Katie Sullivan, MA

Despite ACA stipulations, patients with cancer may face new barriers to care as they shop for healthcare plans on the state and federal insurance exchanges.

Team collaboration and coordination will be necessary if health systems are to become more accountable for patient-centered outcomes. In particular, frontline healthcare workers have been identified as having the most critical role in engaging with patients.

A US Health and Human Services Department (HHS) proposal aims to ease the concerns of consumers who remain frustrated with the health insurance exchanges (HIEs). The plan includes a variety of new insurance standards that would improve the consumer experience of shopping for a health insurance plan on the state and federal exchanges.

Currently, more than 600 accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been established throughout the United States. However, a recent study finds that more than half of physician groups remain hesitant to join an ACO.

The risk corridor program, a controversial provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), received $5.5 billion in federal funding on Friday.

The Sustainable Growth Formula (SGR) Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act has been framed as a bipartisan solution to establishing a permanent doc fix. The only problem, it seems, is how Congress will pay for the SGR's elimination.

Health insurance companies across the country remain wary of setting their health plan prices for the 2015 insurance exchanges due to a lack of data needed to make evidence-based decisions.

While newer drugs used to treat hepatitis C virus may be more effective, they may not always be the best value option for patients. This is because the costs of emerging treatments can range from $60,000 to $80,000 per treatment course, and that cost undermines the ultimate goals of lowering healthcare costs in the US.

Privately run, long-term managed care programs aim to ease the burdens that come with treating Medicaid and dual-eligible beneficiaries in skilled nursing facilities.

A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal would remove a number of prescription drug classes from Medicare Part D drug plans, while also limiting the number of plans insurers could offer to seniors.