CMS Proposes Updates To The Hospital Price Transparency Rule

On July 13, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed key changes to the hospital price transparency rule. These proposed changes are meant to strengthen standards for disclosing hospital prices and provide more enforcement authority to regulators, and if finalized, will go into effect on January 1, 2024. This article provides an overview ...

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CMS Again Pauses Out-Of-Network Billing Arbitration After Judge Sides With Providers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has again suspended arbitration of out-of-network payment disputes between providers and payers due to a court order that the agency’s implementation of the No Surprises Act had run afoul of proper notice-and-comment procedure. The decision stems from a Texas Medical Association (TMA) complaint filed in the U.S. ...

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Generational Differences Should Be Addressed In Benefit Offerings, Research Finds

As the workplace continues to evolve, employers will need to offer a wider variety of benefit options to meet the expectations of different generations within their workforce. “Since the pandemic, employers have faced a dramatically different workforce dynamic with a sustained increase in hybrid and remote workers, which is reshaping expectations,” said Patrick Leary, corporate ...

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Extreme Heat Is Here. Can Insurance Help Protect Us?

People buy insurance to protect against unlikely but devastating events, big catastrophes that drive households and businesses to financial ruin and bankruptcy. That makes insurance most people’s first line of defense against climate disasters, which now destroy tens of billions of dollars of property in the United States every year. It makes good sense to ...

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Just 4,000 Daily Steps May Lower Your Risk Of Death, Study Finds, With Additional Benefits The More You Walk

New research challenges the common idea that people need to reach a threshold of 10,000 steps per day to improve their health. Walking just 4,000 steps per day is associated with a lower risk of death, according to the analysis published Tuesday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The research pooled the results of 17 studies ...

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How Much And Why 2024 Premiums Are Expected To Grow In Affordable Care Act Marketplaces

For 2024, across 320 insurers participating in the 50 states and DC, this analysis shows a median proposed premium increase of 6%. In addition to inflation, insurers also mention changes in pandemic-related costs and the unwinding of Medicaid continuous coverage, though the latter are having a small, if any, effect on premiums.

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San Jose: Good Samaritan, Regional Medical Center Hospitals Listed In Cyber Attack

Two major San Jose hospitals may have been impacted by a wide-ranging cyber attack that exposed patient names, ZIP codes, phone numbers and other private information from one of America’s largest healthcare providers. The list of affected facilities includes Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center, which are both owned by the Tenessee-based HCA Healthcare. ...

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Nearly 4 Million In U.S. Cut From Medicaid, Most For Paperwork Reasons

The notice arrived in an envelope stamped “important information,” telling Kristin Fortner she needed to prove that she and her husband still deserved Medicaid. She filled out the form within a week of receiving it this past winter and mailed it back. So she was perplexed by a phone call almost three months later from ...

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Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Inks Partnership With Pharmacy Navigation Startup Scripta

Scripta Insights, a digital health company focused on pharmacy navigation, is teaming up with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to bring transparent drug pricing to patients. Scripta will integrate Cost Plus Drugs’ discounted pricing into its platform Med Mapper, which the company said maps every drug on the market to every possible way users ...

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AHA, BCBSA Urge CMS To Ditch ‘Conflicting’ Requirements In Prior Authorization Reform Proposal

Lobbying groups representing different camps of the healthcare industry have come together to urge the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) to reconsider “conflicting regulatory proposals” that require different electronic standards for electronic data exchanges during prior authorization. The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s joint ...

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