Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Bipartisan Effort Revises Health Law Provision For Small Businesses
The new law, signed by President Barack Obama last week, eases some of the requirements for employers with 51 to 100 workers and counterintuitively may help bolster coverage.
Dueling Recommendations About Need For Pelvic Exams Leaves Women Confused
The nation’s internists urge doctors to quit performing the invasive exam for most women, but gynecologists argue that it is important.
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.
Buyer Beware: A Mammogram’s Price Can Vary By Nearly $1,000, Study Finds
Researchers looked at women’s health services around the country and found stark disparities between cities but also within health care markets.
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.
Chronically Ill Pay More in Obamacare Plans Than Employer Coverage
Patients on typical silver plans pay twice as much as workers with job-based insurance for prescription drugs each year, researchers find.
Hospital Care Unaffected By Quality Payments, GAO Finds
The Government Accountability Office found bonuses and penalties have been small, and hospital performance has been steady.
Insurers Find Out-Of-Network Bills As Much As 1,400 Percent Higher
Insurers’ study points to the need for limits on out-of-network billing by doctors and hospitals. The American Medical Association calls the report “grossly misleading.”
Poll Finds Overwhelming Support For Medicare Paying For End-Of-Life Talks
The plan to include funding in the health law for these discussions between doctors and patients was vehemently opposed by some Republicans, but 8 of 10 Americans support the practice.
Think Health Prices Are High Near You? Maybe Yes — And No
The Health Care Cost Institute’s analysis of billing claims from three of the biggest commercial insurers finds that health services can be expensive in some areas while bargains in others. The findings complicate an assumption about health care markets.
Clinton Seeks To Build On Health Law, But Does She Have The Rx For Rising Health Costs?
The Democratic president candidate’s proposals to save consumers money are questioned by experts and health industry officials.
D.C. Women To Get Access To Full Year’s Worth Of Contraceptives
The new law is only the second in the country that allows women to get a year’s prescription at one time.
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.
Employers Shift More Health Costs To Workers, Survey Finds
Even as premiums for employer-based insurance increased only moderately this year, deductibles rose faster than total spending.
From Pills To Pins: Oregon Is Changing How It Deals With Back Pain
Alternative therapies aren’t proven to work any better than drugs — and they may even cost more. But Oregon hopes paying for them will reduce costs of hospitalizing for, and treatment of, opioid abuse.
Attention Shoppers: New Calif. Website Details Costs, Quality of Medical Procedures
Seeking to create smarter consumers, the California insurance department unveils a website showing wide variation in costs and quality of medical services across the state.
Surge In Statin Use Among Very Elderly Without Heart Trouble Raises Doubts
Preventive medicine trend highlights shortage of studies on drugs’ effects on very elderly.
How One Home Health Agency Earned Five Stars
In North Carolina, Brookdale Home Health Charlotte was one of just two agencies out of the state’s 172 to earn the maximum five stars from the federal government.
Under Pressure, Hospitals Push Physicians To Improve Their Bedside Manners
Motivated by financial incentives and consumer demands, medical centers are creating programs to infuse more compassion and understanding into the doctor-patient relationship.
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.
