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EHRs combined with nurse-led support improved medication compliance

A JAMA study showed the potential and limitations of nurse educators and EHRs.

Health IT

HHS OIG cites flawed efforts to prevent fraud in Medicaid managed care

A new report found that not all managed care organizations use proactive data analysis or inform states when providers are suspected of abuse.

Payer

Slashing costs at top of hospital CEO minds

Executives also care about boosting their organization's outpatient market and meeting consumer demands, according to an Advisory Board Company survey.

Hospital Administration

Many docs support MIPS concepts, but a big chunk unaware

Nearly two-thirds of physicians surveyed reported little or no knowledge of the CMS Merit-based Incentive Payment System.

Payer

Employer health insurance cost growth cut in half

Potential factors behind the trend include preemptive moves by employers to avoid the Affordable Care Act's excise tax on high-cost plans, cost-shifting and the rise of high-deductible plans, according to a new Mercer report.

Payer

ACA plan member costs increasing, networks narrowing, study says

Avalere, which conducted the report for the Physicians for Fair Coverage, said restricted networks are resulting in more out-of-network care and surprise billing.

Payer

MA star ratings would change if socioeconomic status taken into account, study finds

The report in Health Affairs evaluated how scoring changes connected to blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol control could improve plan ratings.

Payer

CMS cuts ACA navigator funding down to $10M

This is not the first funding cut for navigators, who received $62.5 million in 2016. CMS Administrator Seema Verma said the "need for federally funded Navigators has diminished."

Policy & Regulation

CMS will let providers withdraw retroactively from BPCI-A

The agency is not, however, delaying the program's Oct. 1 start date.

Payer

EHRs tied to lower hospital mortality, but only with time and experience

Small and nonteaching hospitals showed the biggest gains with each new EHR function, with death rates down 0.26% and 0.21% respectively.

Health IT

Medtronic, UnitedHealthcare say value-based pact cut diabetes costs

The biggest U.S. payer and largest medical device company saw encouraging results in the program's first year.

Payer

MA outperforms traditional Medicare for people with chronic conditions, study finds

The Avalere report showed better quality metrics for inpatient stays, ER visits, preventive screenings and costs.

Payer

New body to improve patient EHR matching advised by experts

Advisers convened by The Pew Charitable Trusts want the entity to create best practices and standards to better link patients to health records.

Health IT

Gottlieb: Investment into leveraging RWD will benefit device, drug safety

Allowing FDA to use de-identified EHR clinical medical information would boost safety monitoring and shift more development to a post-market setting, the FDA commissioner said.

Health IT

Azar says 'change is coming' for 340B

The HHS secretary emphasized at an industry conference the "need to disrupt the entire system of rebates" as well as the administration's intentions to reduce the gap between drug discounts and reimbursements.

Policy & Regulation

Reducing medical errors requires multifaceted approach, study finds

A large national survey found physician burnout and low work unit safety grades are independently associated with major medical errors.

Hospital Administration

Healthcare startups raise $15B across 779 deals in first half of year

June was a slow month, however, with investments down 3% from the prior year, according to a Pitchbook analysis for Forbes.

Health IT

CMS defends hospital star-rating program, plans only minor changes

An agency spokesperson told Healthcare Dive it will get expert feedback on methodology over the summer.

Hospital Administration

Cerner, Lumeris team up on population health

As part of the 10-year deal, Cerner will acquire a minority stake in the population health management firm.

Health IT

Gottlieb: FDA seeking 'right balance' in regulating opioid prescriptions

"The roots of this crisis are embedded in the practice of medicine, and prescribing practices that were at times too cavalier," Gottlieb said.

Policy & Regulation

Low-quality healthcare persists in high-income countries, report finds

The study found that 10% of patients in high-income countries are harmed during medical treatment and 15% of hospital expenditures in those countries come from mistakes or hospital-acquired infections.

Health IT

EHR error rates vary widely across systems, JAMIA study finds

A confluence of challenges among the hospitals' Epic and Cerner systems likely contributed to high error rates.

Health IT

Trump administration suspends ACA risk-adjusted payments

The freeze impacts $10.4 billion for 2017. Without the program to stabilize the marketplace, premiums are expected to rise.

Payer

States looking to courts in fight against ACA

Twenty states are arguing the ACA's mandate that most people have health insurance is unconstitutional because the penalty for noncompliance will be zeroed out starting next year.

Health Law

Physician burnout less common at small, independent practices

A study by the NYU School of Medicine found that only 13.5% of New York City physicians in small, independent primary care practices reported feeling worn out or wearied by their work.

Hospital Administration