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.
Scripta Insights, a digital health company focused on pharmacy navigation, is teaming up with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to bring transparent drug pricing to patients. Scripta will integrate Cost Plus Drugs’ discounted pricing into its platform Med Mapper, which the company said maps every drug on the market to every possible way users ...
KFF research has consistently found prescription drug costs to be an important health policy area of public interest and public concern. Below are some key findings on the public’s experience with and perceptions of prescription drugs and their prices. For public awareness of some of the prescription drug cost provisions included in the 2022 Inflation ...
Hospitals charge commercial health plans two to three times more than what they charge the same insurer’s Medicare Advantage plans for the same procedure, a new study in Health Affairs found. Why it matters: While it’s well established that private plans are typically charged more than Medicare, this study leverages the latest available pricing data to shed light on differing dynamics between ...
Amazon Clinic is expanding to all 50 states, including nationwide telehealth services to offer access to clinicians through its website and mobile app.
After HCA Healthcare announced this month that the personal identification data of roughly 11 million HCA patients in 20 states had been exposed in a breach, people may be justifiably concerned that their own medical data and identities could be stolen.
Quest Diagnostics (DGX.N) on Monday launched the first direct-to-consumer blood test to detect abnormal levels of beta amyloid, a key Alzheimer’s disease protein that can appear years before dementia symptoms arise. The $399 test, called AD-Detect, uses the same technology as a blood test the company began selling for use by doctors in early 2022. “One of ...
More than one third of Americans living in rural areas skipped medical care they needed due to the costs, according to a new study. The Commonwealth Fund’s 2020 International Health Policy Survey found that 36 percent of rural Americans did not get the care they needed due to costs, which is more than double the rate for ...
As hospitals acquire ambulatory care centers, consumers are more likely to be forced to pay outpatient facility fees for routine care traditionally covered by physician offices at lower costs. These new costs, appearing seemingly out of nowhere to the average consumer through out-of-pocket spending and premium increases, can add up to hundreds or thousands of ...
Teladoc Health (TDOC.N) is expanding a partnership with Microsoft (MSFT.O) to use the tech giant’s artificial intelligence services to automate clinical documentation on the telehealth platform, lifting its shares 6% in premarket trade. The integration of AI including Microsoft’s services with technology from OpenAI, owner of viral chatbot ChatGPT, will help ease the burden on healthcare staff during virtual ...
COVID relief funds helped almost 75% of U.S. hospitals post positive operating income during the height of the pandemic, according to a new analysis that questions if the federal aid was too generous or misdirected. Why it matters: The findings counter the industry narrative that the pandemic left many facilities in the red and grappling with ...