Author: Scott Welch
One owns a for-profit insurer, a venture capital company, and for-profit hospitals in Italy and Kazakhstan; it has just acquired its fourth for-profit hospital in Ireland. Another owns one of the largest for-profit hospitals in London, is partnering to build a massive training facility for a professional basketball team, and has launched and financed 80 for-profit start-ups. Another partners with a wellness spa where rooms cost $4,000 a night ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is creating a voluntary demonstration program to support changes to Medicare Part D under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The agency also finalized bid information for contract year 2025, with a base beneficiary premium increase of $2.08 for people with Part D. The IRA is designed to ...
In a time when drug prices are skyrocketing, imagine slashing a company’s pharmacy costs by 28% in a single year. Sound impossible? The Texas Association of Counties was able to achieve this by utilizing a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) with a transparent, pass-through model that’s focused on keeping overall drug prices low. As the Navitus Annual ...
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that set health care workers on a path to a $25 minimum wage. Lawmakers then delayed it, but some hospitals are raising pay ahead of schedule.
The US Food and Drug Administration says some people have been hospitalized with symptoms that may be related to overdoses from injectable weight-loss drugs. The agency alerted healthcare providers and patients on Friday, saying it received reports that some people sought medical attention or required hospitalization after taking incorrect doses of “compounded” semaglutide products. Compounded ...
A preliminary injunction, granted Thursday by a federal judge, puts the implementation of the Labor Department's controversial new Retirement Security Rule, set to take effect September 23, on hold until further order of the court.
If your systolic blood pressure — the top number of your blood pressure reading — consistently edges above normal, new research from the University of Michigan suggests you’re at an increased risk for stroke. A study published in JAMA Open Network found that if a person’s systolic blood pressure hovers 10 points above the 120 mmHg threshold ...
Lawmakers bashed the business practices of pharmacy benefit managers during a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing Tuesday. When they were asked repeatedly about steering patients, increased drug prices and pharmacy closures, the company executives largely refuted claims thrown at them. Lawmakers were overwhelmingly frustrated with the perceived non-answers given and at one point reminded the ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released new data on risk adjustment payments for 2023. The agency said (PDF) insurers participating on the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges will pay $10.3 billion as part of the risk adjustment program. Risk adjustment state transfers as a percent of premiums declined from 2022, according to the report. ...
What weighs most heavily on older adults’ minds when it comes to health care? The cost of services and therapies, and their ability to pay. “It’s on our minds a whole lot because of our age and because everything keeps getting more expensive,” said Connie Colyer, 68, of Pleasureville, Kentucky. She’s a retired forklift operator who ...