Mary Caffrey

The most recent Kaiser Health Tracking Poll was conducted during an exceptionally violent week. Concerns about terrorism and gun policy outranked jobs and the economy and healthcare as voter priorities.

Physician groups like some part of the new fee plan but find other overly burdensome.

Acting CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt told the Senate Finance Committee there are concerns that some primary care practices will not be ready for the targeted January 1, 2017, start date.

Of the original 7 hospital groups, only 3 are still challenging New Jersey's largest insurer over its creation of a tiered network plan.

Researchers examined genetic information from 120,000 people from across the globe. The effort involved more than 300 scientists, including NIH's Francis Collins, MD, PhD.

The president predicts that in 20 years, the nation will look back on "Obamacare" as a moment of courage that has improved people's lives.

Evidence that surgery can reverse diabetes is so compelling that new guidelines from the American Diabetes Association call for using procedures to treat diabetes, not just obesity. But the mechanism has remained a mystery.

Reports of missing or incorrect payments sound similar to those that occurred in Ohio, Kentucky, and other states that made a rapid transition to Medicaid managed care.

The proposal to fund the collaborative care model is part of a broader effort to direct $900 million into primary care, mental health, and care coordination.

Details of how Medicare will deliver the Diabetes Prevention Program include efforts to prevent fraud, ensure patient privacy, and tie payment to value-based principles.

Body mass index has long been known to be an imperfect instrument; it can declare world class athletes obese while missing people with high body fat on a slender frame.

Yesterday's announcement featured several steps to combat opioid addiction, including expanded access to buprenorphine, steps to educate physicians, and controls on prescription programs through the Department of Defense and the Indian Health Service.

Researchers from Washington University in Saint Louis did experiments on mice and found that the effects of high fat, high sucrose diets lasted into the 3rd generation.

The New Jersey insurer said its fraud fighting efforts included both detective work and analytics. Nationwide, fraud prevention relies increasingly on predictive modeling to keep suspicious payments from ever going out the door.

Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine L. Wade moved to protect existing policyholders after HealthyCT learned June 30, 2016, it would have to pay CMS $13.4 million under the ACA Risk Adjustment program, which has been heavily criticized.

If the full FDA accepts the panel's narrow recommendation, the type 2 diabetes therapy could enjoy a preferred status above its rivals in the SGLT2 market.

Two hospitals, one in Georgia and another in California, charge in lawsuits that BCBS of Georgia sends payment directly to patients instead of paying the hospitals for care provided. The patients often do not know they are supposed to sign the checks over to cover the cost of their care, and the hospitals end up without payment.

The Endocrine Society notes that diabetes has become more prevalent as people report sleeping fewer hours per night.

How does a state with almost no money launch Medicaid expansion? Louisiana health officials used data they already had, and in doing so have created a model that could be used elsewhere.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center. This session was sponsored by Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

The lawsuit seeks an additional 7 years' protection for the popular cholesterol drug, which sold 20.3 million prescriptions last year.

The keynote address from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center in Teaneck, N.J., April 8, 2016.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

Coverage from Patient-Centered Diabetes Care, April 7-8, 2016. Presented by The American Journal of Managed Care and Joslin Diabetes Center.

For African Americans in poor Mississippi counties, having diabetes and kidney disease in combination lead to cardiovascular death rates that were on par with underdeveloped nations.

This week's takedown shows that the fraud prevention and enforcement efforts that began nearly a decade ago are bearing fruit, including the change to predictive modeling to spot suspicious billing in Medicare.