Providers utilize business intelligence to monitor referral patterns and collaborate with clinicians who order their services. Such analytics tools have also been deployed in the specialty to improve productivity, track patient satisfaction and bolster quality.
The Patients Before Monopolies Act was introduced into both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives with bipartisan support. If it passes, pharmacy benefit managers would be required to divest from retail stores.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it’s issuing a nationwide moratorium on new providers entering the spaces until it has a chance to look into allegations of fraud, waste and abuse. It confirmed investigations of various organizations are pending.
Private-equity acquisitions of primary-care provider practices neither alter hospitalization rates nor affect acute-care outcomes, according to new research out of Brown University.
The study from the American Medical Association is based on data from commercial and Medicare Part D plans. The analysis found market share for PBMs is heavily concentrated, leading to higher drug costs.
The 2016 payout totaled $770 million, with $71 million going to executives at Steward Health Care. That year, the hospital chain reported a net loss of $300 million.
Baltimore sued eight companies that it claimed profited off the city’s opioid epidemic. To date, the government has received $402.5 million in settlements.