Insurance premiums are rising at a much faster rate than earnings growth or inflation, according to new data from the annual Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefits Survey, outlined in Health Affairs.

CMS has finalized a proposed rule to the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program that will result in $4 billion in payment cuts in 2020.

The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) has continued its push to get the FDA to clarify the difference between servicing and remanufacturing. 

The revised paper, “Considerations for Remanufacturing of Medical Imaging Devices,” is updated from a version released this past February and, again, requests that the FDA clarify the distinction between servicing and remanufacturing.

Kaiser Permanente has reached a new contract settlement with 80,000 workers based in California, effectively averting a scheduled strike in October.

If physicians caring for Medicare fee-for-service patients were all high-value physicians, the federal program could cut healthcare costs by a whopping $286.8 billion from 2020 to 2029, according to UnitedHealth Group. For 2020 alone, Medicare could save more than $20 billion if all physicians were considered high value.

The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA), American College of Radiology and other industry groups sent a letter to congressional leadership Tuesday, Sept. 24, asking for a permanent repeal of the “disastrous” medical device tax. A suspension of the tax is set to expire Jan. 1, 2020.

Medicare Advantage premiums are expected to drop 23% from 2018 levels ahead of the new enrollment period, CMS announced, stating that plan choices, benefits and enrollment have increased.