• Among most causes with the highest healthcare spending and highest burden, an increase in spending per case was associated with an increase in disability-adjusted life-years averted per case (RevCycle)

• Study: Health Care Spending Effectiveness: Estimates Suggest That Spending Improved US Health From 1996 To 2016 (Health Affairs)

• Why insurers are weighing double-digit ACA premium hikes for 2023 (Fierce Health)

• Streamlining eligibility and enrollment processes, such as ex parte renewals, could help seniors and people with disabilities maintain Medicaid coverage after the public health emergency ends (Health Payer)

• KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Drug Price Bill Is a Go in the Senate (KHN)

• Annual Report of the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice: Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (OIG)

• More than 1/5 of revenue cycle managers outsource outpatient services (Health Care Fiance)

• Clinicians have not changed their EHR documentation practices in light of The Cures Act final rule mandating patient access to Electronic Health Record data (EHRIntelligence)

• Health costs associated with pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care (Peterson-KFF Health SystemTracker)

• Mayo Clinic researchers have developed machine-learning models that can detect pancreatic cancer on pre-diagnostic CT scans substantially sooner than traditional methods for clinical diagnosis (Health Analytics)

• Marketplace insurers denied 18% of in-network claims in 2020, data shows (HealthCareDive)

• Report:Claims Denials and Appeals in ACA Marketplace Plans in 2020 (KFF)

• Rural Hospital Rescue Program Is Met With Skepticism From Administrators (KHN)

• High use of telemental health services by patients with serious mental illness (SMI) who live in nonmetropolitan US counties is associated with improvements in key outcomes, including greater post-hospitalization follow-up, new research suggests.(Medscape)

• How Much Health Insurers Pay for Almost Everything Is About to Go Public (KHN)

• Mental health patient directories rife with 'phantom' providers, researchers find (MedicalXpress)

• Hospitals with more nursing home beds nearby readmit fewer patients: study (McKnights)

• Examination of Potential Industry Conflicts of Interest and Disclosures by Contributors to Online Medical Resource Databases (JAMA NO)

• Report: These are the factors impacting individual, small group premiums in 2023 (Fierce Health)

• GAO: Gaps Remain in Medicaid Managed Care Direct Payments Oversight (Health Payer)

• CMS insurer price transparency rule has taken effect. Signs are good for compliance (HealthCareDive)

• Opinion: The Fatal Flaw in Hospital Price Transparency Rules (Medpage)
• Hospital Price Transparency Higher in Less Competitive Markets (RecCycle)

• ED Visits, Hospitalizations 22% Higher Among Cannabis Users (AJMC)

• How Pfizer Won the Pandemic, Reaping Outsize Profit and Influence (KHN)

• As the U.S. government aims to strengthen public and private cybersecurity processes, here’s what healthcare organizations need to know.(HealthTech)

• Mid-Missouri hospital closures raise concerns about private equity in healthcare (KBIA)

• High Court backs federal formula for reimbursing safety-net hospitals (Courthouse News Service)

• FQHCs Look to EHR Vendors to Stay Independent from Hospital Affiliation (RevCycle)

• US Supreme Court Rebuffs UnitedHealth Group Challenge on Medicare Overpayments (Medscape/Reuters)

• Buy and Bust: When Private Equity Comes for Rural Hospitals (KHN)

• FTC notches another antitrust win as HCA Healthcare, Steward Health Care call off 5-hospital sale (Fierce Health)

• Medicare, Beneficiaries Saw Higher Prices at Provider-Based Facilities (Rev Cycle)

• Opinion: Did performance-based nursing home payments meet their match with COVID? (The Hill)

• Inpatient volume expected to grow 2% in 10 years, SG2 report says (ACDIS)

• Report Summary (PDF)

• Medicare Advantage Represents a Growing Share of Medicare Enrollment (Health Payer) Enrollment Map (Better Medicare)

• Kentucky region’s hospital emergency rooms are dealing with an influx of teens seeking mental health treatment (Northern Kentucky Tribune)

• Rise of Telehealth Fraud (National Law Review)

• Half of Hospitals Have Implemented No Price Transparency (Physician's Weekly)

• Hospitals win SCOTUS case against 340B rate cuts (Health Care Dive)

• Maryland Hospital All-Payer Model: Can It Be Emulated?(Health Affairs)

• George Washington University has sold its 20 percent minority interest of George Washington University Hospital to Universal Health Services, making the health system the sole owner of the hospital. (Beckers)

• CMS extends annual postpartum Medicaid, CHIP coverage to 4 states (Fierce Health)

In the News

Blogs We Follow

Popular Site Destinations

Job Bank

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Federal Agency Blogs

COVID-19 Information

Starting Points:

• U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
• Cases, Data & Surveillance
• Covide Science Updates (Weekly)
• State Health Departments
• NACCHO Directory Local Health Departments
• CMS Nursing Home Covid Data
• GAO Coronavirus Oversight

Guides & Resources for Workspaces:

• Kaiser Permanente Articles & Business Resources
• CDC Workplaces and Businesses
• Summary of CDC guidelines on reopening businesses after the pandemic (Tech Republic)

Additional Resources:

• Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR) Report Summary on Pandemic and Rural Hospital Closure Risk
• Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) (Medscape)
• CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook for Jurisdiction Operations
• The Costs of Coronavirus (JAMA Network)
• Largest COVID-19 contact tracing study to date finds children key to spread, evidence of superspreaders (Princeton)
• Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (National Acadamies 2020)
• National Insitutes of Health
• John Hopkins ABX Guide: Coronavirus COVID-19
• The Covid Tracking Project (Tracking ended 3/7/2021):
• University Of Minnesotta CIDRAP Covid Resources
• JAMA Sponsored Live Stream Q & A with CDC
• Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 News and Reports
• NEJM : A collection of articles and other resources on the Coronavirus (Covid-19)
• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME): COVID-19 Resources
• Penn Center for Research on Coronavirus and Other Emerging Pathogens Webinars (You Tube Channel)

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