Pipeline Trends is produced by the Clinical Pharmacy Services and is distributed at least once a year. It provides an overview of promising new agents, investigational indications, and more.

New direct-acting antivirals can cure chronic Hepatitis C Virus infection, but can health systems manage the costs? 

Researchers found that members of the Massachusetts Medicaid program, MassHealth, had low levels of medication adherence when prescribed progesterone to prevent pre-term birth. This finding is in line with previous studies that revealed progesterone adherence rates are typically low. The study suggests there may be barriers to adherence for pregnant women who are prescribed progesterone, and  concludes that support may increase adherence rates.

This toolkit for the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors provides a list of diagnosis, procedure, and prescription drug codes to help health departments develop claims data queries to monitor Hepatitis C testing, identify individuals diagnosed with the disease, and examine their services and treatment utilization.

This technical report

for the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors

reviews what health departments and health systems should consider before sharing data in and outside of their own organizations. 

An overview of the consequences states, particlarly Massachusetts, would face if Congress fails to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) released by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in partnership with the Health Law & Policy team at UMass Medical School.

The National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD) has identified the MassOptions free online and helpline service as a “promising practice” in a set of Technology in Practice profiles. MassOptions was launched in 2015 by UMass Medical School, UHealthSolutions and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs.

This presentation describes a process states may follow to evaluate the feasibility of using its assessment data — through the Minimum Data Set Home Care tool — to measure quality outcomes for older adults and people with disabilities who live in the community.

Direct care workforce shortages, increasing health care costs, and limited access to services force many families to make life-changing decisions to care for family members with long term disabilities, or who are chronically ill at home. This technical report features an analysis of current Massachusetts state policies and programs for respite services.

Republican-led health reform has arisen once again and could very well pass after July 4. In STAT, our health policy analyst Rachel Gershon describes why the Senate health care bill would make the individual health insurance market

less equitable and affordable, causing approximately 22 million people to lose coverage.