Source: Duke

Here's The Latest in Health Care:

•  New mandates from CMS are in. By the end of the year, states and Medicaid managed-care programs must outline their plans to overhaul their approach to opioid use by their Medicaid populations. This includes setting limits on opioid prescriptions and refills while also tracking patients who are at risk of overusing painkillers, or who may be concurrently taking multiple prescribed opioids, benzodiazepines, and antipsychotics.  Read More

•  The Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) and Cerner are collaborating on a pilot project to analyze patient data in order to identify the most effective treatment options for chronic cardiovascular (CV) disease. By combining clinical research with data-driven insights, the project has the potential to dramatically improve patient outcomes.  Read More

•  CVSHealth is expanding their diabetes and hypertension programs. With the help of analytics, the company is identifying and enrolling at-risk members into their management programs. Patients are provided connected scales and blood-pressure cuffs as well as digital coaching, access to specialized experts, and more. CVS has set a lofty goal to reduce diabetes in a given population by 58 percent over three years.  Read More

•  MIT researchers have developed a machine learning (ML) model to predict Alzheimer’s up to two years in advance. This model can help better identify clinical trial participants who are in the disease’s early stages - before symptoms are evident and when treatment has the best chance of being effective. It has the potential to significantly reduce the costs of clinical trials to make them more affordable at scale, hopefully facilitating the development of an effective drug for treatment.  Read More

Each Friday, Signor Goat reports the latest from the week in health care. Check back next Friday for your dose of our little medical corner of health care news. Brought to you by pMD, innovators in charge capture, secure messaging, clinical communication, MIPS registry, and care navigation software.

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