Laura is the vice president of content for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®) and all its brands, including The American Journal of Accountable Care®, Evidence-Based Oncology™, and The Center for Biosimilars®. She has been working on AJMC® since 2014 and has been with AJMC®’s parent company, MJH Life Sciences®, since 2011.
She has an MA in business and economic reporting from New York University. You can connect with Laura on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Nine in 10 Uninsured Don't Know When Open Enrollment Begins
October 21st 2014Congressional candidates may be still be talking about the Affordable Care Act, but a majority of the uninsured are still unaware of main components of the law, according to a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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Repeal or Replace: Healthcare on the Mind as Midterm Elections Approach
October 17th 2014Despite continued Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act, sentiment is shifting from repeal to replace. Still, the fact that open enrollment on HealthCare.gov begins after the midterm elections does not seem like a coincidence to the GOP.
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A majority of Americans covered by the Affordable Care Act are expecting to change plans for 2015, which may be a smart move, according to industry experts. People who simply re-enroll may not realize they are no longer among the lowest costing plans, which will affect how much their subsidies pay for.
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AMA Calls for More Meaningful Use Flexibility in Letter to CMS, ONC
October 16th 2014The strict rules of the Meaningful Use (MU) program are preventing physicians from participating, according to the American Medical Association, which is calling for more flexibility and some relief from penalties.
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CMS Offers Upfront Investment to ACOs Through New Initiative
October 15th 2014Accountable Care Organizations participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program will have access to a new initiative that will support care coordination across the country, according to CMS. Up to $114 million in upfront investments will be made available.
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Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Increasing Overall Plan Quality
October 15th 2014Quality in Medicare Advantage plans is increasing, and CMS credits the improvement to its star rating system. A growing number of Medicare enrollees are in plans receiving at least 4 out of 5 stars, according to a new fact sheet.
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CMS Star Ratings' Quality Bonus Payments Can Mean Survival for Health Plans
October 14th 2014The quality bonus payments tied to CMS' star ratings makes it critical that health plans receive a 4 or better, Jonathan Harding, MD, chief medical officer of the Senior Products Division at Tufts Health Plan, said at the America's Health Insurance Plan's National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid, and Dual Eligibles Summit in Washington, DC, from September 28 to October 2.
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A Look at Coverage Eligibility in Medicaid Nonexpansion States
October 14th 2014In states that chose not to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act, residents with a median income of less than $800 a month are now ineligible for coverage assistance while those with more than $2000 a month are eligible for subsidies, according to a report from the Urban Institute.
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Few Organizations Have Infrastructure in Place to Handle Big Data
October 14th 2014Although many providers are looking to implement cloud, big data, social, and mobile technologies within the next 2 years, if they haven't done so already, few healthcare organizations feel their infrastructures are prepared for this evolution of electronic medical records, according to a new study.
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Gilead's Harvoni Less Expensive, but Still a Burden on State Medicaid Programs
October 13th 2014Gilead Sciences' Harvoni represents the first once-a-day, complete treatment pill approved by the FDA to treat the hepatitis C virus (HCV). And for some patients, the drug will be less expensive than Gilead's other HCV treatment, Sovaldi.
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Reference Pricing Programs Yield Only Modest Savings
October 12th 2014Reference pricing programs can steer patients to lower-price, adequate quality providers, but potential savings to health plans and purchasers are actually modest, according to a study from the National Institute for Health Care Reform.
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ONC Report Acknowledges Interoperability Struggles, Barriers
October 11th 2014Despite progress being made, health information technology interoperability remains a struggle, according to a report submitted by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and HHS to Congress.
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Preparing for 10 Trends That Will Impact Managed Care Pharmacy
October 10th 2014There are 10 emerging healthcare trends that will impact managed care pharmacy organizations over the next 5 years as the United States healthcare system places more emphasis on affordability, population health, and patient satisfaction and quality of care, according to a new report from the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.
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Low-Income Adults View Medicaid as Comparable to Private Insurance
October 9th 2014The majority of low-income adults in 3 states favored Medicaid expansion, but knowledge about their states' plans for the program under the Affordable Care Act was low, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund.
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Financial Results Reveal Why ACOs Left Pioneer Program
October 8th 2014CMS released financial results from the first 2 years of the Pioneer ACO program. The program is down to 19 accountable care organizations from the original 32 that started the program, and the financial results reveal why those that dropped out did so.
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Growing Expectations for Interoperability and Healthcare Data Sharing
October 8th 2014Over the last decade, all 5 national coordinators for health information technology have discussed the importance of connecting healthcare data, but the timing is finally right now, according to Karen B. DeSalvo, MD.
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Turning Big Data into Actionable Wisdom
October 8th 2014Although people seem to assume Big Data will answer all questions and improve quality of care while increasing efficiencies, the healthcare industry needs to focus on what data is actually actionable, according to John Halamka, MD, chief information officer at Beth Israel Deaconess.
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Integrated Pharmacy Benefits Have Significant Cost Savings
October 7th 2014Including pharmacy benefits as part of an employer's total health insurance benefit package has clear health benefits and cost savings, according to a study from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Prime Therapeutics, LLC.
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Readmission Rate Fines Increase in Year 3 of Medicare Program
October 6th 2014During the third year of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program, CMS will penalize more hospitals than it did during the second and third years of the program; however, the overall readmission rate for Medicare beneficiaries is down.
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Innovations and Future Developments for Medicare, Medicaid, and Dual Eligible Beneficiaries
October 3rd 2014The rising cost of prescription drugs, CMS initiative updates, and successes in home and community-based services for dual Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries were discussed at the America's Health Insurance Plans' National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid, and Dual Eligibles Summit in Washington, DC.
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Balancing Drug Breakthroughs with Rising Drug Costs
October 2nd 2014Hepatitis C and the price of Sovaldi were, understandably, the main focus of aconversation on rising prescription drug prices at the America's Health Insurance Plans' National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid, and Dual Eligibles Summit in Washington, DC.
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AHIMA's Information Governance Framework Addresses Current Healthcare Challenges
October 2nd 2014A new information governance framework of 8 principles from the American Health Information Management Association aims to help meet the patient care, safety, and operational goals of healthcare organizations.
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A Look at the Future of Medicaid and Rate Setting
October 1st 2014At $531 billion, Medicaid is the second largest piece of healthcare spending and cannot be pushed off to be thought about another day, Cindy Mann, JD, CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, said at the America's Health Insurance Plans' National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid and Dual Eligibles Summit.
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Open Payments Website Launches, Reveals $3.5 Billion in Payments
October 1st 2014The first round of Open Payments data, known as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, were made public Tuesday and revealed 4.4 million payments valued at nearly $3.5 billion paid out to 546,000 individuals and almost 1346 teaching hospitals.
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