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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.

A Disappointing Report Card For Primary Care

NOT AN ‘F,’ BUT …  The first report card on the state of the nation’s primary health care is out today, and it’s nothing to brag about. The report comes in response to a 2021 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which called for a scorecard to be developed to monitor — and improve ...

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Amazon Closes $3.9B Buyout Of Health Company One Medical

Amazon said Wednesday it has closed its $3.9 billion acquisition of the primary care organization One Medical. The e-commerce giant has said the buyout, which was announced in July, is a key component of its growing health care business, which includes its online drugstore Amazon Pharmacy and a patient to doctor messaging service called Amazon Clinic. One ...

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Major Coalition Of Health Groups Aims To Combat Health Misinformation

A new industrywide coalition of healthcare groups aims to combat persistent problems with misinformation, a lingering problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coalition for Trust in Health & Science is expected to formally launch on March 2. The coalition will contain more than 50 groups that run the gamut from payers, providers to drug ...

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Redox and Google Cloud Partner to Accelerate Healthcare Data Interoperability

Redox, a leader in healthcare interoperability, and Google Cloud today announced a partnership to simplify the exchange of healthcare data so organizations can make better and faster decisions. By easily onboarding health data from legacy systems into Google Cloud products like Healthcare Data Engine and Healthcare API, organizations can build longitudinal views to better serve ...

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Surprise-Billing Law Loophole: When ‘Out of Network’ Doesn’t Quite Mean Out of Network

It was the first day of her family’s vacation in the San Juan Islands last June when Danielle Laskey, who was 26 weeks pregnant, thought she was leaking amniotic fluid. A registered nurse, Laskey called her OB-GYN back home in Seattle, who said to seek immediate care. Staff members at a nearby emergency department found ...

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Single-payer and the long game

 It looks like California’s single-payer dreams will be delayed at least another year. After suffering a devastating blow in the Capitol last winter, advocates had been eager to reintroduce legislation that would create a first-in-the nation, state-run health care system.

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Mark Cuban Has Been Taking On the Drug Industry. But Which One?

When billionaire Mark Cuban announced his attack on the pharmaceutical industry and its high-priced drugs in January 2021, it was met with cheers. His new company — the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., known as Cost Plus Drugs — has the “lowest prices on meds anywhere,” he said. The serial entrepreneur and owner of the NBA’s ...

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More Than Half Of Physicians Admit To Changing Perceptions Of A Drug Due To Social Media

Social media can have as powerful an influence on physicians as they do on the public, according to a new survey conducted by Sermo and LiveWorld. Of the 50-plus pharma marketers and 200-plus U.S. physicians surveyed, more than half (57%) of doctors said they frequently or occasionally change their initial perception of a medication due ...

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After Staying Away During Pandemic, Doctors Return to Lobby Congress

Dr. Timothy McAvoy, an internist from Waukesha, Wisconsin, held his infant granddaughter Tuesday while standing in the Longworth House Office Building, waiting to talk to a congressional aide about increasing Medicare pay for doctors. Facing a highly partisan Congress where Republicans have vowed to cut federal spending, McAvoy hoped his Midwestern charm, along with a ...

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U.S. Proposes Medicare, Medicaid Programs To Cut Drug Costs, Including $2 Generics

The U.S. health department proposed on Tuesday three new pilot projects aimed at lowering prescription drug prices for people enrolled in government health insurance plans, including offering some essential generic drugs for $2 a month.

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