CMS has announced which clinicians and accountable care organizations are participating in four alternative payment models (APMs) in 2017: the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Next Generation ACO Model, the Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease Care Model (CEC) and Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) Model. 

McKesson has agreed to pay $150 million and suspend sales of controlled substances from distribution centers in four states to settle allegations that it failed to notice and report pharmacies’ suspicious orders of opioid painkillers.

In an effort to better dispense insulin to diabetics, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are developing a “smart” patch that will monitor blood glucose and release insulin when levels increase.

Replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicare reform, malpractice lawsuits and differing definitions of “coverage” versus “access” were all discussed in the first Senate hearing of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to run HHS, U.S. Rep. Tom Price, MD, R-Georgia.

Artificial intelligence (AI) may one day match human capabilities. While AI has advanced in speech recognition, computer vision and textual understanding, healthcare, according to commentary from two doctors, has yet to see significant benefits due to a lack of resources.

If the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is repealed without being replaced, 18 million people would lose health insurance and non-group market premiums would increase by as much 25 percent in the first year, according to a Congressional Budget Office (COB) analysis.

State-by-state, physicians will find differing standards on when they’re required to check prescription drug monitoring databases before prescribing opioids, even as their professional organizations continue to fight mandatory requirements. 

Using a certain type of ultraviolet (UV) light while disinfecting hospital rooms can cut down on transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria by as much as 30 percent.