The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) announced this week that it supports the FDA’s decision to promote the adoption of “quality management principles” in the servicing of medical devices.

Primary care physicians and non-physician practitioners have seen their compensation rise more rapidly than specialists, which the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) said is evidence of the worsening shortage of primary care doctors.

Lori Reilly, executive vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), spoke at a panel hosted by the Alliance for Health Policy on May 15, saying the group had “serious concerns” with the plan.

Black cancer patients are less likely to receive guideline-concordant care than white counterparts, researchers reported in Advances in Radiation Oncology this month. Those treatment disparities could have a profound impact on minority mortality rates.

Until 1980, the U.S. was similar to other countries in per capita spending and life expectancy. Princeton University sociology professor Paul Starr, PhD, said high inflation and sluggish economic growth in the late 1970s hurt countries’ abilities to afford healthcare. The difference was “other countries have been able to put limits on healthcare prices and spending” while the U.S. relied on market forces.

CMS has approved an extension of Maryland’s model of offering a fixed payment for most hospital services, allowing physician practices and nursing homes to voluntarily participate in a program that has saved Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars.

Iowa’s “supplemental payment plan” for nursing homes was rejected by CMS over concerns about having county hospitals assume the licenses of for-profit nursing homes.

A data report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Peterson Center on Healthcare showed the U.S. has higher prices for many healthcare services compared to other high-income countries, including on MRIs and joint replacements, and how some prices have risen faster than inflation.