While fewer people purchased coverage through the federal Healthcare.gov site in the 2017 open enrollment period, the 11 states (and the District of Columbia) that run their own exchanges saw a slight increase in sign-ups. 

West Virginia's Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC), after its implementation of the patient engagement and education system SmarTigr, has reduced readmission of patients with chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Humana executive vice president and COO James Murray will step down from his post on March 31.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says physicians and hospitals failed to tell the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of safety issues related to power morcellators spreading undiagnosed cancer cells in women. Those devices aim to make tissue removal easier through small incisions and are most often used during hysterectomies or to remove benign uterine tumors. 

An image tells a thousand word—but it also can treat older patients in rural communities. Kathy Rush, professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan, conducted a study testing how photographs can improve the treatment of elderly rural patients with arterial fibrillation. 

The $54 billion acquisition of Cigna by Anthem has met the same fate as the $37 billion merger of Aetna and Humana: blocked by a federal judge on antitrust grounds. 

Accurate results on A1c blood sugar tests are crucial for patients to monitor and treat themselves accordingly. Researchers, whose work was published Feb 7, 2017, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined data from two large studies to determine if a difference in A1c levels in African American patients with sickle cell trait.  

Participation in CMS’s Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Program (BPCI) didn’t lead to more lower extremity joint replacement procedures being performed, according to a study conducted by the Altarum Institute’s Center for Payment Innovation.