Industry Updates Category Banner

Industry Updates

This broad category includes articles concerning health insurance costs, carrier and health plan news, changing benefits technology, and surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and others on employee benefits.

GOP Push To Get More Americans Into High-Deductible Health Is Dividing Democrats

Bipartisan legislation aims to get more Americans into high-deductible insurance, but perils would remain.

Read More

Bosses Dislike Work-From-Home But Suspect They’re Stuck With It

Business leaders think that the spread of remote work has had more negative effects than positive ones, but they also see the practice becoming ingrained, according to a new survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Roughly two-thirds of respondents said remote work had a negative impact in four areas: workplace culture, cohesiveness and team ...

Read More

The US Pays More For Newer Weight Loss Drugs Than Its Peers: Report

The prices charged for drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are significantly higher in the U.S. when compared with other wealthy nations, with the list price being 10 times lower in some countries, according to a new analysis from KFF. As KFF’s analysis found, a one-month supply of Ozempic — which is indicated for diabetes ...

Read More

Cyberattack Keeps Hospitals’ Computers Offline For Weeks

Key computer systems at hospitals and clinics in several states have yet to come back online more than two weeks after a cyberattack that forced some emergency room shutdowns and ambulance diversions. Progress is being made “to recover critical systems and restore their integrity,” Prospect Medical Holdings said in a Friday statement. But the company, ...

Read More

Hospitals Often Charge Commercial Plans Double Or More Than MA For Same Services, Study Finds

Hospitals nationwide charge payers more than double for healthcare services covered under commercial plans than they do for the same insurer’s Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, according to a recent Johns Hopkins analysis of hospitals’ published pricing data.

Read More

Employers Shift Health Plan Costs In Wake Of IRS Notice

The Employee Benefits Research Institute has released a new study that examines payment trends among employer-sponsored health plans. By moving certain chronic condition treatments and medications to the covered list, the IRS gave employers the opportunity to offer more free-to-plan-member services

Read More

Price Of Elder Care Soars As Demand Increases, Baby Boomers Age

The price of nursing home care increased by an average of 2.4 percent each year between 2012 and 2019, for a cumulative increase of 20.7 percent, according to data from the health research group Altarum Institute.

Read More

Sweeping Drug Shortages Force Health System Pharmacists To Adjust Treatment, Purchasing, Survey Finds

Drug shortages are rife across hospital and health system pharmacies and forcing most pharmacists to rely on alternatives that drive up costs and sometimes impede care, particularly when it comes to cancer care, according to new survey data of more than 1,100 provider pharmacy specialists. The membership poll, fielded this summer by the American Society ...

Read More

Amazon Pharmacy’s Latest Move Aims To Ease Access To Affordable Insulin

Amazon has been focused on ways to make prescription drugs more affordable for consumers as it works to carve out a piece of the retail pharmacy market. The online retail giant’s pharmacy arm is now taking aim at easing access to affordable insulin. Amazon Pharmacy will automatically apply drug-manufacturer-sponsored coupons on more than 15 insulin and ...

Read More

As a Union Pushes to Cap Hospital CEO Pay, It’s Accused of Playing Politics

The aim is aspirational: Hospital executives shouldn’t make more than the president of the United States. Next spring, Los Angeles city voters will have a chance to put the brake on runaway salaries by capping hospital executives’ pay at $450,000 a year. The measure, proposed by a local union and approved by the City Council in June, ...

Read More
arrowcaret-downclosefacebook-squarehamburgerinstagram-squarelinkedin-squarepauseplaytwitter-squareyoutube-square