While hot-button health care issues such as abortion and the Affordable Care Act roil the presidential race, Democrats and Republicans in statehouses around the country have been quietly working together to tackle the nation’s medical debt crisis. New laws to curb aggressive hospital billing, to expand charity care for lower-income patients, and to rein in…
When Anna Nusslock showed up at her local hospital 15 weeks pregnant and in severe pain earlier this year, she said, a doctor delivered devastating news: The twins she and her husband had so desperately wanted were not viable. Further, her own health was in danger, and she needed an emergency abortion to prevent hemorrhaging…
OAKLAND, Calif. — The patient was in his 60s, an African American man with emphysema. The oximeter placed on his fingertip registered well above the 88% blood oxygen saturation level that signals an urgent risk of organ failure and death. Yet his doctor, Noha Aboelata, believed the patient was sicker than the device showed. So…
By MATTHEW HOLT I was having a fight on Twitter this week and it hit me. America 2024 is Japan 1989. The topic of the fight was right-wing VC Peter Thiel. In 2001 he put a ton of Paypal stock allegedly worth less than $2,000 into a Roth IRA. The Roth IRA was designed so…
With rising expectations from every stakeholder in the insurance ecosystem, the ability to quickly process data, automate key processes, and rapidly build and iterate on digitally supported health plans will be essential. To stay afloat, health plan providers need experienced partners who can implement strategic technology with powerful outcomes, as the landscape evolves. The post…
Hospitals are facing increasingly burdensome policies from commercial insurers, leading to problems with cash flow and patient safety. Hospital executives think federal regulators need to enact stricter policies that require payers to operate on faster timelines, as well as provide more transparency into their reasons for denying claims. The post Payers Are Putting Profit Over…
WebMD Ignite recently introduced Coach, a solution that supports health plans’ care management programs. It includes educational resources for members and reporting on member engagement. The post WebMD Ignite Launches New Solution to Improve Health Plan Care Management Programs appeared first on MedCity News.
Johnson & Johnson stopped short of implementing its proposal to alter the way two drugs are paid for under the 340B drug discount program, but the drugmaker made it clear it still wants changes. In other recent regulatory news, we have drug approvals, clinical holds, and one product withdrawal. The post J&J Backs Down From…
People working the most vital occupations, like farmers and ranchers, call the most remote areas in this country home. Their health shouldn’t suffer due to their choice of employment. The post Rural Healthcare Needs More Than Just Telehealth appeared first on MedCity News.
Recently, the Office of Management and Budget has released new procedures to assess government regulation (Circular A-4) and economic policies (Circular A-94). What is unique about this guidance is that it weights benefits and costs of new regulations and policies based on the income of the individuals impacted. The goal is to help reduce inequality….