Month: June 2024
State health policy officials want to harness emerging artificial intelligence technology to translate a broad swath of documents and websites related to “health and social services information, programs, benefits and services,” according to state records.
California lawmakers on Thursday passed a 2024-25 budget that rejected Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to cut in-home supportive services for low-income older, blind, and disabled immigrants lacking legal residency. However, the Democratic governor has not said whether he’ll use his line-item veto authority to help close the state’s $45 billion deficit. The legislature, controlled by Democrats, passed a ...
Amazon Pharmacy is expanding its prescription drug subscription program, called RxPass, to Prime members on Medicare insurance. The RxPass program, launched in January 2023, provides unlimited access to 60 eligible generic medications and will ship the medications to customers’ homes for a flat monthly fee of $5, along with 24/7 access to a pharmacist, according to the ...
The number of Americans without health insurance dropped by about a fourth from 2019 to 2023, US health researchers said, as the government tried to bolster coverage during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2023, 25 million Americans of all ages were uninsured, down from 33.2 million in 2019, according to preliminary survey results released Tuesday by ...
Since Amazon acquired the primary-care service One Medical, elderly patients have been routed to a call center — staffed partly by contractors with limited training — that failed on more than a dozen occasions to seek immediate attention for callers with urgent symptoms, according to internal documents seen by The Washington Post. When one patient ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will rework Medicare Advantage (MA) quality ratings for this year. Private insurers will treat the decision as good news, as some health plans could receive “hundreds of millions in additional payments,” The Wall Street Journal first reported June 13. SCAN Health Plan and Elevance Health recently took CMS to court over a ...
As many as 50,000 U.S. patients’ access to treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder could be disrupted after two executives at Done, a California-based telehealth company, were indicted Thursday on healthcare fraud charges, federal officials said. The Justice Department alleges that Chief Executive Ruthia He and company clinical President David Brody schemed to provide easy ...
The heat is on. With temperatures expected to soar above the 90s across much of the eastern US this week, millions are preparing to beat the heat. Experts are urging those who take certain medications — including those used to treat high blood pressure, allergies and mental health conditions — to take extra precautions. Temps will begin ...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s growing discomfort with a proposed ballot initiative sponsored by leading health care groups is spilling out into the public amid tense discussions over the November ballot and state budget. Jim DeBoo, a top consultant in Sacramento and a former chief of staff to Newsom, confirmed to POLITICO on Thursday that he’s ...
The US Department of Labor has announced separate settlements with Unum Life Insurance Co. of America and the Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. that relate to their practices on evidence of insurability.