HHS is the target of new lawsuits by a watchdog group for failing to respond to requests to release emails and online messages—one regarding Office of Civil Rights (OCR) officials and launching of its “Conscience and Religious Freedom Division,” the other over HHS communications with outside groups on changes to a federal grant program that provides birth control and other reproductive health services to low-income Americans.

The Commonwealth Fund’s 2018 scorecard on state health system performance saw the five highest-ranked states maintain their exact rankings from the last report, with Hawaii again claiming the No. 1 spot. The most striking finding was the surge in deaths from suicide, alcohol and overdoses from opioids and other drugs since 2005.

“Repealing the individual mandate was exactly the right thing to do. Forcing Americans to buy something they don’t want undermines individual liberty as well as free markets,” Price said in a statement released through the Job Creators Network, a pro-business group for which he is a healthcare fellow.

Male patients in the hospital setting are most likely to adhere to vital sign measurement schedules during home telemonitoring, according to a study published April 9 in JMIR Medical Informatics.

If participants in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) are required to move into a track which involves downside risk for their organization, they’re likely to leave the program altogether, according to the results of a survey from the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations (NAACOS).

Moody’s Investors Service maintained its stable outlook for the for-profit hospital industry, predicting some small growth in same-facility revenues and patient volumes while margins would remain flat. Looking ahead, however, it advises facilities to pay more attention to value-based care concepts and new technologies like telemedicine and artificial intelligence.

CMS was set to announce on May 1 it would deny a Medicaid waiver request from Kansas to impose a three-year lifetime limit on benefits in the program, but internal disagreements scuttled the announcement at the last minute, according to The Hill.

In the latest article in Vox’s series on hospital billing practices, Jessica Pell told a story that isn’t a one-off case: She went to an emergency room (ER), received a minimal amount of help and still got saddled with a massive bill.