The FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health laid out next steps in developing a national medical device postmarket surveillance system in an April 2013 report.

Yet another survey indicates that healthcare providers are not progressing toward ICD-10 implementation at the recommended rate. One in five small- and mid-sized hospitals have not begun any education or training for the transition to ICD-10.

The Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 23, but a vote by the full Senate has been blocked.

The South Carolina Senate is one step closer to requiring state employee insurance plans to reimburse physicians for telemedicine diagnoses and treatments.The Senate Medical Affairs Committee approved on April 18 a bill, the South Carolina Telemedicine Act (S. 290), which requires such coverage of telemedicine services by the state public employee benefit program, and the establishment of a Telemedicine Advisory Council.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is adding a new routine for use of health information to eight “systems of records” or databases, to ease in identifying vulnerable individuals who may need health assistance during an emergency.

Effective use of data analytics with the new codes will lead to better patient care and outcomes, according to Sam Ho, MD, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at UnitedHealthcare, who delivered a keynote address at the American Health Information Management Association's summit on the topic in Baltimore.

A bipartisan draft bill would create a uniform, national traceability system that tracks drugs from their manufacturing source through their final destination on drugstore shelves.

Health spending has been growing at historically low levels in recent years. The Office of the Actuary (OACT) in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports that national health spending grew by 3.9 percent each year from 2009 to 2011, the lowest rate of growth since the federal government began keeping such statistics in 1960. Estimates from the Center for Sustainable Health Spending at the Altarum Institute suggest that the slowdown largely continued into 2012, with health spending growing by 4.3 percent last year. The Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust Employer Health Benefits Survey shows similar moderation, with premiums in employer-sponsored health plans increasing by 4 percent in 2012.