There are sustained health benefits resulting in fewer unplanned admissions and emergency department visits among seriously ill pediatric patients who have a wish granted from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a new study found.
Category: FierceHealthPayer
CMS increases Healthcare.gov breach total to 93,600
More than 18,000 additional people were added to the final number of consumers impacted by the Healthcare.gov breach last month. A CMS spokesperson said the agency has reached out to all affected consumers.
CMS gives states permission to waive Medicaid’s IMD exclusion, expanding mental health treatment
In an announcement on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the so-called institutions for mental diseases (IMD) exclusion has “unnecessarily restricted” access to critical mental healthcare for beneficiaries.
AMA outlines initiatives aimed at fixing ‘dysfunctional’ healthcare system at interim meeting
The “dysfunctional” U.S. health system may be working to improve hospital and payer bottom lines, but it’s not working as intended for patients or the doctors that care for them, the head of the American Medical Association said.
WellCare, Spectrum Health join new blockchain effort focused on provider credentialing, directories
Several large payers and providers are joining a new pilot project that plans to find out just how much well blockchain can shave time off the monthslong credentialing process and improve the accuracy of provider directories.
Jury pins Aetna with $25.5M verdict for denying cancer treatment
The insurer refused to cover “the best and only treatment” for an Oklahoma woman’s stage 4 cancer. With their verdict, jurors said it’s up to Aetna to fix the broken healthcare system.
MACPAC urges Azar to pause, re-evaluate Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirements
Amid CMS’ encouragement of work requirements in state Medicaid programs, MACPAC told HHS Secretary Alex Azar that Arkansas’ implementation of the policy was too crude and hasty. It urged the state to pause disenrollments and reconsider certain paramete…
Industry Voices—Overcoming 3 challenges to medication management for seniors
Medication safety—or lack thereof—among seniors is placing an unnecessary strain on our healthcare system, especially when you consider the correlation between aging and the increasing number of medications taken annually.
Week 1 ACA exchange enrollment sluggish, but analysts aren’t worried
Just over 370,000 people signed up for health plans on Healthcare.gov during the first week of open enrollment, which began on Nov. 1. Those numbers are lower than last year, but after accounting for timing, analysts are bullish that some insurers coul…
Payer Roundup—Medicaid expansion a priority in Maine, likely in Kansas
Voters decided to expand Medicaid in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah via ballot initiatives last week. Gubernatorial elections in two other states have major implications for expansion as well.
