Laura Joszt, MA

Driven by a consolidation of offerings, the number of Part D prescription drug plans will decrease by 14% in 2015. While monthly premiums will decrease overall by 2%, there will be large premium variations.

Only a small proportion of industry stakeholders find any value in using the unique Health Plan Identifier within transactions, according to survey results from WEDI.

In 2013, lower health insurance rates saved consumers a total of $1 billion. States that enhanced their rate review programs will receive $25 million in rate review grant awards.

Since 2000, small-group health insurance premiums averaged annual increases of 5.5% nationally; however, double-digit increases were not uncommon, according to a report from the Urban Institute.

Although a majority of adults with health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act's marketplace said they find it easy to afford the care they need, the number of people still enrolled has dipped to 7.3 million, according to recent numbers.

After examining the security and privacy of the Healthcare.gov website and its supporting systems at CMS, the Government Accountability Office published a report with 6 security management and 22 technical security recommendations.

As part of National Health IT Week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, outlined its 10-year vision to achieve interoperability for health IT.

In a study of 3 hospitals in Massachusetts, more than a quarter of patient orders were considered partially defensive medicine, but they only accounted for 13% of costs.

Anthem Blue Cross is partnering with 7 rival hospital systems in California to create a new integrated health system in the Los Angeles and Orange counties. The members will share financial risk and gain.

During the second year of the program, Medicare accountable care organizations reported improvements in nearly all of the quality and patient experience measures, according to data reported by CMS.

Ascension Health will form a joint venture with a division of Envision Healthcare to provide an array of post-acute services, including home care, hospice care, and infusion therapy.

The federal government will terminate health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act for 115,000 individuals who failed to prove they were United States citizens or legal immigrants. Furthermore, another 363,000 people could lose their financial aid because of income reporting discrepancies.

In the wake of Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem's proposed merger, America's Health Insurance Plans is leading the charge to prevent this and similar mergers and acquisitions.

Despite the current high cost of Gilead Science's hepatitis C drug, the next generation version will be even more expensive. However, the company also struck deals with generic drugmakers to bring the drug to developing countries.

More than 1,000 health centers in every US state and territory will receive Affordable Care Act funds to expand their primary care services, according to an announcement from Health and Human Services' Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.

Despite the benefit of having more choices than ever before to treat patients with multiple sclerosis, the abundance of options has led to more complexity, according to speakers at the 2014 ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS Joint Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

As a medium, the Internet neither helps nor harms in multiple sclerosis care - what matters is how clinicians and patients engage in that medium, according to Paul Wicks, PhD, vice president of innovation at PatientsLikeMe.

The second year of the extension study of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) for multiple sclerosis reported positive interim results with 70% of patients not requiring a third course of treatment.

Although there have been significant advances in multiple sclerosis management, patient preferences need to be taken into account before choosing treatment, according to speakers at the 2014 ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS Joint Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

Patients with multiple sclerosis want to be actively engaged in their treatment decisions, which will help their long-term health and medication adherence, according to speakers at the 2014 ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS Joint Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

The treatment landscape for multiple sclerosis continues to get more complex month to month, which makes biomarker discovery increasingly important for treating the disease, said Suhayl Dhib-Jalbut, MD, professor at the Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, during his session at the 2014 Joint ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

A newly announced merger between Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem will create Illinois' largest integrated healthcare delivery system, serving 3 million patients annually.

Retail health insurance marketplaces, also known as exchanges, are on the cusp of dramatically changing the health insurance business, according to a new report from PwC's Health Research Institute.

Although the survival rate of natalizumab-associated progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is better than PML in HIV patients, long-term they may need some assistance and care, Ralf Gold, Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, said at the 2014 Joint ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

Advanced imaging techniques are becoming necessary to further understanding of the progression of multiple sclerosis, according to presenters at the 2014 Joint ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, from September 10-13.

When choosing treatment for a patient, whether he or she has a clinically isolated syndrome or clinically definite multiple sclerosis, providers need to establish a collaborative relationship, according to speakers at the 2014 Joint ACTRIMS-ECTRIMS Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

Although baby boomers are expected to place a large burden on healthcare resources, consumer health technologies could help stem increasing needs and costs, according to a new study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

An analysis of hospital administrative costs across 8 countries found hospital bureaucracy accounts for a quarter of hospital spending in the United States.

The Health Care Cost Institute and the National Academy for State Healthy Policy are launching a grant program to fund studies that will analyze how the states are implementing health reform.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released a final rule for electronic health record certification that offers more flexibility for health information technology developers, providers, and consumers.