News

Trying to bring affordable, painless lab tests to the masses, Theranos is breaking into a new market in collaboration with one of Pennsylvania's major insurers.

The testing company that could upend America's diagnostics market will partner with Capital BlueCross in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to bring the company's new direct-to-consumer blood testing options to the insurer's 1.3 million members.

Hospital systems and other nonprofit healthcare institutions could soon find themselves losing long-held tax exemptions, as another major health system, New Jersey's Atlantic Health System, has lost its legal fight to avoid paying property taxes.

Revenue cycle company Emdeon this week announced plans to acquire Altegra Health, an analytics firm, for $910 million, a move the companies said will better position them as the industry moves to a value-based model.

The study, in the July issue of the policy journal Health Affairs, found that the average birth control pill user saved $255 in the year after the requirement took effect.

CMS plans to cut payment for 60-day care episodes by nearly $81, or 1.72 percent. The agency said the proposed rule would save the government $380 million.

Individual marketplace plans are in for huge rate increases next year, some fear, but the ACA markets so far suggest that many organizations, including provider-owned plans, are holding the line, according to researchers with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute.

Not only are many hospitals getting sizable federal drug discounts, some may be over-prescribing, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The case against Blue Shield of California's tax-exempt status is growing, presenting an additional $40 million to the tax bill, but also the possibility of more drastic state action.

The Government Accountability Office believes Congress should slash the financial incentives the government pays hospitals in the 340B drug program, it said in a new report, over concerns that disproportionate share hospitals are prescribing more than other facilities.