A proposal to shore up Iowa’s individual insurance market has been pulled from consideration. According to The Des Moines Register, state leaders decided they couldn’t wait any longer for a decision with open enrollment close at hand. The waiver would have allowed the state to waive certain Affordable Care Act provisions and reconfigured how federal subsidies are used. The proposal was created in response to the high premium increases the state was expected to see.
World leaders are preparing for the next possible world pandemic through the use of a simulation. The World Bank first started running exercises on responding to global pandemics in the aftermath of the 2014 Ebola epidemic, which had been marred by an inefficient early response, reported The Washington Post. While there is growing awareness of the coordination challenges health ministries face and the role of social media and the news, the simulation proved the world is not prepared for the pandemic.
A new app that lets patients obtain birth control and the morning-after pill is running up against opposition from anti-abortion activists. STAT reported that these opponents take issue with providing increased access to the morning-after pill, which they consider equivalent to abortion. The app allows women to answer some health questions, provide basic information, and choose their preferred drug. A doctor then reviews the submission and writes a prescription for the patient. The app is available in 15 states, plus Washington, DC, and as it rolls out into more conservative states, the app’s founders face more and stronger opposition.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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