Clinical

What we're reading, July 28, 2016: CMS released first hospital quality ratings; Anthem is prepared to fight the government over Cigna purchase; and regulations are falling behind stem cell clinics.

A study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that patients who have access to both the prices charged by a testing laboratory as well as reference pricing, they choose lower-cost laboratories, resulting in overall cost savings.

What we're reading, July 27, 2016: UnitedHealth and Aetna are looking to join California's Medicaid program; the World Health Organization is considering removing transgender identity from list of mental disorders; and medical schools rethink how to treat addiction.

The monoclonal antibody daratumumab (Darzalex) has been granted breakthrough designation, the second for this drug, for use in combination with either lenalidomide and dexamethasone or bortezomib and dexamethasone, for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least 1 prior therapy.

A collaborative pilot that includes the California Department of Public Health, is studying whether near—real-time reporting of cancer diagnoses by pathologists will permit providers to make more informed and timely treatment decisions.