Page 30 - Mployee Wellness Programs News Today

Crowded EDs will continue to plague the healthcare ecosystem and prevent the efficient delivery of care if the structure and education of care, resources, and availability are kept the same. UC can step in with its well-equipped and trained staff so that EDs can focus on what they do best, care for life-threatening situations.

Hospitals markedly improved their compliance with price transparency regulations in 2023, according to a new report. It found that more than 90% of hospitals have posted a machine-readable file containing gross charges, negotiated charges and cash prices for the services and items they provide.

The model will be challenging to implement since the expansive vision and cautious operational model don’t naturally align. But it could see positive reactions from the clinician community which – while seeing the need for change and technological innovation – is deterred by visions of disruption at the operational or at more granular, process levels.

A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to HHS asking it to rethink its appeal of a recent federal district court decision that limits the use of “copay accumulators" — which are programs insurers use to prevent medication copay assistance from counting toward patients’ deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums.

Check out news from Kismet Health, the University of California at Berkeley's life science startups, and the companies presenting at the Consumer Technology Association's pitch contest at CES.

In predicting that the Medi-Cal coverage protections during the pandemic would end, advocates successfully pushed for California to adopt a continuous Medi-Cal coverage policy for children ages 0-5 – avoiding annual renewals during this vulnerable time in their childhood development. For this important protection to become a reality as soon as possible, we now need the Governor to fund and greenlight this policy immediately–in his January 2024 Budget proposal.

Solera Health has added virtual specialty care services to its Halo Platform. The new offering is in partnership with 9amHealth, Vori Health and Oshi Health.

As we look into the future, 2024 promises a profound transformation. Here are five areas of focus for the upcoming year.

Contraline released promising data from the clinical trial it’s conducting to test the efficacy of Adam, its male birth control product. The nonhormonal gel seems to be doing a good job of blocking the flow of sperm to the vas deferens, and no serious adverse events have been reported.

On New Year’s Day, two Missouri health systems — St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare and Kansas City-based St. Luke’s Health System — officially completed their merger. The combined health system comprises 28 hospitals and hundreds of clinics serving 6 million people, and it is expected to generate $10 billion in annual revenue.