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Compliance

This section focuses on health care compliance and regulations – both national and state – including the ACA. It includes changes in health care law, regulation, and court decisions and their impact on health insurance professionals, employers, and individuals.

Criminals Have Stolen Nearly $100 Billion In COVID Relief Funds, Secret Service Says

Criminals have stolen close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday. The stolen funds were diverted by fraudsters from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and a another program set up to dole out unemployment assistance funds nationwide. More than $2.3 billion ...

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Amazon Taps Former Prime Executive To Oversee Virtual Care, Pharmacy And Diagnostics Businesses

Amazon has consolidated its healthcare efforts under one central organization and tapped a former Prime executive to run the businesses. The tech giant elevated Neil Lindsay to the new role of senior vice president of health and brand within Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Healthcare. CNBC’s Annie Palmer and Bertha ...

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‘It Is Embarrassing’: CDC Struggles To Track COVID Cases As Omicron Looms

As the world experiences new, more transmissible Covid-19 variants, scientists and health officials in the U.S. are still struggling to gather accurate and timely domestic data to help inform policy decisions to safeguard Americans. Continuing gaps in the CDC’s data collection program, which almost two years into the pandemic still relies on state health departments ...

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U.S. Could See 1 Million Cases Per Day, Warns Departing NIH Director Francis Collins

After spending more than 12 years as director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins is retiring this weekend. But he’s no less worried about the public health agency’s latest pandemic curveball. As the omicron variant threatens record-breaking rates of infections in the U.S., Collins departs with a warning. If Americans don’t take ...

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Lawmakers, Business Leaders Begin To Raise Alarms About Dwindling Federal Aid, As Omicron Cases Rise Across U.S.

The swift arrival of a new coronavirus variant has rekindled economic anxieties in Washington, as congressional lawmakers, business leaders and consumer advocates begin to worry whether there is enough federal aid to shield Americans from another round of financial despair. Over the course of the nearly two-year pandemic, Congress has committed nearly $6 trillion toward ...

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Biogen Halves Price Of Alzheimer’s Drug To $28,200

Biogen Inc (BIIB.O) on Monday cut the price of its Alzheimer’s drug by about half to $28,200 for an average weight person after facing slower-than-expected U.S. sales on complaints from hospitals that its high cost was not worth its benefits. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug, Aduhelm, in June to treat the brain-wasting ...

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Annual Employee Benefits Compliance Responsibilities On January 1st

Each year brings annual compliance responsibilities to employers regarding their health plans and federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) and COBRA responsibilities. It’s important for employers to be aware of – and adhere to – these responsibilities.

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CMS Actuaries: Healthcare Expenditures Spiked 9.7% In 2020 Amid COVID-19 Response

U.S. healthcare spending skyrocketed in 2020 as the federal government invested significantly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS’ Office of the Actuary released its annual report on health expenditures, which found spending increased by 9.7% in 2020 to reach $4.2 trillion. ...

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Biden COVID Official: “No Need To Lock Down,” Even As Cases Surge

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday that there will be “no need” to shut down the U.S. economy “in any way,” adding that the country has the tools necessary to fight the Omicron variant. The big picture: There is an increase of coronavirus cases, driven by the Delta variant, across the country, and CDC ...

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Omicron Infects 70 Times Faster But Is Less Severe, Study Says

The omicron variant infects around 70 times faster than delta and the original Covid-19 strain, though the severity of illness is likely to be much lower, according to a University of Hong Kong study that adds weight to the early on-ground observations from South African doctors. The supercharged speed of omicron’s spread in the human bronchus was ...

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