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What We're Reading: Colorado's ACA Exchange Misused $9.7 Million
What we're reading, January 3, 2017: Colorado's Affordable Care Act exchange misused more than $9 million in federal funds; an over-the-counter birth control may be coming to the United States; and returning health data to patients could reduce health record breaches.
Colorado’s healthcare marketplace received $183.7 million from the federal government to set up its exchange under the Affordable Care Act. However, nearly $9.7 million of the grant funds were misused, a new report found. According to The Daily Caller, the majority of the misused funds were spent on improperly awarded and mismanaged contracts, as well as performance bonuses for senior staff without appropriate documentation.
Birth control that is available over-the-counter (OTC) may become available in the United States. While the process could take several years, a French pharmaceutical company is prepared to apply for FDA approval to bring an OTC contraceptive to the US market, reported Vox. The company plans to seek FDA approval for a progestin-only pill, which presents fewer potential problems than pills that combine progestin and estrogen.
Patients may have trouble accessing their health data, but criminals don’t. An opinion piece in The New York Times outlined the so-called “health data conundrum,” in which consumers don’t have control of their medical data, but an epidemic of cybercrime has led to this information being stolen. Currently, millions of patient health records are stored together, which means criminals who breach the database have access to all the information. Storing data in separate units would return control of the data to the patient and prevent massive breaches, the authors argue.
What We’re Reading: Abortion Privacy Rules; Alzheimer Drug Hurdles; Nursing Home Staffing Overhaul
April 23rd 2024New health privacy rules aim to protect patients and providers in an evolving abortion landscape; some physicians express concerns about efficacy, risks, and entrenched beliefs in treating Alzheimer disease; CMS addresses longstanding staffing deficits in nursing homes.
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Navigating Health Literacy, Social Determinants, and Discrimination in National Health Plans
February 13th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the February 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on how health plans can screen for health literacy, social determinants of health, and perceived health care discrimination.
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Survey Results Reveal Potential Factors Slowing the Decline in Cardiovascular Mortality Rate
April 23rd 2024Research indicated that worsened glycemic, blood pressure, and obesity control, as well as increased alcohol consumption, leveled lipid control, and persistent socioeconomic disparities may have contributed to the decelerated cardiovascular mortality decline in recent years.
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Drs Raymond Thertulien, Joseph Mikhael on Racial Disparities in Multiple Myeloma Care Access
December 28th 2023In the wake of the 2023 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, Raymond Thertulien, MD, PhD, of Novant Health, and Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation, discussed health equity research highlights from the meeting and drivers of racial disparities in multiple myeloma outcomes.
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