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Although physicians are getting better at using electronic medical records, fewer believe the technology has improved health outcomes over the last 2 years, according to a survey of more than 600 US physicians from Accenture.

Patients want to be asked permission to participate in research even if it only involves reviews of anonymized medical records, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

With just hours to go before an automatic 21% cut in Medicare fees was scheduled to take effect, the Senate passed legislation to repeal the much-reviled sustainable growth rate formula.

Following prodding from Congressional lawmakers, the Office of the Inspector General of HHS says it will conduct a new review of generic drug price increases on the Medicaid drug rebate program.

Smartphone data is now being used for crowdsourcing studies of diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease.

The move comes after an auditor's report found several rural hospitals in poor financial shape, with low Medicaid reimbursements cited as a reason.

In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers found that the protein Myc helps maintain cellular addiction to nutrients, which helps them grow and survive.

Current reimbursement rates that fail to cover the cost of filling prescriptions is putting the patient's access to generic prescription drugs at risk, according to a survey of community pharmacists.

Currently partnered with Apple, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic, IBM is also buying Explorys and Phytel, 2 start-ups that can boost IBM's presence in the healthcare world.

In all the turmoil in healthcare, one surprising truth is emerging: Consumers seem increasingly comfortable trading a greater choice of hospitals or doctors for a health plan that costs significantly less money.

While Medicare is ready to pay for an annual spiral CT scan for long-term smokers, some doctors think it's an unnecessary procedure that might do more harm than good.

Despite ongoing efforts to close the healthcare gap among low-income individuals, racial and socioeconomic disparities persist, according to a recent study.

Self-reported data indicate the nation's emergency departments are better prepared to handle pediatric cases, but there is room for improvement.

Medical researchers call it the "Angelina Effect," the surge in demand for genetic testing attributable to movie star Angelina Jolie's public crusade for more aggressive detection of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

Nearly all physicians report experiencing a delay or difficulty delivery medical care because a patient's health record was not accessible, according to a survey prepared by athenahealth.

After a decade of losing money, St. Elizabeth Hospital's officials are planning to close the 303-bed hospital and move elsewhere. They are seeking state approval to build a $300-million facility 7 miles northeast in a wealthier city.

Cancer patients without insurance can be paying up to 43 times what Medicare pays for the same chemotherapy drugs, according to a new study published in Health Affairs from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Onglyza (saxagliptin), developed by AstraZeneca, was found to cause an increased risk of heart failure.

The patient-centered medical home model can help providers develop the skills to play nicely with other major industry reforms such as meaningful use and accountable care.

The SMARTCare program is expected to give doctors and patients decision-support tools to help determine which non-emergent patients should have stress tests or other procedures, and which should not.

Despite its rocky launch, the federal health insurance exchange did better than the exchanges run by individual states at both enrolling new people in Obamacare and hanging onto previous enrollees, according to a recent analysis.

The national divide over the Affordable Care Act is beginning to affect Americans' access to medical care and perhaps even their ability to pay medical bills, a new study of the country's 4 largest states suggests.

A new coalition of consumers, healthcare providers, and industry launched the Clear Choices Campaign on April 9 to advocate for more transparent, accountable, and consumer-friendly health markets.

State Medicaid programs spent $1.33 billion on hepatitis C therapies through the third quarter of last year, or nearly as much as the states spent in the previous 3 years combined, a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data shows.

Sandoz's biosimilar will be sold under the trade name Zarxio but the FDA has held off on releasing a naming policy for biosimilars, giving the product a "placeholder nonproprietary name" of "filgrastim-sndz."

A one-minute look at managed care news during the week of April 8, 2015, including a CMS announcing mental health parity and billions of dollars in unnecessary breast cancer care costs.

UPMC is threatening to lock Highmark's Medicare Advantage customers out of its hospitals, a move Governor Tom Wolf calls "unacceptable."

The scientists at Cancer Research UK, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, have identified 77 changes in the DNA of individuals at an increased risk for breast cancer and have developed a "polygenic risk score" based on the changes.

Reaffirming previous trial results, the new study, published in International Journal of Radiation Oncology · Biology · Physics found that while radiation therapy had no impact on outcomes in head and neck cancer patients, it caused anemia in several.

In Montana, 13 Republicans helped give a Medicaid expansion bill a solid majority to send it back to the Senate for reconciliation. A bill signing could come by next week. In Florida, Governor Rick Scott appeared to reverse his 2013 position that he could not deny the uninsured access to care.