ICYMI: Articles of Interest (February 2014)
It’s nearly impossible to stay on top of all the articles you need to read when thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles are published each month. Below are a handful of articles concerning comparative effectiveness research (CER) we wanted to highlight for you.
It’s nearly impossible to stay on top of all the articles you need to read when thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles are published each month. Below are a handful of articles concerning comparative effectiveness research (CER) we wanted to highlight for you.
- Choudhry NK, et al. Five Features Of Value-Based Insurance Design Plans Were Associated With Higher Rates Of Medication Adherence. Health Affairs. February 2014.
Authors of this Health Affairs study evaluated 76 value-based insurance design (VBID) plans to determine the impact of variability in benefit design on the plans’ effectiveness. After adjusting for baseline trends and other features, the results showed that “VBID plans that were more generous, targeted high-risk patients, offered wellness programs, did not offer disease management programs, and made the benefit available only for medication ordered by mail had a significantly greater impact on adherence than plans without these features. The effects were as large as 4–5 percentage points. These findings can provide guidance for the structure of future VBID plans.” - Clark B, et al. Evaluation of Increased Adherence and Cost Savings of an Employer Value-Based Benefits Program Targeting Generic Antihyperlipidemic and Antidiabetic Medications. Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy. February 2014.
The authors of this study assessed changes made by a major employer to its employee health benefits program—implementing a zero copay program for generic drugs and enrollment in a care management program—noting the positive impact value-based benefit design can have on medication adherence and cost. - AHRQ Community Forum White Paper: Payer Perspectives on Improving Usability of Effective Health Care Products: Bridging the Gap Between Information Needs and Evidence Translation. February 3, 2014.
The Center for Medical Technology Policy’s Ellen Tambor and Penny Mohr conducted a series of interviews and webinars with payers to gain better insight into their evidence needs, their preferences for the conduct and presentation of comparative effectiveness reviews and strategies to broaden their involvement in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Effective Health Care (EHC) program. The white paper recommends opportunities to improve engagement but also notes that it may not be necessary to involve payers in every review, provided EHC researchers are aware of the issues important to payers (e.g., cost, resource utilization, subpopulations, quality of life, observational studies).