Deal Extends Funding for CHIP
The Senate Finance Committee has reached a deal to extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which was slated to run out of funds at the end of this month. According to The New York Times, the deal provides additional funding for 5 years and increases state flexibility in how the program is administered. Nearly 9 million children receive their health insurance through CHIP, which the federal government spends $14 billion on each year.
US Uninsured Rate Falls to Record Low
In 2016, 28.1 million Americans, or 8.8% of the population, were still without health insurance 3 years after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The number of uninsured and the percentage are both record lows. Kaiser Health News reported that the uninsured rate was nearly 17% (50 million) when President Barack Obama took office in 2009. While the ACA has played a role, the improving economy, which had been in a recession in 2009, has also played a large role in the decline of uninsured. More than half of Americans still get their health insurance through their jobs.
Kaiser Names Dean of New Medical School
The Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine, set to open in 2019, has named its founding dean. Mark Schuster, MD, a health policy expert and pediatrician, has a history of creativity and innovation in patient care, which led Kaiser Permanente to appoint him, according to California Healthline. The school will not be affiliated with a university and will provide students with immediate hands-on clinical training that emphasizes teamwork. Schuster begins work in October, taking over from Christine Cassel, MD, who has been the planning dean of the medical school.
Dr Kathy Zackowski Discusses the Importance of Rehabilitation Research and Trials in MS
April 26th 2024Kathy Zackowski, PhD, National MS Society, expresses the inherent value of quality rehabilitation trials for broadening clinical understandings of multiple sclerosis (MS) and bettering patient outcomes.
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Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
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Kaiser Permanente was hit by a data breach in mid-April, impacting 13.4 million health plan members; GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) sued Pfizer and BioNTech for allegedly infringing on its messenger RNA technology patents in the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines; the CDC announced the first-known HIV cases transmitted via cosmetic injections.
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