The legislation, sponsored by California Assemblyman Ash Kalra, a Democrat from San Jose, would have created a state commission to set rates for many medical services currently covered by private insurers in the group and nongroup markets.

Michael Frank has worked for health insurance companies for decades, doing the actuarial science which determines how much people should pay in monthly premiums. He knows insurers are supposed to be his “advocate” to restrain costs and get him a fair rate—so he was shocked when Aetna agreed to pay $70,000 to NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City for his partial hip replacement.

Patients who are nonwhite and less educated value patient portals to view clinician notes more than white and educated patients, according to a study published May 24 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

CMS had requested comments on allowing direct provider contracting (DPC) with Medicare beneficiaries in the form of the alternative payment model. Among major healthcare groups, the response was decidedly mixed, ranging from cautious optimism to telling CMS to focus on other payment reforms.

Hospitals will be expected to perform fewer unnecessary C-sections, cut down on imaging procedures for lower back pain and prescribe fewer opioids. If they don’t do so by the end of 2019, Covered California will try to get participating health insurers to exclude those hospitals from their networks.

In a systemwide change, Brian Dean, MPH, MBA, will become the new CFO for Memorial Hermann.

Calling 2017’s failed efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act “one of the greatest disappointments to conservative and libertarian activists in history,” conservative groups pushed for another attempt at getting rid of the law with a series of principles they want to see enacted in place of the ACA.

The deal will still need to be approved by federal and state regulators, but after delays in contract talks and an unsolicited bid from Brown University, the agreement advances Partners HealthCare’s aim of expanding beyond Massachusetts and matching the increased scale of other Boston-based health systems.