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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.

Walgreens-Backed Villagemd To Buy Summit Health In $8.9B Deal

The merger, which is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, will create one of the biggest independent doctor groups in the US providing primary care, specialty care and urgent care.

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FDA Approves First Treatment To Delay Onset Of Type 1 Diabetes

A biologic therapy that delays the onset of type 1 diabetes received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. It is the first therapy approved for prevention of type 1 diabetes. The monoclonal antibody teplizumab, which will be marketed under the brand name Tzield, from ProventionBio and Sanofi is given through intravenous infusion. The ...

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Audits — Hidden Until Now — Reveal Millions in Medicare Advantage Overcharges

Newly released federal audits reveal widespread overcharges and other errors in payments to Medicare Advantage health plans for seniors, with some plans overbilling the government more than $1,000 per patient a year on average. Summaries of the 90 audits, which examined billings from 2011 through 2013 and are the most recent reviews completed, were obtained ...

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Small Group Annual Special Open Enrollment Window: Nov. 15 – Dec. 15

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires medical health insurers to offer a one-month Special Open Enrollment Window (SOEW), when eligible Small Group employers can enroll in medical coverage without having to meet standard employer-contribution and/or employee-participation ratios.

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U.S. COVID Public Health Emergency To Stay In Place

The United States will keep in place the public health emergency status of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing millions of Americans to still receive free tests, vaccines and treatments, two Biden administration officials said on Friday.

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Medicare Plan Finder Likely Won’t Note New $35 Cap on Out-of-Pocket Insulin Costs

Congress approved in August a $35 cap on what seniors will pay for insulin as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, along with free vaccines and other Medicare improvements. But the change came too late to add to the Medicare plan finder, the online tool that helps beneficiaries sort through dozens of drug and medical plans for the best bargain.

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Hospital Groups Tell Lawmakers Looming Medicare Cuts 'Not Sustainable' As Officials Come Back

As Congress returns this week from a nearly monthlong recess, a collection of hospital groups is making sure resolution of a looming 4% cut to Medicare payments doesn’t slip through the cracks. The groups, led by the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals, wrote to congressional leadership Monday calling for a waiver ...

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CMS Looking At Quality Metrics To Get ACA Exchange Plans Into Value-Based Care

Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace officials are hoping to get more plans into value-based care arrangements as regulators hope to not just build on getting people covered, according to federal officials. Officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) spoke Thursday at the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network Summit on value-based ...

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Exclusive: Russian Software Disguised As American Finds Its Way Into U.S. Army, CDC Apps

Thousands of smartphone applications in Apple (AAPL.O) and Google’s (GOOGL.O) online stores contain computer code developed by a technology company, Pushwoosh, that presents itself as based in the United States, but is actually Russian, Reuters has found. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States’ main agency for fighting major health threats, said it had been ...

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AI Algorithms, Strict Place-of-Work Rules Potential Trouble Spots for Employment Claims

Technological innovations and changing work arrangements brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic are among some of the emerging issues that can make employers vulnerable to discrimination lawsuits, a top employment practices defense attorney said Thursday. Barry A. Hartstein, co-chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity Practice for the Littler Mendelson law firm in Chicago, ...

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