The Department of Health & Human Services' Office of the Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have extended waivers to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law for certain accountable care organizations through Nov. 2, 2015, reports Becker's Hospital Review. 

Medical costs are up to 20 percent higher at hospital-owned physician groups, according to Los Angeles Times. 

Prescription drug spending (or Part D) has accounted for more than 60 percent of the slowdown in Medicare benefits since 2011, according to an analysis presented in Health Affairs.

Only 11 percent of people without health insurance are aware that open enrollment is set to begin, according to The New York Times.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded grants designed to develop new strategies to analyze and leverage big data.

CVS Health is using its tobacco-free policy as a way to one-up rivals. The chain's pharmacy benefits unit is offering a prescription-drug plan that charges patients more if they buy their meds at drugstores that sell tobacco products, according to Wall Street Journal.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a beta release of an online search tool to help users better navigate its Open Payments website, which went live with data on physicians' corporate relationships on Sept. 30, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a beta search tool to help consumers better conduct searches of the Open Payments database, which contains information on physicians' corporate financial relationships.