Policy & Regulations

This channel includes news coverage of healthcare policy and regulations set by Congress, the states, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and medical associations and societies. 

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GOP may renew fight over ACA repeal following McCain’s death

Congressional Republicans are reportedly thinking about taking another swing at overturning the Affordable Care Act (ACA) after the death of Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, The Hill reported.

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RACGP updates osteoarthritis management guideline to reduce unnecessary imaging, surgery

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has announced an update to its guideline for knee and hip osteoarthritis management, saying the policy shift should reduce unnecessary imaging, surgery and medication throughout Australia.

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Could the DOJ be an obstacle to CVS-Aetna merger?

A New York Assemblyman has urged the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to block the $69 billion planned merger between CVS Health and Aetna.

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Institutional policy change cut annual oral contrast costs by 52%

Administrating oral contrasts to patients with nontraumatic abdominal pain in the emergency department (ED) amounted to more than $85,000 annually, according to authors of a single-institution study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

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GAO: Trump administration stifled ACA enrollment

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report last week that claimed actions by the Trump administration negatively impacted enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace during the 2017 sign-up period.

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Lawmakers introduce legislation to increase lung screening for U.S. coal miners

To help combat the recent resurgence of black lung disease in U.S. coal miners, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, recently introduced bipartisan legislation to increase participation in federal programs that treat or detect the disease through lung cancer screening, including lung CT scans.

University of Chicago, Humana partner to serve MA members

Health insurance and services provider Humana has teamed up with the University of Chicago Medicine in a value-based agreement to offer coordinated, patient-centered care to Humana’s Medicare Advantage (MA) members.

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Lung cancer screening using Lung-RADS reduces false-positive rate in a diverse, underserved setting

When the American College of Radiology (ACR) published the Lung CT Screening Reporting and Data System (Lung-RADS) in 2014, one of its goals was producing a lower false-positive rate than the 23.3 percent reported by the National Cancer Institute’s National Lung Screening Trial (NLST).