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In Kentucky, Medicaid enrollees now facing a work requirement will experience barriers that limit their ability to reach the requisite 80 hours’ worth of “community engagement” activities or document exemptions including low educational attainment, health limitations, and a lack of access to a vehicle and the internet.

The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed extending the time period that Americans can stay in short-term, limited-duration insurance plans from 3 months to 12 months. The administration claims that the proposed changes are intended to provide affordable coverage options for individuals and families that cannot afford premiums for policies that meet the full requirements set by the Affordable Care Act, such as 10 essential health benefits and other care.

Anthem says that most cataract surgeries can be conducted without an anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist involved; the GOP-controlled House of Delegates in Virginia will support the expansion of Medicaid, but their plan will also include work requirements; the federal government has released an interim final rule for the Common Rule that governs the processes of conducting medical research, including protection for human subjects involved in research.

Adults with serious mental illnesses are at high risk of developing chronic diseases, resulting in shortened lifespans. Patient self-directed and provider-supported approaches significantly increase patient activation in care, engagement in primary and specialty care, and perceived mental health status among patients with serious mental health issues, according to new research.

Long-term use of inhaled corticosteroids, which are widely used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, are associated with an increased risk of fractures, according to a new study in CHEST.

In the aftermath of the mass shooting at a Florida high school last week that killed 17 students and adults, 6 medical organizations are calling on President Trump and Congress to treat gun violence as a national public health epidemic amid a press report that attitudes are loosening on Capitol Hill about putting more research money into the issue.

A survey of healthcare executives finds that ongoing issues with interoperability are holding back the transition to value-based reimbursement mechanisms. Humana's Chief Medical Officer, Roy A. Beveridge, MD, said the healthcare system must demand the same level of seamlessness seen in the banking industry.

Cancer survivors may be able to manage the extreme fatigue they experience after treatment by knowingly taking a placebo pill, according to researchers at University of Alabama at Birmingham and Harvard Medical School.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) recently asked CMS to delay the application deadline for its new bundled payment model by about a month so that additional programmatic information can be communicated to healthcare providers, systems, and clinicians. The AHA asked for the new information to be released by March 1 and for the program’s application deadline to be delayed from March 12 to April 16.

On a humanitarian mission to Puerto Rico, Adam Sharp, MD, learned that to improve health, the essentials of food, housing, and water must be available and should be prioritized over medications, surgeries, and therapies.

Burdened by high prescription drug costs, states are looking northward to Canada; more hands-on nursing care can help fight hospital-acquired pneumonia; and doctors should talk to teens about contraceptive options.

Among high-, middle-, and low-income countries, more than 1 in 10 patients who had gastrointestinal surgeries worldwide resulted in a surgical site infection within 30 days of the operation, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Drug maker Vertex has announced that the FDA has approved tezacaftor/ivacaftor and ivacaftor (Symdeko) for the treatment of the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis (CF) in patients aged 12 or older who have 2 copies of the F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene, or who have at least 1 genetic mutation that is responsive to treatment with tezacaftor/ivacaftor.

The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends against screening for ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women who are not known to have a high-risk hereditary cancer syndrome because evidence shows that screening does not reduce ovarian cancer mortality.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare disease, but it's getting less rare. Study results presented at the American Academy of Dermatology 2018 Annual Meeting found that cases of MCC increased 95% between 2000 and 2013

A new protocol is being tested at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center called an ECPR alert. The alert is designed for usage after ventricular fibrillation has been administered 3 times and the patient has remained in this rhythm.

Anthem said that it was adjusting its policy on paying for emergency department (ED) visits, but some advocates and healthcare associations said Friday the changes by the insurer don’t go far enough. In addition, lawmakers in the Missouri House and Senate will consider legislation that would require a board-certified emergency physician to review the patient’s medical history regarding the ED visit before sending a bill, according to a published report.

As the conversation surrounding healthcare spending in the United States persists, topics such as drug prices, increased annual spending, and government funding stay at the forefront. Here are 5 things about healthcare spending that are being currently discussed and addressed.

A new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper identified potential hospital cost shifting and that hospitals penalized by the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program and the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program actually had an increase in average payments of 1.5%.

This week, the top managed care stories included a report from CMS that found healthcare spending will rise 5.5% over the next 8 years; the budget deal passed by Congress included a number of provisions with long-term health impact; a study found eating a low-carb could help reverse type 2 diabetes.

Coverage of our peer-reviewed research and news reporting in the healthcare and mainstream press.

Value-based care and interoperability continue to progress in the United States, but barriers that limit sharing of clinical information among hospitals, physicians, and health plans remain, according to a study by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and sponsored by Humana.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar is open to the CDC conducting research into the causes of gun violence; advocates for those with mental illness spoke out against making assumptions about links between mental health issues and gun violence; a doctor's settlement of $5000 for a $17,850 urine test with a Texas lab on behalf of his daughter has given rise to a complaint with the state attorney general.

Get your flu shot, administration officials warned Wednesday–this year’s flu season is on track to reach or exceed the number of deaths, hospitalizations and infections seen in other bad influenza years. And new data shows more precisely the effectiveness of the vaccine, especially for children, a high-risk group.

Flatiron Health expects to maintain its current business model in the transaction.

Colorado, Washington, and Connecticut have joined California in investigating Aetna, CNN reported Wednesday, after a former medical director for the insurer admitted in a deposition that he never looked at patients' complete medical records when deciding whether to approve or deny care.

New research published in The Lancet Oncology found that denosumab was noninferior to zoledronic acid for time to skeletal-related events in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

A 9-week, telephone-administered interpersonal psychotherapy intervention reduced depression in patients living with HIV in rural areas, accrding to a study published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

The results of a new survey, published in a recent white paper by HealthCare Executive Group and Change Healthcare, showed that a majority of executives are increasingly adopting social determinants of health into their programs.

A combined federal challenge of the role that drug manufacturers and distributors played in the opioid epidemic now has more than 320 lawsuits; Ohio prepares a request to add Medicaid work requirements, while a California lawmaker introduces a bill to block the state from doing so; a trial of an Alzheimer drug is being expanded to add more patients in order to clarify the results.