Standard newborn screening can detect dozens of inherited diseases, but genomics technology enables testing for hundreds of them. A North Carolina program evaluating the feasibility of bringing genomics to newborn screening is expanding with an initial goal of testing 5,000 babies in the next year.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced two value-based care alternative payment models set to launch in July 2024, one focused on dementia and one on primary care.

As the debate over worker misclassification rages, it’s important that healthcare professionals know the facts. Staffing agencies that designate their nurses as independent contractors avoid the costs of employment-related benefits like insurance, workers’ compensation, and overtime pay. These agencies also lack necessary clinical and professional oversight over their contractors, which increases the risk of substandard care.

To improve public health outcomes, not only at the local and national level, but also globally, we need to invest in hygiene research and those who seek to solve hygiene-related issues.

CMS recently proposed a $9 billion lump sum payment to remedy illegal payment cuts for 340B drugs from 2018 to 2022. In general, hospital groups have reacted positively to the fact that 340B providers will receive lump sum payments but have expressed concern about CMS’ methods for maintaining budget neutrality with this plan.

Health tech experts explained the nuances of healthcare data management and ways in which patient data can be cleaned, converted, standardized and harmonized across systems

It is critical for policymakers to work with nephology RNs to increase federal resources that will enable us to address burnout, decrease turnover rates, and build and support a stronger healthcare workforce nationwide.

By leveraging its large membership, Medicare could by embracing value-based contracting significantly influence the pharmaceutical market, pitting competing drugs against each other, or encouraging pharmaceutical makers to figure out ways to deliver drugs more cheaply.

Value-based care has provided a platform and a mechanism, where for the first time, health plans, providers and employer groups are sitting around the table with their sleeves rolled up, ready to collaborate and partner as opposed to sitting across the table with their arms crossed and their heels dug in.

At the upcoming INVEST Digital Health conference in Dallas set for September 28, in collaboration with Health Wildcatters, a panel discussion on the future of pharmacy benefit managers will be part of the larger conversation on employee benefits. AJ Loiacono, CapitalRx CEO, shared his perspective on the topic.

The decision about whether to allow the procedure now falls to individual state governments, and only 16, plus the District of Columbia, have passed laws to preserve the option, while two others have state constitutional protections that have been cited by state courts as protections for abortion.

Pharma companies often take the blame for high prescription costs. But a new, industry-sponsored survey shifts attention to insurance industry practices.

The Biden administration aims to have all Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in alternative payment models by 2030. Aneesh Chopra, the federal government’s first-ever chief technology officer and currently president of CareJourney, says this push for alternative payment models will lead not only to a reduction in unnecessary expenditures but also higher preventive service utilization and more primary care visits.

Register to view a webinar, sponsored by Surescripts, highlighting progress made on interoperability and what’s needed to improve and expand it.

Large swaths of the country had no test-to-treat pharmacies or health centers listed as of April 14. And the website of the largest participant, CVS, has significant technical issues that make booking an appointment difficult.

A recent webinar sponsored by Formlabs underscored the value of 3D printing from a clinical perspective and offered insight on how commercial and regulatory players are thinking about this space.

Here is a selection of recent executive hires and departures across healthcare and life sciences.

A webinar, sponsored by Surescripts on April 28, will include: Surescripts CEO Tom Skelton, Epic CEO Judy Faulkner, Healthcare Leadership Council President Mary Grealy, and UC San Francisco Assistant Professor of Medicine A. Jay Holmgren. Register today!

When the healthcare industry talks about data, the conversation usually focuses on interoperability and data standards. While these are certainly important, the most effective way to connect the dots and gain a complete view of a patient is through data normalization.

Six years in, the subtext of the scheduled reimbursements increase for 2022 is that CCM has proven to be an essential part of the care continuum, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and has real value for patients, providers, and payers.

Te justices blocked a key Biden administration Covid-19 initiative — putting a stop, for now, to a rule requiring businesses with more than 100 workers to either mandate that employees be vaccinated against covid or wear masks and undergo weekly testing. But said that a
separate rule requiring Covid vaccines for an estimated 10 million health workers at facilities that receive funding from Medicare and Medicaid could go forward

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposes covering Biogen Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm only for people enrolled in a clinical trial. In explaining this proposal, the agency cited the unclear benefit to patients as well as the documented safety risks associated with the drug, which can be best monitored within the context of a clinical trial.

In order to benefit from the Virtual1Care trend, pharma and medtech companies must ensure that their digital health tools, wrapped around a drug or device, comply with evolving regulations.

Read about news from DermBiont, Janus Health, Embold Health, digital health draft guidance from the FDA, and more.

Insurers that didn’t meet medical loss ratio requirements have paid out a total of $2 billion in rebates to nearly 10 million people, split between people who received their insurance through individual market plans and group plans. 

A panel of judges on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to reinstate a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers that was set to go into effect in January. A federal judge had blocked the mandate last month from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after 10 states filed suit.  

The American Medical Association, American Hospital Association and other provider groups are suing the Department of Health and Human Services over a small but important detail of how it is implementing surprise billing legislation. They argue that the arbitration process for unresolved disputes currently favors insurers.

A study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that telehealth use increased 63-fold during the pandemic. But it also found significant disparities in telehealth use between urban and rural residents. 

CMS cited rising drug costs and the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason for the premium increases, which will rise to $170 in 2022 for people who make $91,000 or less. 

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual employer health benefits survey, a significant portion of mid- to large- companies revisited their telehealth and mental health benefits during the pandemic. Despite patients using less health services last year, average premiums for  family plans still rose 4%.