Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Report Details Senior Health Care That Misses The Mark
New research from the Dartmouth Atlas Project identifies areas where older patients get care that doesn’t meet guidelines or their own goals.
Medicare Plans Score Higher Ratings And Millions In Bonuses
The share of Medicare Advantage members enrolled in plans with high star ratings has almost doubled since 2013, earning bonuses for private insurers who offer them.
Consumer Choices Have Limited Impact On U.S. Health Care Spending: Study
An analysis from the Health Care Cost Institute finds that less than half of health care costs are for services considered “shoppable,” and consumers’ out-of-pocket spending on that is just 7 percent of all spending.
Slowing Down The ER To Improve Care For Patients With Autism
A small but growing number of hospital emergency rooms are taking steps to improve quality of care for patients with autism while also adding efficiency and cost effectiveness.
The Stethoscope: Timeless Tool Or Outdated Relic?
Why is a 200-year-old icon of the medical field still in wide use in the digital age? Some say modern tools are more informative and worth the extra cost, but the stethoscope has staunch defenders.
R2D2’s Next Assignment: Hospital Orderly
A gleaming new hospital in San Francisco has a fleet of robots dropping off meals, picking up trash and saving some money in a very 21st century way.
Will Healthcare.gov Get A California Makeover?
Feds propose taking a page out of Covered California’s book and moving to a simplified health insurance marketplace.
Majority Of Young Men Don’t Know About Emergency Contraception, Study Finds
The survey of 93 men, most of whom were sexually active, finds that 42 percent had heard of emergency contraception, or the morning-after pill.
Candidates’ Drug-Price Plans May Miss The Mark
There is more than one reason prices are rising, and no single solution.
For Fertility Treatment, Wounded Veterans Have To Pay The Bill
U.S. military health care covers the high cost of in vitro fertilization, but the Veterans Affairs health system doesn’t. The discrepancy is putting vets with combat injuries in a bind.
Dueling Star Ratings May Confuse Some Home Health Patients
Medicare offers star ratings of agencies’ quality and of patients’ perceptions, but often they don’t match up.
Urban Medicare Beneficiaries May See More Drug Savings This Year
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says access to special, lower-cost pharmacies has improved for Medicare beneficiaries in urban areas.
California Marketplace May Require Insurers To Pay Agent Commissions
Covered California’s Executive Director Peter Lee said the measure is needed to keep insurers from slicing commissions to avoid enrolling the sickest patients.
Health Reform Roils Downton Abbey
The hospital consolidation plot in the final season of the beloved British series is historically accurate — and has parallels in today’s U.S. health industry.
Insurers And Medicare Agree On Measures Tracking Doctors’ Quality
The first set of measures focus on seven types of care, including for hearts and cancer. The metrics will be integrated into formulas that determine physicians’ pay.
Are States Obligated To Provide Expensive Hepatitis C Drugs?
New hepatitis C drugs boast cure rates of at least 95 percent. But states are restricting their use for Medicaid patients and prisoners because the cost is so high.
Study: 29 Percent Of Colonoscopy Patients May Have Unneeded Pre-Screening Visits
Primary care doctors can do the initial screening and recommendations for a colonoscopy, the researchers write in JAMA.
Cutting Edge DNA Technology Could Boost Cystic Fibrosis Screening For Newborns
Researchers say tests could be faster, cheaper, more accurate.
Head Of California Exchange Scolds UnitedHealth For Blaming Woes On Obamacare
Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, says the giant insurer’s complaints about ACA exchanges are “total spin and unanchored in reality.”
Buying Supplemental Insurance Can Be Hard For Younger Medicare Beneficiaries
Congress left it to states to determine whether private Medigap plans are sold to the more than 9 million disabled people younger than 65 who qualify for Medicare. The result: rules vary across the country.
