Federal Spending Bill Lacks Sought-After ACA Stabilization Measures
March 22—A bill to fund the federal government through the rest of FY18 includes various healthcare measures but does not incorporate a proposed stabilization plan for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) insurance markets.
Association Health Plans Advance Over Hospital Concerns
March 20—Congressional Republicans and small-business advocates this week rejected hospital concerns that proposed rules to allow a proliferation of association health plans (AHPs) would produce a range of problems.
Smarter Tech Tools Battle Physician Burnout
March 19—About half of all U.S. practicing physicians experience burnout, and several recent studies have placed the blame squarely on the widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), which require data entry and other click-based tasks.
340B Hospitals and Drugmakers Battle Over Transparency
March 16—Supporters and critics of the 340B discount drug program agree that more transparency is needed, but they remain sharply divided over who needs to be transparent and what such reporting should include.
March 19-23 Policy Watch: Push to Include ACA Marketplace Stabilization in Funding Bill
March 15—Healthcare leaders are renewing their push to include a stabilization measure in a must-pass federal funding bill that is required by the end of next week.
More Health Systems Focusing on Patient Experience
March 14—After years of work, a designer of MRI machines at General Electric was excited to see his cutting edge creation implemented at a hospital.
MACRA Improvements Coming, CMS Official Says
March 13—A series of regulatory changes are coming to the Medicare physician payment system this year, including an effort to ease quality-data reporting by hospital-employed physicians.
Insurer Data Requests Prompt Hospital Policy Overhauls
March 12—As health insurers increasingly get involved in patient care management, they are requesting clinical data on individual patients from hospitals and health systems.
Where Is the Federal Government Going on Value-Based Pay?
March 9—Comments from the leader of federal healthcare policy disparaging the leading value-based payment models and hinting at new directions left some industry analysts confused, but others saw evidence of emerging models.
March 12-16 Policy Watch: Congress to Review Drug Price Controls in Budget
March 8—The Trump administration has begun to put specifics behind its standing priority to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, including in its budget, which will be reviewed by a congressional panel next week.