle Climate Change (WHO)

The World Health Organization, in collaboration with partners, has developed a new toolkit designed to equip health and care workers with the knowledge and confidence to effectively communicate about climate change and health, by filling in the gaps in knowledge and action that will help them raise awareness, advocate for policy changes, and empower communities to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
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Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders Rose Among Privately Insured People, 2008–2020 (Health Affairs)

Researchers found that perinatal mood and anxiety disorder (PMAD) diagnoses among privately insured people in the United States increased by 93.3% from 2008 to 2020, growing faster in 2015–2020 than in 2008–2014, and suggesting worsening morbidity in maternal mental health nationwide.
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Meals on Wheels Clients: Measurable Differences in the Likelihood of Aging in Place or Being Hospitalized (Health Affairs)

In looking at the likelihood of continued community residence and risk for hospitalization of elder Medicare beneficiaries, researchers found users and nonusers of home-delivered meals programs were equally likely to still reside in the community one year later but continued community residence was more likely among users than nonusers who were Black, were enrolled in Medicaid, or were frail.
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Charting an Evidence-Based Roadmap for WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre Collaborations (WHO)

Experts from over 40 countries across all 6 WHO regions met in India to prioritize collaborations of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in efforts to evolve conventional research methods in studying personalized, holistic traditional medicine approaches, as well as evolving the global knowledge base through such methods as the development of a traditional medicine global library and a framework of intellectual property and other rights to ensure fair and equitable access and benefits.
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Cost-Effectiveness and Budget Impact of Decentralizing Childhood Tuberculosis Diagnosis in 6 High-Tuberculosis—Incidence Countries: A Mathematical Modeling Study (The Lancet eClinical Medicine)

Researchers assessed the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of decentralizing a comprehensive diagnosis package for childhood tuberculosis to district hospitals or primary health centers compared to standard of care in Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, and found that the district hospital-focused strategy may be cost-effective in some countries, depending on the cost-effectiveness threshold used for policy making.
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Effect of Single-Dose, Live, Attenuated Dengue Vaccine in Children With or Without Previous Dengue on Risk of Subsequent, Virologically Confirmed Dengue in Cebu, The Philippines: A Longitudinal, Prospective, Population-Based Cohort Study (The Lancet Infectious Diseases)

While the Philippine government suspended its children’s vaccination program for 3-dose dengue vaccine because of safety concerns, researchers say a single dose of the vaccine did confer significant protection against hospital admission for virologically confirmed dengue among participants who had 2 or more previous dengue virus infections, compared with children who had none or 1 previous infection.
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Outcomes After Surgery for Children in Africa (ASOS-Paeds): A 14-Day Prospective Observational Cohort Study (The Lancet)

In looking at patient care and outcomes for children undergoing anesthesia and surgery in hospitals all across Africa, researchers determined these outcomes are poor, with complication rates up to 4-fold higher (18% versus 4·4–14%) and mortality rates 11-fold higher than high-income countries in a crude, unadjusted comparison (23·15 deaths versus 2·18 deaths per 1000 children). Experts call for health system strengthening, provision of safe environments for anesthesia and surgery, and strategies to address the high rate of failure to rescue.
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