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Healthcare costs exceed $31K for family of four
Healthcare costs for a typical American family of four reached $31,065 this year, according to the new 2023 Milliman Medical Index, which measures healthcare costs for individuals and families receiving coverage from an employer-sponsored preferred pro…
Medicare Part D beneficiaries projected to pay lower out-of-pocket costs
Recent legislation establishing a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap in Medicare Part D has the potential to lower out-of-pocket costs for more than 125,000 Part D beneficiaries who use ultra-expensive drugs and are ineligible for low-income subsidies, according…
Top Stories: CMS seeks to lower Rx drug costs through price transparency
The federal government wants to drive down prescription drug costs. What’s the plan? We’ll answer that and other questions in this week’s Top Stories, including: How is Bright Heath faring? And what are providers doing with Epic software?
For more news…
FDA: Medical device shortages could worsen
Now that the COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, FDA officials are predicting a possible shortage of medical devices, saying in a new Health Affairs article that the supply chain may be threatened now that there will no longer be mandatory repo…
Percent of patients with ‘extreme’ illness on the rise in New Jersey
Data culled from New Jersey hospitals has found a steep rise in the percentage of patients presenting with “major” or “extreme” illnesses, which has put further pressure on already strained workforces in the state’s healthcare institutions. And for onc…
Enrollees largely unaware of Medicaid redetermination process
States kept people continuously enrolled in Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic in exchange for enhanced federal funding, but continuous enrollment ended on March 31, and over the coming months states will redetermine eligibility for enrollees and di…
Ohio nurses push for safe staffing ratios in ‘Code Red’ campaign
Nurse staffing shortages have been a challenge in healthcare for years, and was only made worse by the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to staffing issues that are still pervasive in the state, the Ohio Nurses Association has launched an…
Florence acquires telehealth platform Zipnosis from Bright Health
Healthcare enablement software company Florence, which focuses largely on workflow automation, has acquired Zipnosis, an asynchronous-first virtual care solution, in what it said was an all-cash deal, although the financial terms were not disclosed.
Fl…
Commercial payers delay paying out claims to providers
Hospitals and health systems were optimistic about their financial performance to start the year, figuring that revenue and profit margins would rebound after a tough few years.
Expanded coverage for weight loss drugs could cost Medicare billions
There’s an increasing buzz among patients for GLP-1 weight loss drugs, such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, but if patient demand continues to grow and Medicare expanded its coverage in response, it could cost the federal program between $13.6 an…
