Latest Morning Briefing Stories
California Regulator Signs Off On $37 Billion Aetna-Humana Insurance Merger
Aetna to spend nearly $50 million on health initiatives, agrees to more rate review.
As Childhood Diabetes Rates Rise, So Do Costs — And Families Feel The Pinch: Study
Researchers estimated that a year’s worth of care for kids with diabetes cost more than $17,000.
Study Promotes Battlefields’ Lessons To Advance National Trauma Care
A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine calls for the White House to lead a national strategy to promote and continue advances in trauma care.
Report From Key Calif. Agency Raises Concerns About Proposal To Cut Drug Prices
Staff researchers at California’s largest public buyer of health benefits say the goal of reducing drug costs for the state is appealing but might not work in the real world.
Advisory Panel Targets Rising Medicare Drug Costs In Its Latest Report To Congress
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission outlined a package of changes to Medicare’s drug program that could save billions of dollars.
Study Projects Sharper Increases In Obamacare Premiums For 2017
A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis forecasts rates could jump 10 percent next year in 14 major metro markets.
As Hospital Chains Grow, So Do Their Prices For Care
The average patient stay costs $4,000 more at Sutter and Dignity hospitals than at other California medical centers, study shows.
Legal Medical Abortions Are Up In Texas, But So Are DIY Pills From Mexico
Women seeking an abortion in restrictive Texas now often pick the medical version, thanks to FDA rules making it easier. Others seek cheaper pills in Mexico, and aren’t getting guidance from a doctor.
For Doctors-In-Training, A Dose Of Health Policy Can Help The Medicine Go Down
Medical residents at George Washington University spend three weeks examining and diagnosing the nation’s health care system.
FDA Eases Paperwork To Help Some Patients Get Experimental Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration has introduced a simplified form that doctors will use to seek FDA approval to treat seriously ill patients with experimental drugs after other options run out.
Florida Stores Help Consumers Buy Imported Drugs Despite Federal Ban
Thousands of Floridians patronize storefront businesses that help them buy cheaper drugs online from Canada and other countries, but the Food and Drug Administration calls the practice illegal and risky.
Inventing A Machine That Spits Out Drugs In A Whole New Way
A refrigerator-sized machine could someday make lifesaving drugs on site when outbreaks occur or where medicine is in short supply, like on the battlefield.
FDA Considering Pricey Implant As Treatment For Opioid Addiction
The FDA could soon approve an implantable form of a drug used to treat opioid addiction. While the approach helped patients avoid relapse in tests, its price may be prohibitive for some, doctors say.
Obamacare Premiums In California May Rise 8 Percent Next Year, State Predicts
The projected increase in premiums is expected to draw national attention in an election year — especially from foes of the Affordable Care Act.
Zoom, a medical group and insurer, is targeting millennials in Oregon and Washington with quick, accessible care as well as fitness, yoga and cooking classes.
Expectant Moms: You Have Nine Months For Delivery Decisions, You Better Shop Around
A nonprofit patient safety group devised nationally standardized measures to help pregnant women gauge hospitals on quality of maternity care.
Medicare Pays Bonuses To 231 Hospitals With Lower Quality Because Of Cheaper Costs
New research highlights the paradox in the federal program to improve hospital quality.
For Hospitals, Prestige Leads To Profits
A new study explores why the most profitable U.S. hospitals are who they are.
FAQ: Medicare Lays Out Plans For Changing Doctors’ Pay
The effort, which will replace a controversial reimbursement schedule that began in 1997, is designed to move away from paying for quantity of services and focus instead on quality.
Will Covered California Sell Health Coverage To The Undocumented?
California is inching closer to a first-in-the-nation request for a federal ruling that would allow the state’s Obamacare exchange to sell health plans to immigrants who are living in the country illegally.
