Despite the federal court ruling in Stewart vs. Azar blocking (for now) Kentucky’s Medicaid’s work requirements, the future is far from clear. Arkansas, New Hampshire and Indiana are moving ahead with plans for a work requirement. Another provision of Kentucky’s Medicaid waiver, the elimination of retroactive coverage, also has traction in other states. Meanwhile, in response to the ruling, Ken. Gov. Matt Bevin eliminated vision and dental benefits to nearly 500,000 Medicaid enrollees, citing costs.
(
Kaiser Health News
)
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Drug maker Pfizer says it will delay the July 1 price increases on 40 medications. The announcement came after the company's chairman and CEO discussed the issue with the Trump administration. The delay is intended to give the president a chance to advance work on the administration's blueprint to lower drug prices and provide more access to patients. Pfizer says prices will return to the July 1 levels at the end of the year or when the president's plan is implemented--whichever comes first. (
Reuters
)
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It’s not just about the retail drugstore, although that’s what’s been making headlines. Amazon’s acquisition of online pharmacy startup PillPack will give the company reams of sensitive health data, the
Wall Street Journal
reports. This thrusts it into the “highly regulated realm of health information with more restrictions than it is accustomed to on data-mining." In fact, at least one attorney suggests that Amazon may need to separate PillPack from the rest of its operations.
(
Wall Street Journal
)
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Innovation & Transformation
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House calls a
re back, and payers are driving the trend. Mobile urgent care startups are emerging, and according to
Healthcare Dive
, private payors, including UnitedHealthcare and Anthem—plus Medicare and Medicaid—are contracting with them. Advocates say providing care in a person’s home is a better approach than telemedicine or urgent care centers.
(
Healthcare Dive
)
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Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare is leading a new collaboration, the Utah Alliance for the Determinants of Health. Over three years, Intermountain will invest $12 million. State and local agencies, as well as nonprofits, will participate. The Alliance will focus on such social determinants of health as housing instability, utility needs, food insecurity, interpersonal violence and transportation. By screening patients for specific needs and helping coordinate solutions, the Alliance’s goal is to improve people’s overall health and reduce costs.
(
MedCity News
)
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Roughly 15 percent of low-income families with a member with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease had a high financial burden, and 10 percent experienced a catastrophic financial burden due to out-of-pocket health care expenses, according to research published in
JAMA Cardiology
. Despite decreasing out-of-pocket expenses over the last decade, nearly 2 million low-income U.S. families that have a member with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease are at risk for financial catastrophe each year. “To alleviate economic disparities, policy interventions must extend focus to improving not only access, but also quality of the coverage, particularly for low-income families that include members with chronic diseases,” researcher concluded.
(
JAMA Cardiology
;
MedPage Today
)
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EHR error rates—along with click rates and task completion—vary widely across systems, according to new research from the
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
Researchers found wide variability in task completion time, clicks and error rates. The variability between health systems using the same and different EHR systems points to problems with health IT standardization, EHR usability, and EHR use safety, according to researchers. “Our results suggest that basic performance standards for all implemented EHRs should be considered in order to ensure usable and safe systems,” researchers wrote, calling on vendors and providers to work together.
(
EHR Intelligence
;
JAMIA
)
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Alzheimer’s breakthrough
:
Drug makers Eisai and Biogen report that a mid-stage trial of their Alzheimer’s drug showed positive results. Details are pending: Biogen and Eisai disclosed only top-line results, saving the rest for a presentation at a medical conference,
STAT
reports. Currently, there is no treatment that can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
(
STAT
)
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Drug makers vs. insurers
:
As insurers develop new tactics to convince patients to forgo costly drugs to less-costly comparable medications, drug makers are fighting back. Among their tactics: finding more ways to reduce the patient’s share of the costs, such as "copay assistance" cards.
(
Reuters
)
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Brave new world
?
This week, Geisinger became the first U.S. health system to include DNA screening as a part of routine patient exams. The clinical DNA sequencing efforts will begin with a 1,000-patient pilot and then spread throughout Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.
(
Becker's Hospital Review
;
announcement
)
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Monitoring counts, too
:
Home health agencies may soon be able to include the costs associated with remote patient monitoring into Medicare reimbursement, thanks to a proposed payment rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The tools are meant to augment in-person care to help avoid unnecessary emergency department visits and hospitalizations, according to CMS.
(
Fierce Healthcare
)
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As states try to cope with increasing numbers of drug overdoses, some are cracking down on opioid prescribing overall. This leaves some patients with chronic pain feeling like collateral damage.
(
NPR
)
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MarketVoices...quotes worth reading
"A lot of practitioners are reducing opioid medications, not from a clinical perspective, but more from a legal and regulatory perspective for fear of investigation. No practitioner wants to be the highest prescriber."
—
Dr. Julian Grove, president of the Arizona Pain Society, on
NPR
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