Many insurers are no longer waiving cost sharing for COVID-19 treatment
This may pose a new strain for providers as Americans are left to cover their out-of-pocket costs, according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Hospital patient volumes match 2019 levels, will exceed them next year
Hospital executives surveyed by McKinsey also said they will focus on growing surgical volumes — which took a huge hit in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. — but will shift more of them to the outpatient setting.
FDA warns of BlackBerry cyber vulnerability in medical devices
The operating system is often deployed in devices such as cardiac and patient monitors, drug infusion pumps, imaging and surgical robots, according to Nick Yuran, CEO of security consultancy Harbor Labs.
SSM Health, insurer Medica to launch joint venture
Medica will invest an undisclosed sum in Dean Health Plan, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based SSM Health, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems.
AHA moves to shift cost blame to health plans in letter to antitrust regulators
The letter included an updated AHA-funded study on the benefits of hospital mergers, which was previously criticized by outside experts for cherry-picked data, among other methodological weaknesses.
Patients were still hesitant to seek medical care out of virus fears this spring: report
Despite reopenings, one in 10 nonelderly adults put off needed medical care this spring, an April survey from the Urban Institute funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found.
Payments to MA plans raised overall Medicare spend by $7B in 2019, analysis finds
The Kaiser Family Foundation chalked the higher spending up to how MA is paid, including how benchmarks for plan payments are set and the risk adjustment process.
Medtechs need to up their cybersecurity threat modeling game, FDA says
The agency “will be looking for much more detailed and comprehensive” cyber threat models as part of premarket review, said Suzanne Schwartz, director of CDRH’s Office of Strategic Partnerships and Technology Innovation.
Biden administration invests $19M to bolster rural telehealth
The investments will provide funding to train primary care providers, aid groups delivering virtual care, pilot new telehealth services and research the efficacy of digitally delivered care in rural geographies.
US to offer coronavirus boosters to all Americans in aggressive plan to counter delta’s spread
The Biden administration’s call comes ahead of FDA authorization for additional doses in people who aren’t immunocompromised, although agency head Janet Woodcock joined other officials in supporting the plan.