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Payment rate reduced by 1.25% in CMS proposed physician payment rule
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued the calendar year 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule, with overall proposed payment amounts being reduced by 1.25% compared to CY 2023.
CMS is also proposing increases in payme…
FDA approves nonprescription oral contraceptive
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has drawn praise from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra for its approval of Opill, the first daily oral contraceptive approved for use in the U.S. without a prescription.
The approval means the pro…
Telehealth linked to fewer in-person follow-up visits
Telehealth has been firmly established as a viable treatment methodology, and the COVID-19n pandemic highlighted many of its advantages, but a new Epic Research white paper has found one potential shortcoming: Telehealth visits are linked to fewer in-p…
Aspirus Health, St. Luke’s to affiliate, expand nonprofit healthcare system
St. Luke’s Duluth and Aspirus Health, based in Wausau, Wisconsin, have signed a letter of intent for the two organizations to affiliate, creating a healthcare system serving residents of northeastern Minnesota, northern and central Wisconsin and the Up…
HHS issues proposed rule to improve child care access
The Department of Health and Human Services, through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), has issued a proposed rule strengthening key policies in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), a program that subsidizes child care costs for…
AHA asks Senate for more emergency preparedness funds
The American Hospital Association has written a letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) saying that the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), part of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), doesn’t p…
Drug shortages lead to higher prices, trouble filling prescriptions
Shortages of prescription drugs can lead to higher drug prices and impact consumer’s ability to fill their prescriptions, but there are steps that can be taken to avoid these issues, according to a new report by the office of the Assistant Secretary fo…
Express Scripts to offer Humira biosimilars
Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefits management business of the Cigna Group’s Evernorth, will add three additional biosimilars to its National Preferred Formulary that it said will compete with Humira, the world’s top-selling pharmaceutical drug, in …
Significant differences uncovered between MA, FFS enrollees
Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service Medicare enrollees have some significant differences in the year prior to enrollment in Medicare at age 65, including differing demographic and socioeconomic characteristics – traits that should be afforded more a…
Health Connect America fined more than $4.6M for alleged Medicaid fraud
Franklin, Tennessee-based Health Connect America, with locations in Big Stone Gap and Culpeper, Virginia, has agreed to pay more than $4.6 million to resolve allegations that it billed Virginia Medicaid for services not provided, according to the U.S. …
