A data report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Peterson Center on Healthcare showed the U.S. has higher prices for many healthcare services compared to other high-income countries, including on MRIs and joint replacements, and how some prices have risen faster than inflation.

As a candidate, President Donald Trump had criticized pharma companies for “getting away with murder.” In remarks on Friday, May 11, he did bash the industry’s lobbying power while also lumping in insurance companies, distributors and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) as part of the “broken system” that has sent drug prices soaring.

The lack of resources and financial difficulties were reported as the top factors hindering implementation of patient portals, according to a study published May 10 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Mobile health applications have benefits to stress management due to ease of use and easy access, but most apps lack value, according to a study published May 9 in JMIR mHealth and uHealth.

Electronic health records have been a punching bag for many in medicine, with frequent complaints focusing on implementation problems, interference in the patient physician relationship and increased burden on care providers. Despite such problems, EHRs are making progress, with a recent survey finding 79 percent of nurses are satisfied with their systems.

Telehealth provider Avizia and Regroup, an integrated telepsychiatry company, have partnered to expand the quality and reach of virtual behavioral healthcare services.

The “Just Culture” model to encourage healthcare professionals to report mistakes to focus on improving processes, not punishment, hasn’t worked, according to a study authored by Marc Edwards, MD, MBA, of the QA to QI Patient Safety Organization.

Year-over-year price growth was 2.2 percent in April 2018, which Altarum said was fractionally above the March rate, setting a six-year high for price growth in the sector. Hospital price growth fell slightly to 3.7 percent.

Made up of more than a dozen Amazon employees and led by manager Rachel Jiang—a veteran of Facebook and Microsoft who has been with Amazon since 2013—the “health & wellness team” within Alexa's division has been working on how the voice assistant can adapt to the requirements of HIPAA.

Mobile applications aimed at improving diabetes outcomes could help users control blood glucose levels, but evidence to support their efficiency is lacking, according to a study published May 8 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.