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CMS has proposed changes to accountable care organizations benchmarks in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, as well as a way to better facilitate the transition to performance-based risk.

Learn where clinical care pathways stand today and what the future holds with respect to developing and implementing them.

What we're reading, January 29, 2016: newly approved hepatitis C cure will increase competition; California will vote on a proposition to control the cost of prescription drugs; and a special report details drug shortages and rationing decisions.

A new Blue Cross Blue Shield Association report provides the company’s snapshot of US health insurance trends.

The FDA has created the Drug Trial Snapshot, which provides details on the demographic profiles of participants in clinical trials of approved drugs.

The announcement said the collaborative seeks to raise the standards of care, address poor health statistics and find savings.

The 3 prescriptions for reforming the 340B Drug Discount Program proposed by authors in the December issue of Evidence-Based Oncology would limit safety net hospitals' abilities to treat vulnerable patients.

What we're reading, January 28, 2016: Massachusetts' attorney general is threatening to sue Gilead Sciences over the high prices of its hepatitis C drugs; Anthem reports losses on Obamacare health plans; and consumers are satisfied with health coverage and limited networks.

The report comes in a year of increased attention to the global obesity and diabetes crisis.

A review by an independent Data Monitoring Committee found that nivolumab improved overall survival in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, compared with the control arm.

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has found that smoking before and after diagnosis of breast cancer is associated with increased mortality from breast cancer as well as other conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

Accountable primary care is essential in lowering healthcare costs as a whole and making it care more accessible to patients. Debbie Zimmerman, MD, chief medical officer of Lumeris, discussed how to improve primary care and get primary care physicians aligned with the delivery of accountable care.

The mission is to eliminate daily insulin injections as well as complications for persons with type 1 diabetes.

The FDA seeks a nationwide ban on indoor tanning among those under 18. Right now, a patchwork of laws bar teens from indoor tanning in some states and require parental consent in others.

What we're reading, January 27, 2016: Donald Trump joins Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in calling for Medicare being given the ability to negotiate drug prices; $70 million approved for new patient-centered research projects; and the Zika virus likely to spread to the United States.

Researchers created a new tool that can measure patient satisfaction with comprehensive pharmacy programs.

Many major pharmaceutical and biotech stocks are highly affected by political pressure, which can hold stocks back from reaching their full market potential and increasing unpredictability in the market.

For the second year, Anthony D. Slonim, MD, DrPH, is in the running for Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders. Recently, he discussed what it means to be a physician leader, the industry’s move to population health, and more.

In an effort to address safety concerns regarding severe neutropenia, the FDA has made changes to requirements for monitoring prescribing, dispensing, and receiving the schizophrenia medicine clozapine.

The Biologics License Application for the tumor necrosis factor alpha blocker, ABP 501, was submitted following results from a phase 3 study in 500 patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.

When patients cannot understand discharge instructions, it's questionable whether it's fair to penalize them when patients return to the hospital.

The update calls on primary care practices and health plans to have places to send those patients who screen positive for depression.

Personalized medicine has been the mantra in healthcare for quite some time, but finding health plans with blanket coverage policies for diagnostic testing is a struggle.

What we're reading, January 26, 2016: Republicans will use Congressional Budget Office report to justify steep spending cuts; Centene has misplaced 950,000 files of personal health information; and the US is facing a troublesome shortage of geriatricians.

States that have not expanded Medicaid are seeing the fallout in hospital budgets and in local governments that must make up difference for those who fall in the coverage gap.

Researchers found that physicians often seized the "opportunity" to start dialysis if patients were in the hospital for other illnesses.

What we're reading, January 25, 2016: Cigna faces sanctions from CMS; a Massachusetts senator blocks the nomination of Robert Califf, MD, for FDA commissioner; and hospitals and health systems are mostly unprepared for precision medicine.

As Americans as asked to pay a greater portion of their healthcare expenditures, new insurance design models are being implemented, such as value-based insurance design, to combat issues like nonadherence.

High deductibles do not ensure that enrollees price shop for their healthcare more than traditional plan enrollees do.

The authors of the study recommend lowering the screening age for colorectal cancer (CRC), especially for first-degree relatives of CRC patients and those with a genetic predisposition to the disease.