News Briefs
Lawmaker Introduces Health Care Cybersecurity Improvement Act
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) has introduced the Health Care Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2024, which would allow for advance and accelerated payments to providers in the event of a cybersecurity incident, so long as they meet minimum cybersecurity standards. The new legislation arrives as the sector continues to rebuild in the wake of the Change Healthcare cyberattack, which has impacted providers nationwide.
(Source: HealthIT Security, 2024-03-25)
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House Passes Bill Allowing Longer-Term View of Preventive Care
Preventive care or healthcare innovation legislation promising decades-long savings benefits may soon get fairer appraisals from Congress' nonpartisan scorekeeper. The House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow lawmakers to request the Congressional Budget Office to generate budgetary savings estimates of prospective preventive healthcare legislation over a 30-year window as opposed to the current 10-year scoring window.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2024-03-20)
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FDA Plan to Expand Laboratory-Developed Test Oversight Criticized
The Food and Drug Administration's plan to expand oversight of laboratory-developed tests threatens to prevent or delay patient access to innovative diagnostics, industry groups warned in congressional testimony. The FDA's final rule on LDT regulation, which could come as soon as April, has unleashed a fierce debate over how to protect the health and safety of patients by ensuring tests developed in a single laboratory are accurate and reliable but still reach the market quickly.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2024-03-22)
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Healthcare Providers See Opportunities Among Palliative Care
A diverse range of healthcare providers have forged a pathway to palliative care services with an aim to improve quality outcomes among a growing seriously ill population. Palliative care delivery trends are increasingly taking root in inpatient and community-based settings across the continuum, Gina Andres, senior director of hospice and palliative care at Kaiser Permanente, said at the Hospice News Palliative Care Conference in Tampa, Florida.
(Source: Hospice News, 2024-03-20)
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AHA Urges Congress to Address Constraints on Cyberattack Help
The American Hospital Association is urging Congress to address any statutory constraints that prevent the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Department of Health and Human Services from adequately helping hospitals and other healthcare providers impacted by the Change Healthcare cyberattack. The letter, from AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack, also urges Congress to put forward policies that would alleviate administrative requirements imposed by payers, including Medicare Advantage and other commercial payers.
(Source: Healthcare Finance News, 2024-03-21)
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15% of Initial Medical Claims Submitted to Private Payers Denied
It may take some time to get paid for medical services, suggests a new survey of hospitals, health systems, and post-acute care providers. Nearly 15 percent of medical claims submitted to private payers for reimbursement are initially denied, respondents representing over 500 organizations told Premier Inc. in the survey.
(Source: RevCycle Intelligence, 2024-03-25)
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Patients Yet to See Savings From States' Drug Pricing Efforts
Five years after the creation of the first state board empowered to cap prescription drug costs, patients still haven't seen any savings from these efforts. Even as more blue and purple states embrace public drug pricing boards amid angst over high medicine costs, it could still be months or even years before they start to bring down prices.
(Source: Axios, 2024-03-22)
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Google Explores How Generative AI Can Help Healthcare Industry
Google Health has big ambitions for healthcare AI in 2024. The tech giant is exploring how generative AI can help clinicians in medical decision-making, understand lab and imaging information, aid in early disease detection, and provide consumers with a personal health coach based on their Fitbit data.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2024-03-19)
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Consumers Willing to Share Health Data, But Choosier About Entity
Consumers are willing to share their health data, but they're becoming pickier about which entities they'll provide that information to, according to a survey from consultancy and digital health venture capital firm Rock Health. Ninety percent of respondents said they’d share their data with at least one healthcare entity, the survey found, while 64 percent reported they'd offer data to a doctor or clinician, only seven percent would share with a technology company.
(Source: Healthcare Dive, 2024-03-21)
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Impact Wellbeing Guide Aims to Curb Healthcare Worker Burnout
A new resource is available for physicians, other clinicians, and healthcare administrators who want to combat burnout by improving workplace conditions in healthcare. The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health announced the new "Impact Wellbeing Guide: Taking Action to Improve Healthcare Worker Wellbeing."
(Source: Medical Economics, 2024-03-21)
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