No Ready-Made Rx For Rising Drug Costs
Lawmakers, insurers and others have floated proposals to combat the spike in prescription drug prices, but will any of them gain traction?
The clinics have agreed to disclose more fully which health insurance plans consider them “in network.”
Leslie Michelson’s Checklist For Avoiding Diagnostic Errors – The KHN Conversation
Michelson, who runs a Los Angeles-based company that helps patients research their medical options and has written a book about how to avoid bad care, offers advice on how to navigate the health care system.
Express Scripts To Cover Pricey New Cholesterol Drugs
To control costs, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits manager has in place strict rules on which patients will be eligible.
Workplace Wellness Programs: Early Alarm For Workers’ Health Or A Recipe For Over-Testing?
Some experts worry that these programs encourage health screening that doesn’t necessarily comply with medical guidelines and is helping to drive up health care costs.
Privacy Advocates Urge Stronger Protection Of Employee Health Data
Existing laws designed to control what doctors and hospitals do with your information need to be expanded to employers’ wellness programs, say advocates.
7 Questions To Ask Your Employer About Wellness Privacy
Workplace wellness programs have joined doctors, hospitals and your mother in the campaign to get you healthy. Will they treat your data carefully?
Airports’ Backscatter Security Scanners Easily Meet Radiation Standards, Panel Says
The National Academies of Science panel, however, did not address the question of whether these X-ray machines, which are currently not in use because of privacy concerns, are safe.
IOM: Teamwork Key To Reducing Medical Diagnostic Errors
A report by an Institute of Medicine blue ribbon panel notes that taking steps to address this patient safety issue will involve efforts from across the health system.
New Heart Failure Treatments Would Drive Up Short-Term Health Spending, Report Says
In an analysis, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review concluded that price cuts are needed to control the budgetary impact.
HHS Unveils Civil Rights Protections For Transgender Patients’ Health Services
The new guarantees are part of a wide-ranging proposed rule that would bar discrimination based on gender in insurance coverage, treatments and access.
Pregnancy – A Touchy Subject In Employee Wellness Health Assessments
Pregnancy questions included in many wellness program questionnaires hit a nerve, and advocates are asking the Obama administration to ban these types of queries as part of a pending Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rule.
Surprise! That Urgent Care Center May Send You A Big Bill (Just Like The ER)
Many urgent care centers say they take your insurance. But that’s not the same thing as participating in the plan. It could mean you will get a big bill down the road.
When Does Workplace Wellness Become Coercive?
Employer, consumer groups are critical of the administration’s effort to answer that question.
Consumers Drawn To Low Prices Of Temporary Health Plans Despite Risks
The policies offer a stopgap for people between jobs, but enrollees still pay a federal tax penalty because the policies fall short of health law standards.
A Top-Rated Nursing Home Is Hard To Find In Texas, 10 Other States
Texas boasts the highest percentage of low-ranked nursing homes in the country, followed by Louisiana, Oklahoma, Georgia and West Virginia.
Battle Over Dementia Drug Swap Has Big Stakes For Drugmakers, Consumers
A court ruling about Actavis’s strategy to switch consumers from its top-selling dementia drug, which will lose patent protection this summer, to a newer, patent-protected drug, may define how far drugmakers can go to protect profits from generic rivals.
More Than One In Four Foster Kids Miss Required Checkups
Although children in foster care have often suffered neglect or abuse, 29 percent failed to receive at least one required medical screening, according to an inspector general’s report.
Supreme Court Insurance Subsidies Decision Could Trigger Price Spikes
A Supreme Court decision invalidating subsidies in 37 federal exchange states would lead to sharp premium increases and prompt many to drop coverage, say experts.
Even Insured Consumers Get Hit With Unexpectedly Large Medical Bills
Enrollees may face big charges as a result of lack of transparency and confusion about insurer’s provider networks.
