All News

The nation's healthcare system needs to follow the lead of the aviation and manufacturing industries and adopt a systems-engineering approach to quality improvement, but fee-for-service payments and an inadequate health data infrastructure are obstacles to doing so, according to a new report from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Medicare overpaid physicians $6.7 billion in 2010 for evaluation and management services, HHS' Office of Inspector General said in a study released Thursday.

Although they're not expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, Texas, Florida and other states are expanding managed care, bringing insurers opportunities as well as challenges, including competition from provider-based health plans.

The research headed by Roger Gomis at IRB Barcelona, with the collaboration of Joan Massagué, describes that the loss of the suppressor RARRES3 promotes the colonization of breast cancer cells in the lung.

Controlling the costs of prescription medications for patients with chronic illnesses is at the forefront of almost every stakeholder's agenda in healthcare. Increasingly, efforts are being made to incentivize providers to engage with patients in financially responsible decision making.

There are rumblings that federal lawmakers may be willing to repeal Medicare's burdensome rule requiring physicians in critical access hospitals to make an educated guess that the patients they're admitting will be either discharged or transferred in less than four days.

Physicians are wary of new healthcare payment models emphasizing quality and efficiency metrics, but hospitals are likely to prove resilient.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) today issued an update to its clinical practice guideline on the use of adjuvant endocrine therapy for women with stages I-III hormone receptor positive breast cancer.

BMS, which has a rapidly developing and successful immunooncology pipeline, has entered into a collaboration with CytomX to develop their Probody Therapeutics antibody platform. The Probody technology improves efficacy and safety as the antibodies are activated only in the disease microenvironment and not in normal tissue.

Recent controversy over the cost of Sovaldi (Gilead Sciences)-a $1000-per-dose treatment for hepatitis C-has sparked a debate as to whether there should be federal caps on the costs of certain prescription drugs.

1.5 Credits - CME/CPE | Expires 05/15/2015

The CMS has unveiled two initiatives that could significantly affect pay and operations for Medicaid managed-care plans and healthcare providers serving millions of low-income and disabled Americans.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the health law's expansion of coverage to more than 13 million people this year has been the nation's safety-net hospitals, which treat a disproportionate share of poor and uninsured people and therefore face billions of dollars in unpaid bills.

New York's safety net providers have a new impetus and incentive to collaborate on redesigning how they serve Medicaid patients - if they can make all the moving pieces work.

Advocates for a single-payer Medicare for all health system are fanning out across Capitol Hill this week, lobbying members of Congress.

An international study carried out with involvement of the MedUni Vienna is giving hope to patients with advanced prostate cancer. In just a few years' time, Ipilumumab could be approved as a treatment for the world's third-most common type of cancer.

A new chemotherapy drug (alisertib or MLN8237) being investigated for its potency against two types of cancer was found by scientists to be effective in about one-third of the 58 patients who participated in a phase I study.

Vectibix is the First and Only Biologic to Offer Significant Survival Benefit as a First-Line Treatment with FOLFOX Chemotherapy for Patients with Wild-Type KRAS Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Approval Reinforces Amgen Commitment to Personalized Medicine.

Chronically ill patients, who are more likely to require necessary care, should pay less for health insurance, Aaron E. Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, argued in an op-ed for the New York Times.

A new report highlights the ways hospitals can identify and address sources of "avoidable suffering" and ultimately improve the patient experience.

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) have increased their EHR adoption by 133% over the past four years, says a report from The Commonwealth Fund, with 93% of FQHCs in possession of an EHR and 85% of these community provider organizations reporting advanced HIT capabilities.

The patient-centered medical home model in Arkansas, which has more than 600 participating providers, helps the state's Medicaid program incentivize quality care instead of paying for volume of services.

A change to provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would allow insurers to receive federal funding for any financial losses they endured due to the health law.

1.0 Credit - CME/CPE | Expires 4/18/2015

Trials conducted at the Abramson Cancer Center among others have identified the potential of an antimalarial agent, hydroxychloroquine, in stabilizing aggressive cancers.

EU's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP)supported the use of Gazyvaro based on the phase III CLL11 study, wherein treatment with Gazyvaro (obinutuzumab) plus chlorambucil significantly reduced the risk of disease worsening or death by 86% and increased survival time for previously untreated CLL patients compared to those who received treatment with chlorambucil alone.

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) today report a discovery that they hope will lead to the development of a powerful new way of treating an aggressive form of breast cancer.

A CMS proposal could extend the deadline for providers to transition to Stage 2 meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). Agency officials said they have received extensive feedback from health providers who felt they did not have enough time to efficiently transition their EHR systems.

A research article published in Nature Communications identifies a new mechanism of breast cancer metastasis.