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Healthcare organizations and providers are still largely confused, or at least slow, when it comes to effective patient portals and other technologies that may help spur better patient engagement.

Hospital super utilizers in Pennsylvania account for $761 million of the state's Medicare and Medicaid expenditures for inpatient stays, according to a new report from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.

A one-minute look at managed care news during the week of February 16, 2015, including extended open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act and shared decision-making for cancer treatments.

A Wall Street Journal analysis found many long-term hospitals discharge a disproportionate share of patients during the time when hospitals stand to make the most.

Facing high costs but smaller budgets, some states are struggling to find financially and politically sustainable ways to keep their health exchanges running.

Illinois' new Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, nearly $1.5 billion in cuts from Medicaid to save the state money, but opponents said the move will only cost Illinois in the long run.

An analysis of health plans offered through Covered California found some consumers with chronic diseases or those who rely on specialty drugs may have faced access and affordability challenges in 2014.

The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee met for more than a year to review scientific evidence and discuss "patterns" of food consumption, and those discussions are reflected in the report. After a 45-day comment period and public hearing, the US Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services will issue the final Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the nation's official nutrition policy.

After the FDA approved lenalidomide for use in chemotherapy-naive multiple myeloma (MM) patients, the European Commission has followed suit. Revlimid was approved today by EC in MM patients, previously untreated and transplant-ineligible.

Study finds that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' more expensive Eylea help patients with severe eye disease caused by diabetes more than the less-expensive options from Roche Holding.

Consumers would have to show they only learned about the tax penalty when they went to file their tax returns, according to CMS' Andrew Slavitt. Under the Affordable Care Act, penalties for not having coverage for 2015 are $325 or 2% of household income.

The study, conducted at the Columbia University School of Nursing, found that mobile apps with decision support features resulted in significantly higher diagnosis rates than apps with only bare-bones tools for recording results from a patient exam.

The study evaluated SEER data of over 37,000 prostate cancer patients and found an overwhelming majority of patients (58%) received radiation treatment regardless of overall disease prognosis. The lead study author hopes these findings enlighten the public and allow physicians to make an informed decision when it comes to the best treatment option for men who may or may not benefit from radiation therapy in the long run.

Developed by the company 23andMe, the test identifies carriers of a gene mutation that could determine the susceptibility of a person's offspring to Bloom Syndrome.

Published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, the authors show that a fourth and subsequent follow-up PET/CT scan in lung cancer patients was associated with treatment change.

Research scientists at the Macquarie University and Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Australia have discovered that expression of the cell surface protein uPAR can predict survival after colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery. The study found that patients expressing uPAR may have undetectable cancer metastasis and dramatically poorer survival.

Despite opposition from Republicans, Florida has surpassed California to become the state with the highest number of consumers enrolling in health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act's exchanges.

More than 100 patients may have been infected by a "superbug" bacteria during procedures at the UCLA Health System and 2 have died.

The article was part of a Lancet series which took aim at the "unacceptably slow" response to rising rates of childhood obesity, and the effects not only on health but also on its social and economic effects on children. Authors called on nations to rein in marketing aimed at children.

Research conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health concludes that for a hospital to improve it's quality of care, governing boards may be an important target for intervention.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the multinational study found that Gardasil 9, 100% effective against 9 strains of HPV, can prevent the occurrence of 85%-90% of HPV-related cancers.

UnitedHealthcare announced that it will nearly double the amount of accountable care organizations it is contracted with in 2015 as it expects to add another 250 ACOs.

On February 16, after living with metastatic breast cancer, Phyllis Torda, 63, vice president of the Quality Solutions Group at the National Committee for Quality Assurance, passed away.

A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that most of the commonly employed tools to calculate cardiovascular risk seriously overestimate the risk of people today.

As specialty drug costs, formulary wars, and reimbursement models grab headlines everyday, we need to take a step back and visualize how all of this might impact innovation and whether the patient stands to lose in the process.

Two PCSK9 inhibitors under development-one by Amgen and the other jointly by Sanofi and Regeneron-could eventually cost the US healthcare system $150 billion per year. William Shrank, the chief scientific officer of CVS thinks these costs would be unsustainable for the healthcare industry that is already rattled by the burgeoning cost of specialty medications.

The combination of Revlimid with dexamethasone, previously approved for treatment in patients with multiple myeloma who received at least 1 prior treatment, has received FDA approval for use in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.

Last night's announcement came in a video release featuring President Obama and HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell. The president cited the Affordable Care Act's reach into previously underserved markets and the increased level of consumer choice in 2015; increased competition as the law goes forward will drive down premiums over time, he said.

The study published in Clinical Cancer Research elucidated an in vitro mechanism that could explain why cabazitaxel is more effective in some prostate cancer patients. The study also identified a biomarker that could provide precision medicine for a subset of patients.

Following his collaboration with other research scientists to protest the cost of cancer drugs, Hagop Kantarjian, MD, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center has now turned to patients.