22% of Those With Rural Healthcare Lack Telehealth Coverage
As 25 percent of rural Americans continue to struggle with access to care and about an equal amount turn to telehealth for solutions, experts push payers for better telehealth coverage to improve rural...Texas v. Azar Will Tackle 3 Subjects on Affordable Care Act
On July 9, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hold hearings on the constitutionality of the individual mandate in Texas v. Azar, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reports. The hearing on Tuesday...Medicare Out-of-Pocket Costs Higher For Generic Drugs Vs Brand-Name
A recent Health Affairs study found that some Medicare beneficiaries would pay higher out-of-pocket costs for generic drugs than for specialty or brand-name drugs. Researchers from Vanderbilt...Precision Medicine Challenges Persist, Aetna Leads Response
Precision medicine has the potential to significantly improve health outcomes and save members and their payers, so Aetna is overcoming the major challenges associated with implementing the...UnitedHealthcare Launches Hearing Healthcare Program
UnitedHealthcare (UHC) is launching a hearing healthcare program to combat hearing loss and improve access to quality, affordable hearing aids. The program, titled UnitedHealthcare Hearing, is...eHI Releases Guidelines for Social Determinants of Health Data
eHealth Initiative (eHI) recently released its “Guiding Principles for Ethical Use of Social Determinants of Health Data” to ensure that ethics and security remain a priority for social...Driven by Prices, Medical Cost Trend Increases 6%
PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI) predicted a six percent increase in medical cost trend in 2020, with a five percent net growth rate after adjusting for increased employee cost sharing or...CMS Announces Grants to Tackle Opioid Use Disorders
CMS continues to wage war on the opioid epidemic with a new grant opportunity for plans to reduce opioid use disorders (OUD). “CMS is pulling every lever to combat the opioid epidemic, and...Primary Care Physicians Influence LVC Spending, Studies Show
Studies have found that primary care physicians (PCPs) play a role in increasing low-value care (LVC) expenditures, indicating that payers, policymakers, and healthcare organizations should...AMA: Fix ACA Premium Tax Credits and CSR to Cover Uninsured
The annual meeting of the AMA House of Delegates reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to decreasing the number of uninsured individuals through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) premium...CMS Approves WA Value-Based Purchasing Plan for Hepatitis C Drugs
CMS recently approved Washington state’s value-based purchasing proposal to lower drug prices for Medicaid. The approval will allow the state to implement a “subscription” model for...New Offering from CVS Looks to Advance Pharmacy Benefit Management
CVS Health’s Vendor Benefit Management (VBM) will give pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies access to a suite of vendors offering digital and non-digital solutions to supplement their...Using Medically-Tailored Meals to Boost Chronic Disease Care
Chronic diseases are both costly and prevalent, with the healthcare industry shelling out billions each year to manage and treat these conditions. Although illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and...Commercial Health Plan Members Happy with Coverage, But Not Costs
Customer satisfaction with commercial health plans is improving nationwide, but members are still not content with co-pay costs or care coordination, a JD Power consumer survey revealed. While...Sponsored Article
Using Technology to Close Care Gaps, Improve Care Quality and Cost
Research has shown that care gaps can be both harmful and costly when not properly managed. For example, not managing certain chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes) can lead to serious complications and...Medically Tailored Meals Cut Inpatient Admissions, Healthcare Costs
Participating in a medically tailored meal delivery program was associated with fewer inpatient admissions and lower healthcare costs, demonstrating the potential for these programs to improve health...Sponsored Article
