Articles related to HEALTHCARE ACCESS

An estimated 72% of people who need mental heath care don’t have sufficient access to receive it. Psychologists have had limited prescribing rights in several states since the 1990s. Would expanding those privileges to more states help abate the crisis?

In a 2021 poll conducted by West Health and Gallup, 7% of American respondents said they had difficulty paying for at least one prescription drug in the previous three months. The same survey also found that 1 in 10 Americans had skipped medication doses in the previous year in order to save money. The well-known billionaire Mark Cuban is aiming to alter that with the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which will lower the cost and provide access to hundreds of prescriptions for people all around the nation. “Everyone should have safe, affordable medicines with transparent prices.” Mark Cuban

Elham Hatef, MD, a clinical informatician at the Johns Hopkins Center for Population Health IT, discussed the findings of her recent study, “Outcomes of in-person and telehealth ambulatory encounters during COVID-19 within a large commercially insured cohort,” in this Q&A with Psych Congress Network.

According to experts, one of the most important strategies for tackling the psychiatrist shortage is to assist primary care physicians in treating patients with mental illness, as the US anticipates a projected shortfall of 14,280 to 31,109 psychiatrists due to the fact that over 150 million people reside in places where there is a nationally acknowledged lack of mental health professionals.

The survey examined the methods used by payors to collect and monitor social determinants of health (SDOH), their high-priority disease states, the measures they feel are necessary to address disparities, how they believe those measures will affect how people access and use medications, and their ongoing and future efforts in this area.

In a study of parenteral cancer drug pricing at 61 NCI-designated cancer centers, median price markups on 25 commonly used drugs ranged from approximately 120% to 630% over acquisition cost. The paper’s authors recommend public policy prohibiting excessive markup on parenteral chemotherapies as a means to reduce unnecessary financial burden on patients.