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Behaving well in elementary school could reduce smoking in later life.

Hospitals in the U.S. have rebounded from the Great Recession and are showing stronger operating margins than in years past, even as more care shifts from inpatient to outpatient.

While government officials have spent months scrambling to fix the federal health law's botched rollout, another issue is looming that could create new headaches for states, health plans and patients.

The Affordable Care Act has been touted as a means to control costs and improve quality of care. One initiative in that effort is to steer patients away from visiting the emergency department (ED). That undertaking may prove to be challenging.

The health IT market is poised for strong growth.

Iowa state legislature, which is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, came up with an alternative: Federal expansion dollars would pay for managed care policies that poor people would select on the HealthCare.gov site.

January 2014 has arrived, and with that Affordable Care Act coverage begins. Over the next 12 months, the administration will thoroughly consider the ways in which it can control the rising costs of healthcare in the United States. This is especially true for the nation's Medicare program.

Emergency rooms may be a preferred choice for care among 3.9 million people newly enrolled in the U.S. Medicaid program for the poor, according to a study that suggests Obamacare's costs may be higher than expected.

A coverage gap in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) means that many children will not be eligible for dental coverage, which was mandated as one of the 10 essential health benefits for adequate health insurance.

Hospitals and medical practices across the United States are bracing for confusion and administrative hassles as new insurance plans under President Barack Obama's healthcare law take effect.

Narrow networks are here to stay. Some of the nation's top payers and providers are leading the way.

Low-income and disabled people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid and belong to Medicare Advantage plans consistently score worse than other Medicare Advantage enrollees on the performance measures that determine plan eligibility for bonus payments from the CMS.

Over two million people have enrolled in health insurance plans through the federally run HealthCare.gov and state healthcare enrollment websites, a US administration official said on Tuesday. HealthCare.gov covers 36 states, and another 14 states have their own websites.

A look back at some of the InFocus blog highlights of 2013.

The Health IT Policy Committee (HITPC) adopted recommendations from its Consumer Empowerment Workgroup on patient-generated health data (PGHD) at its December meeting and is expected to finalize its complete Stage 3 recommendations in February.

Insurance companies aren't crazy about their share of the health law's taxes, but mostly they've complained to politicians and regulators.

Healthcare reform is already presenting new challenges and opportunities for endocrinology, a specialty that is under significant stress in the United States. A critical workforce shortage has drained the pool of practicing endocrinologists, just as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is expected to send millions of newly insured people into the system.

Starting in January, there will officially be an additional 123 accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. As providers and hospitals transition to this emerging care model, there is mixed opinion over its longevity.

HHS announced the latest round of accountable care contracts in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, adding 123 additional ACOs and reaching about 1.5 million more Medicare beneficiaries.

The final panel of the conference analyzes the role of the industry in healthcare, including panelists' observations on topics such as innovation. Mr Gamble, for instance, offers his insights as to how groups like the Community Oncology Alliance are working with the industry to drive the message about the quality and the value component throughout all the stakeholders. Dr Fox provides perspective on how payers can offer valuable partnerships throughout the industry, including those with pharmaceutical companies.

Dr Cliff Goodman leads a discussion featuring panelists including The American Journal of Managed Care's co-editor-in-chief, Dr Michael Chernew. Topics of the discussion include the impact of value-based pricing in the market, and how different pricing models such as bundled payments or accountable care organizations impact risk factors.

According to Dr Ramsey, both the Health Economics Outcomes Research (HEOR) model and the pharmaceuticals pricing model in the United States are broken. He says: Unless we, as a community, figure out a way to use health economics in our decision making, we are not going to stop this train of unsupportable price increases in pharma.

Mr Klein leads another discussion with Michael Kolodjiez, MD, Lee N. Newcomer, MD, MHA, John L. Fox, MD, MHA, and Jerry Conway. The panel responds to whether there are gaps in targeted gene analyses. They also discuss other issues including bioinformatics, and how payers, providers, and pharmacists might collaborate on improving care through genetic sequencing.

Jerry Conway provides a DNA-centric view of organizing treatment plans with respect to the use of some advances in genomic technology.

Dr Klein moderates this discussion, including co-editor in chief of The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits Dr Jan Berger. The panel addresses a variety of topics as they relate to companion diagnostics in targeted treatments. Panelists respond to issues such as who should take responsibility in genetic counseling to ensure that patients have the best experience possible-whether it be in person or telephonic. Other topics covered in this discussion include appropriate consumerism in this space, the employer's role in genetic counseling, and how medical professionals are being trained or educated about these processes.

Karen uses this session to analyze payer perspectives in genetic counseling. She describes the process involved with genetic counseling and the role of the counselor. She notes that the path to becoming a genetic counselor can often be more rigorous than in other specialties. Ms Lewis also discusses the surge of interest that genetic counseling has seen in recent years.

Bruce Feinberg, DO, vice president and chief medical officer of Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions, Clinical Pathways, begins this next segment from a different perspective.

Dr Klein begins the panel discussion by asking participants to name one of their biggest challenges. Dr Newcomer responds that time and the fact that there are not enough PhDs are challenging. Ms Torda suggests that standardized data and data collection remains difficult. Dr Scanlon says it's the nimbleness of structuring data.

Dr Newcomer says that he welcomes the transition of oncology from being evaluated in process measures to outcome measures. He says that while quality measures can be quick and messy, these results are used for the purpose of finding gaps and seeing if those gaps can be improved.

Implications of Healthcare Reform: 'No' Will Be Heard is led by Cliff Goodman, PhD, in a panel discussion featuring A. Mark Fendrick, MD, co-editor in chief of The American Journal of Managed Care, John L. Fox, MD, MHA, and Ira M. Klein, MD, MBA, FACP. The panelists determine what it means when a patient says no.