DOL Extends Policy Allowing FMLA To Cover Some Telemedicine Visits

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) will continue to apply to some employees who seek treatment through telemedicine. Guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor in late December confirmed that its temporary policy will be extended for the foreseeable future. FMLA offers eligible employees the opportunity to take up to 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave ...

Read More

Health Broker Comp Disclosure Provision Included In COVID Spending Package

Congress has sent President Donald Trump a giant spending and coronavirus relief package, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA 2021) package, that includes a sweeping health insurance agent and broker compensation disclosure provision.

Read More

California’s Vaccine Rollout Has Been Too Slow, Newsom Says, With Only 35% Of Doses Administered

Only about 35% of the COVID-19 vaccine doses that have arrived in California have been administered so far, a rate Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged Monday was “not good enough” as he pledged new funding and efforts aimed at ramping up the rollout.

Read More

Amazon’s Haven Healthcare Venture To Shut Down

The Haven healthcare venture created by Amazon, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase is shutting down. The end of the venture, which launched with great fanfare three years ago in a press release from the three business titans, never really got off the ground with steady leadership and included several executives who came and left after short stints.

Read More

Hospital Prices Just Got a Lot More Transparent. What Does This Mean for You?

Hospitals face the new year with new requirements to post price information they have long sought to obscure: the actual prices negotiated with insurers and the discounts they offer their cash-paying customers.

Read More

Medicare For All May Die In 2021

A closely divided Congress and a moderate Democrat in Joe Biden in the White House doesn’t bode well for a government-run single payer version of Medicare for All to emerge in 2021 despite the coming end of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Read More

FDA Says People Need Both Doses Of Coronavirus Vaccines

Anyone who receives the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine must get two full doses, two top US Food and Drug Administration officials said Monday. They also dismissed other ideas for stretching the vaccine supply and said people who are speculating about the possibility of making do with just one dose or cutting doses in half are ...

Read More

With More Vaccine Doses Coming, California Counties Scramble To Make Distribution Plans

Sacramento health care workers and nursing home residents have been receiving COVID-19 vaccines since last week, and county health departments are beginning to make plans for wider distribution. But health officials say it will still be several months before the general public is lining up for shots. California has mapped out several phases of vaccine ...

Read More

Ambulance Crews Told Not To Transport Patients Who Have Little Chance Of Survival

The situation in Los Angeles County hospitals is so critical that ambulance crews have been advised to cut back on their use of oxygen and to not bring to hospitals patients who have virtually no chance of survival. Officials say they need to focus on patients with a greater chance of surviving. The measures were ...

Read More

Seniors Face Crushing Drug Costs as Congress Stalls on Capping Medicare Out-Of-Pockets

Sharon Clark is able to get her life-sustaining cancer drug, Pomalyst — priced at more than $18,000 for a 28-day supply — only because of the generosity of patient assistance foundations. Clark, 57, a former insurance agent who lives in Bixby, Oklahoma, had to stop working in 2015 and go on Social Security disability and ...

Read More
arrowcaret-downclosefacebook-squarehamburgerinstagram-squarelinkedin-squarepauseplaytwitter-squareyoutube-square