Page 97 - Mployee Wellness Programs News Today

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions announced that it will soon begin conducting strike authorization votes among its 85,000 members. The coalition’s chief concern is Kaiser’s dangerous staffing levels, which members say have led to excessively long wait times, patient neglect and mistaken diagnosis. If the coalition authorizes and implements the strike, it will become the largest strike of healthcare workers in the history of the U.S.

In a new agreement, Interwell Health will provide care to Humana Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO members with chronic kidney disease in 13 states. It will also serve patients with end-stage kidney disease across the country.

Cigna removed 25% of medical services from prior authorization requirements. This represents more than 600 codes, and includes 100 surgical codes, nearly 200 genetic testing codes, durable medical equipment, orthoses and prosthetics and other services, said Dr. Scott Josephs, chief medical officer of Cigna Healthcare.

Rapport Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech that was founded last year, raised $150 million in Series B financing, bringing its total funding to date to $250 million. The company's platform leverages receptor-associated proteins to create neurology drugs that have more focused activity in the brain, going after disease-driving circuits and cell types.

Next year REACH ACOs will have to show success in developing and maintaining comprehensive health equity plans, and by kicking the can down the road they risk not knowing enough about their patient population in terms of what works better and what doesn't. ACOs can pay in the effort of continuous iteration now or they can pay in poor health outcomes for their patients and the resulting increased costs. The choice is theirs, but one they each have to make.

Future research should focus on identifying the interactions between the immune system, microbes, and allergic responses; and exploring potential therapeutic strategies targeting the skin microbiome for allergy management.

By leveraging sophisticated patient intake forms, robust patient-provider matching algorithms, self-scheduling features, calendar management tools, and telehealth capabilities, healthcare providers can bridge the gap between consumer expectations and the current state of healthcare access.

Two Florida families allege that tens of thousands of Floridians are being terminated from Medicaid coverage without sufficient information as to why. This comes as the U.S. continues the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement, which stopped states from disenrolling Medicaid enrollees during the Covid-19 public health emergency.

Employers' healthcare costs are anticipated to rise by 8.5% in 2024, according to Aon. The projected increase is nearly twice the 4.5% increase that employers saw from 2022 to 2023. Inflation is a major factor for the increase.

The FDA cleared Levita Magnetics’ new abdominal surgery platform, which combines the company’s proprietary magnetic surgical technology with robotic assistance. The system is designed to deliver all the same patient benefits as its original magnetic surgery system — such as reduced incisions, less pain, fewer scars and speedier recovery — while also giving surgeons better control of their instruments.