Employers, lawmakers, providers and more said the Department of Labor should quickly finalize disclosure mandates for the controversial drug middlemen.

UnitedHealthcare said it’s going to eliminate most requirements for prior authorization for medical care for about 1,500 rural hospitals and their affiliated health care providers by this fall. The change will affect all of the small, isolated rural hospitals classified as “critical access hospitals.” In January, the United States had 1,381 critical access hospitals, according ...

Excess salt intake has long been linked to higher blood pressure, but now a new study has also tied it to quicker cognitive decline in certain groups. In a six-year study of more than 1,200 older adults 60 and older, Australian researchers found that higher baseline dietary sodium intake was associated with faster decline in “episodic recall” in ...

The system of paying Medicare agents and brokers more money if they enroll someone in a Medicare Advantage plan rather than traditional Medicare with a supplement plan needs to be changed, according to several members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). “The broker compensation piece really frustrates me,” MedPAC member Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, of ...

President Donald Trump announced Thursday Erica Schwartz, M.D., as his nominee to fill the long-vacant role of director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Schwartz, who also has a law degree and a master’s of public health, previously served as deputy surgeon general during the president’s first term. She is a Navy officer ...

The Trump administration is bringing on a new official to focus on health care affordability, the Department of Health and Human Services tells Axios. Why it matters: The personnel move suggests the administration is attempting to respond to voters’ concerns about health care costs ahead of the midterm elections. Driving the news: HHS has appointed Casey Mulligan as ...