Remaining Gaps Between Patient and Provider Outlook on Healthcare
December 25th 2014Consumers, administrators, primary care physicians and specialists all agree: they do not think that the healthcare system is on the right track, according to a study from Booz Allen Hamilton and Ipsos Public Affairs.
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Marketplace Premiums, Deductibles Flat Year Over Year
December 25th 2014Marketplace health insurance premiums across the nation did not increase from 2014 to 2015. However, while the overall costs were flat, some states did see substantial average premium increases, which were offset by declines in other states.
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Report Highlights Gaps in Nation's Ability to Respond to Disease Outbreaks
December 23rd 2014The Ebola outbreak exposed some serious gaps in the nation's ability to manage severe infectious disease threats with half of the country scoring low on key indicators related to preventing, detecting, diagnosing, and responding to outbreaks.
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Medicare Shared Savings Program Adds New ACOs for 2015
December 23rd 2014CMS' Sean Cavanaugh announces in a blog post that 89 newcomers will participate in 2015. But ACOs remain a work in progress, with rule changes on the way and some discussion about whether these entities are assuming enough risk or dampening competition in certain markets.
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Could Florida Be Up Next in the Medicaid Expansion Queue?
December 22nd 2014Florida's Republican Governor, Rick Scott, tried and failed to expand Medicaid in 2013. Now, a coalition of hospital, business, and community leaders are advocating for private option-style expansion. CMS will have to decide how far it is willing to bend before President Obama leaves office.
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Lanreotide Approved for Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors
December 21st 2014The approval was based on the results of a clinical trial that demonstrated improved PFS in patients on lanreotide. While the median PFS in the placebo arm was 16 months, patients in the lanreotide arm had not yet reached median PFS at the time of analysis, and it was anticipated to extend beyond 22 months.
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Racial/Ethnic Differences in Uninsurance Rates Under the ACA
December 19th 2014The falling uninsured rate among all racial/ethnic groups under current Medicaid expansion decisions will narrow coverage differences between whites and all minority groups except for blacks, according to a report from the Urban Institute.
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The FDA today granted accelerated approval to olaparib, a poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, for treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in women with defected BRCA genes, along with a companion diagnostic test that marked the agency's first approval of a laboratory developed test (LDT) under a premarket approval application.
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Amid Managed Care Reforms, Alabama's Governor Hints at Possible Medicaid Expansion
December 19th 2014Fresh off re-election, Governor Robert Bentley moved this week to name 6 groups to coordinate managed care in Medicaid, as part of a cost-saving strategy he launched in 2012. But the bigger news has been his reversal on expanding the program; as in other Southern states, hospitals have been pressing for the change to solve fiscal problems.
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GOP Governors Who Block Medicaid Expansion May Be at Odds With Their Own Party, Poll Shows
December 18th 2014The employer and individual mandates, not Medicaid expansion and state-run exchanges, are what raised the ire of Republicans who gave opinions on the ACA in the most recent Kaiser poll.
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More Than Half of Eligible Professionals Facing Penalties Under Meaningful Use Program
December 18th 2014In the next several weeks more than 257,000 physicians and other healthcare providers will receive notification that 1% of their pay next year will be penalized for failing to meet meaningful use, CMS announced Wednesday.
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Patients in Consumer-Driven Health Plans More Involved in Their Healthcare
December 17th 2014Although just 15% of the US population is enrolled in a consumer-driven health plan, these individuals are more involved in their healthcare, according to a new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
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