Personalized medicine sometimes gets lost in the debate over other major health care issues, but it is probably the single most significant development in the actual delivery of medical care and will be so for the next decade. A new report details reimbursement hurdles to growth of the field.
The Council for Affordable Health Insurance puts out the latest in its series of reports on mandated benefits, looking at not just the number and type of mandates, but the incremental cost they add to insurance premiums; a cost which is ultimately borne by consumers.
The regular weekend lineup of health care news, including doctors trying to limit nurse anesthetists’ practices; text messaging for teenager dermatitis patients; Hewitt’s cost projections for 2011; physicians and the internet; how to calculate MLRs and use of incentive pay for physicians.
Hospitals and other providers often use group purchasing organizations to facilitate obtaining goods and services at better prices and other terms. A GAO report looks at some of the business practices of these organizations.
The days shorten but the potpourri stays strong, this week including information on the safety of FDA-cleared devices; medication adherence; genetic tests; the FDA and CMS working together to review products; state all-payer databases and the increasing control of physician practices by hospital systems.
CMS is very enamored of quality ratings for providers of all types, including the Medicare Advantage plans, which are rated on a five-star basis. A new brief examines changes to this rating program.