Latest Morning Briefing Stories
House Approves Permanent Fix For Medicare Doctor Payments
For more than a decade, doctors who treat Medicare patients have been threatened with pay cuts due to a faulty formula of how doctors are reimbursed. But in a rare bipartisan agreement, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a deal to permanently end the problem and reward quality of care, not quantity.
Errors Can Turn Affordable Care Benefits To Customer Torment
Pairing federal payments with private insurance brings benefits to many but creates dueling bureaucracies for some customers caught between them.
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.
In Texas Funding Fight, Cancer Care For Poor Women Could Be Collateral Damage
GOP lawmakers eager to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood are weighing changes to a cancer screening program for poor women. But private clinics unaffiliated with Planned Parenthood say they’d take a hit, too.
Credit Rating Agencies Agree To Be More Flexible About Medical Debt
Under the agreement, medical bills will not be added to a consumer’s credit report for six months to give the patient and insurer time to pay.
Efforts To Instill Empathy Among Doctors Are Paying Dividends
Often considered less important than technical skills, having a good bedside manner is important to helping patients and can lead to better outcomes.
Retail Health Care Spurs Innovation In South Florida
In September, Florida Blue will debut three “integrated care” facilities designed to cater to South and Central American populations by offering primary care, specialty services, labs and diagnostics under one roof — a model common in Latin America.
Mental Health Providers Look For Federal Incentives To Go Digital, Too
The federal government is spending $26 billion to get doctors and hospitals to move to digital records to help coordinate care, but the funding does not include mental health clinics, psychologists and psychiatric hospitals.
FDA Heads Into Uncharted Territory Of ‘Biosimiliar’ Drugs
Under a new process set out by the health law, the FDA approved the first so-called biosimilar drug for sale in the U.S. It’s a copy of the cancer medicine Neupogen that will be sold under the brand name Zarxio.
Awake, And Safe, All Night Despite Dementia
A special “daycare at night” program in the Bronx cares for Alzheimer’s patients whose internal clocks mistake night for day.
Slightly More Latinos and African Americans Sign Up On California Exchange
About 37 percent of subsidized Covered California enrollees are Latino, up six points compared with last year, and about 4 percent are African American, up one point.
Residents of a tiny rural town in northern California talk about the lack of access to mental health care.
HHS Shifts Money From Cancer, Global Health To Pay For Health Insurance Exchange
Some House Republicans question the transfer of funds, but HHS says the shifts are legal and necessary to operate a marketplace, which is relied upon by 37 states.
What’s At Stake As Health Law Lands At Supreme Court Again
With a $400 tax credit, Julia Raye of North Carolina has been able to afford health insurance and keep her diabetes under control. She is one of 8.2 million people who could lose that subsidy in a case that goes before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday.
When Health Care Is Far From Home
The biggest barrier to treatment for residents of a tiny town in the mountains of Northern California isn’t insurance coverage– it’s distance.
The Extra Cost Of Extra Weight For Older Adults
Obese people are far more likely to become disabled as they age, and researchers say this burgeoning demographic will strain hospitals and nursing homes.
High Costs Of HIV Drugs On Some Illinois Insurance Plans May Be Discriminatory, Say Advocates
The AIDS Foundation of Chicago has warned Coventry, Humana and two other insurers that their pricing of AIDS drugs may violate the health care law’s protections against discrimination.
Internists Get A Break From Controversial Efforts To Bolster Performance
The American Board of Internal Medicine, responding to complaints from doctors, steps back from plans for new standards for physicians’ board recertification, but consumer advocates stress that the board needs to keep focused on patients’ health.
Attention, Shoppers: Prices For 70 Health Care Procedures Now Online!
Guroo.org shows the average local cost of 70 common diagnoses and medical tests in most states. That’s the real cost — not “charges” that often get marked down — based on a giant database of what insurance companies actually pay.
Kaiser Permanente Faulted Again For Mental Health Care Lapses In California
Following up on a critical report in 2013, the California Department of Managed Health Care found Kaiser Permanente had not resolved concerns about providing timely and appropriate access to treatment.
