CMS data show exchange plan sign-ups during the 2018 open enrollment period were down only slightly from 2017, despite a far shorter open enrollment period and fewer federal dollars spent on outreach.
While Amazon has been relatively quiet about its move into the health care industry, the company's investments in product development and recent hiring trends "hint strongly" at its overall direction, Christina Farr writes for CNBC.
Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care have received state and Federal Trade Commission approvals to compete their merger and form Advocate Aurora Health, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) has filed a suit accusing Sutter Health of anticompetitive pricing—a move that one expert said could signal "a new level of activity by state antitrust enforcers" nationwide. But Sutter says its charges are "reasonable and competitive" and lower than those of nearby hospitals.
Many experts believe that, when it comes to health system governance, it's best to centralize control—an approach that St. Joseph Health has embraced by shifting decision-making authority from individual hospital boards to a regional board, Tara Bannow writes for Modern Healthcare.
Tissue plasminogen activator is strongly endorsed by major medical organizations to prevent brain injury after a stroke, yet up to 30% of eligible patients don't receive it—a situation that according to the New York Times' Gina Kolata stems partly from a vocal minority who say the risks outweigh the benefits. But some experts have voiced concerns about the Times' coverage of the debate.
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital received three people who were injured in a shooting Tuesday at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California.