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Amy Berman, BS, RN, says the new business case for cancer focuses on the individual. It has action-oriented outcomes, and is a value proposition. We cannot be effective, if we do not engage individuals, says Ms Berman.

The value of genetic testing in breast cancer is subject to debate, but it also holds promise. One recent clinical trial simulated by a group of researchers, for instance, found that the 7 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (7SNP) genetic test for breast cancer was cost-effective when used for MRI screenings in patients at intermediate risk of developing the disease over their lifetime.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Friday that it is seeking a second round of applicants to the Pioneer ACO Model. It is also soliciting suggestions for new accountable care organization models that encourage greater provider integration and financial accountability.

The business of treating patients via telehealth in the U.S. will dramatically increase to nearly $2 billion in revenue within five years due to a confluence of events in the health care industry from doctor shortages to provider payment changes under the Affordable Care Act.

Several medical societies and groups are developing around the practice of concierge medicine as the rapidly growing field tries to sort itself out.

Enrolling the uninsured continues to be an issue in the federal and state exchanges.

Cancer drug prices have doubled in the past decade, from an average of $5,000 per month to more than $10,000.

A new US health insurance model uses financial sticks and carrots to steer patients toward the most beneficial care.

Millions of people facing the cancellation of health insurance policies will be allowed to buy catastrophic coverage and will be exempt from penalties if they go without insurance next year, the White House said Thursday night.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) might have their year in 2014, if recent survey findings are suggestive of future trends.

City of New Orleans Health Commissioner Dr. Karen DeSalvo has been named as HHS' new national coordinator for health information technology. She starts Jan. 13.

The director of Minnesota's health insurance exchange, April Todd-Malmlov, abruptly resigned this week, making the exchange the fourth state program to see a leadership change in the midst of mounting criticism over the rollout of President Obama's new health care law.

During the first eight months of this year, fewer than 18 percent of Medicare patients ended up back in the hospital within a month of discharge, the lowest rate in years, the government reported Friday.

One of the central features of a value-based system is a financial "stick." If patients insist on medical procedures that science shows to be ineffective or unnecessary, they'll have to pay for all or most of the cost.

The long-awaited update to guidelines for the management of hypertension - from the panel appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC 8) - raises the recommended blood pressure threshold to determine the need for drug therapy in many patients.

A collaborative effort is under way to enroll millions of young and healthy Americans into health plans that are available in the federal and state insurance exchanges. As the enrollment deadline approaches, many individuals aged 19 to 29 years remain unfamiliar with the health reform policy changes. Their participation is imperative to keeping premiums affordable for the higher-risk pool of consumers.

Former Microsoft executive Kurt DelBene will take over as the top official overseeing the rescue effort for the troubled HealthCare.gov online insurance marketplace.

Since 1992 Medicare has reimbursed physicians on a fee-for-service basis. In 1997, as medical costs escalated, Congress began using a Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula to reduce reimbursements if overall physician spending exceeded the growth in the economy.

In America's health-care dialogue, emergency rooms have come to symbolize the system's economic and medical defects.

In an effort to avoid a coverage gap in health insurance, those covered under the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) will get until January 2014 to enroll into a new plan through the state or federal healthcare exchange website.

When you are waiting for results from a medical test like a cancer biopsy, that call from your doctor can't come fast enough. As a doctor, I am sometimes so buried in an avalanche of medical records that it can delay decisions about what to do next.

To keep premium prices down for individuals and small businesses buying coverage through new online marketplaces, insurers have created smaller networks of hospitals. But consumers and policy experts have wondered, just how small?

Access is an important component of the Triple Aim (cost, quality, access), and it has also been stressed as a significant factor in health reform initiatives. As the influx of uninsured increasingly seeks care, and if the number of providers available to provide primary care decreases as projected, achieving access to quality and cost-effective care may become more problematic.

Enrollment in new Obamacare exchanges may be lagging, but experts said Thursday that the health law's massive expansion of Medicaid could place more than 8 million low-income people in the program before the first year is up.

About 85,000 people with a history of serious illnesses, who are enrolled in high-risk insurance pools created under the health care law, will get a month's reprieve before they lose that coverage.

A new study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and McGill University in Montreal reveals that the United States health care system ranks 22nd out of 27 high-income nations when analyzed for its efficiency of turning dollars spent into extending lives.

The House of Representatives passed a 3-month patch late Thursday to stabilize physicians' Medicare payments -- delaying dramatic cuts scheduled for 2014 -- while Congress works on a permanent repeal of Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that Stage 2 of the EHR Meaningful Use program would be extended through 2016, especially as many healthcare CIOs continue to struggle with health IT tool vendors. This also means that Stage 3 will be delayed until 2017.

Almost half of 206 hospital executives polled in a recent survey said they do not intend to use an accountable care organization (ACO)-like model in their health systems. Only 20% of those polled currently participate in an ACO.

The bipartisan budget deal reached this week could drag out efforts to overhaul Medicare's payment formula for physicians as lawmakers pursue a short-term fix and attempt to extend and make other tweaks to Medicare provisions, including significant changes to reimbursement for long-term acute care.