Hospitals, health systems and providers are targets of cyberattacks at an alarming rate, putting patient data, electronic infrastructure and, most importantly, patient lives at risk. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights reported an average of 60 data breaches a month in the health care sector between January 1 and October 31, 2022. According […]
In spite of increasing health care coverage for children, there has been an overall decline in the utilization of preventive and wellness services. This falling utilization is especially pronounced in lower-income households and among Black, Latino and Asian children. At the same time as preventive care uptake has declined, mental illness and suicide attempt rates […]
The No Surprises Act (NSA), enacted in 2020, protects patients from surprise medical bills for emergency services and, in certain circumstances, when treated by out-of-network providers in an in-network facility. Since the law went into effect at the beginning of 2022, policy and operational issues have emerged in the implementation of the statutorily prescribed independent […]
High-quality primary care is foundational to providing “whole person care” that emphasizes prevention, as well as team-based and relationship-based care. To help improve primary care, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has developed and tested several multi-payer advanced primary care models over the last several years. Earlier this year, CMMI announced another opportunity […]
Three years following the onset of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), states across the United States continue to enact permanent changes to telehealth laws that impact how physicians and other providers can deliver care remotely. Starting in 2021, states began shifting their focus from the temporary policies implemented during COVID-19 to the assessment of […]
In a recent speech, a senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division noted that “in U.S. antitrust enforcement and competition policy, there is no more important question than what can we do to safeguard competition in the health care industry.” Consistent with this sentiment, 2023 has witnessed an increase in investigations and enforcement […]
After the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, which enables Medicare to negotiate the price of certain prescription drugs, Congress is again attempting to lower the cost of prescription drugs. This time—in a rare bipartisan effort—Congress is focusing on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs are third-party “middlemen” contracted by insurance plans to manage prescription drug […]
Many commentators have sounded the alarm about bias in artificial intelligence and other digital technology. But what if such technology could instead be a powerful tool to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion? In her book The Equality Machine, legal and tech scholar Orly Lobel argues that digital technology holds tremendous promise—it can detect discrimination, close pay […]
In recent years, an unprecedented level of interest in the promise of psychedelics has taken hold. In the United States, many types of psychedelics are being investigated for use in treating an array of mental health conditions. The U.S. nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has announced promising phase 3 clinical trial results for […]
COVID-19 greatly accelerated the adoption of telehealth, and now three years later, states are exploring new policies to expand or streamline the state licensure process for physicians while ensuring continued authority to regulate and oversee the practice of medicine. In a new webinar, American Medical Association (AMA) President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH will moderate a panel […]
