Health care-insurance giant Aetna has agreed to acquire smaller rival Humana for $37 billion in cash and stock making it the largest ever deal in the insurance industry. The rapid consolidation in the U.S. health care industry. brings together Humana’s growing Medicare Advantage business with Aetna’s diversified portfolio and commercial capabilities to create a company serving the most seniors in the Medicare Advantage program and the second-largest managed care company in the nation.
Under
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Archives for 2015
Why Non-Specific ICD-10 Codes Are a Non-Issue
A safe harbor or grace period that would allow the submission of “less specific” ICD-10 codes after the ICD-10 transition continues to be raised as a way to alleviate the burden of the transition on physicians. For example, HR 2247, the ICD-TEN Act, would prohibit Medicare from denying claims “due solely to the use of an unspecified or inaccurate subcode.” A letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from several members of Congress recommends that CMS indicate “whether
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Get My Health Data Campaign Launches
For patients, accessing their health information online is often a confusing and down right painful process. Sadly, few patients know what to ask for or what information should be available to them, and not nearly enough health care organizations are equipped to meet their requests.
To change that, a coalition of patient advocates today has launched the Get My Health Data Campaign to support patients in asking for, getting and effectively using their digital health data.
Campaign
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Social Network for Doctors SERMO Expands to Canada’s 77,000 Physicians
SERMO, the leading social network for doctors with more than 340,000 members across the US and UK, announced its latest international expansion, opening its doors to Canada’s 77,000 physicians. The Canadian expansion follows SERMO’s international UK launch in April. SERMO is well on its way to becoming the largest global medical social network exclusively for physicians. SERMO also has plans to roll out in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa over the next few weeks.
SERMO is a
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MedStar, AARP Partner to Spur Health Innovation for Aging
Maryland-based not-for-profit health system MedStar Health has become the newest Founding Member of Project Catalyst|The Power of We to spur digital health innovation for the aging population. The program provides developers of popular and emerging products insight into how Americans 50-plus use technology, in order to identify ways to improve the devices for mature consumers. The alignment will help MedStar spur innovation in new and emerging digital technologies, products and experiences that
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Teladoc IPO Raises $157M, Shares Priced at $19
Today, Dallas-based telehealth provider, Teladoc initial public offering (IPO) debut under the symbol “TDOC" on the New York Stock Exchange at $19 per share, raising $157 million. The underwriters for the offering also have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,237,500 shares of Teladoc common stock.
Founded in 2002, the company emerged as an early leader in the growing telehealth space as self-insured employers and insurance companies look for ways to cut healthcare costs by
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Catholic Health’s CIO Talks Leveraging Health IT for Value-based Care
Editor's Note: Deloitte Insights for CIOs provides relevant research, fact-based analysis and pragmatic perspectives on the technology issues that matter most to CIOs and other executives with an interest in technology.
When it comes to disruptive forces, health care providers seem to have it all: evolving legal and regulatory requirements, unsustainable economics, challenging demographic shifts, industry consolidation, and fast-moving technology-driven change, among others. All of these
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HealthTap, Quest Diagnostics Launch Virtual Diagnostic Testing for Healthcare Consumers
HealthTap, the world’s largest, most trusted digital health hub and Quest Diagnostics has announced a collaboration that will enable doctors to order diagnostic testing services for patients through HealthTap’s comprehensive virtual care platform. The partnership between a major national medical laboratory provider and an end-to-end virtual care company, which will enable doctors and consumers to access a broad range of diagnostic service options to help care for patients in a virtual
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Allscripts Makes $200M Equity Investment in NantHealth, IPO Imminent
Ambulatory EHR leader Allscripts has purchased a 10% equity stake in NantHealth for $200 million and NantCapital, LLC, the personal investment vehicle of Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of NantHealth, has made a $100 million investment into Allscripts. The financial investments strengthen the partnership between the two companies to develop an integrated, evidence-based, personalized approach to healthcare solutions that includes actionable clinical data, enabling physicians to make informed
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UAB Medicine Selects athenahealth to Advance Care Coordination
UAB Medicine, the third largest academic medical center in the nation is implementing athenaCoordinator Enterprise patient access services to improve care coordination in the ambulatory space. The implementation will streamline care transitions and patient referrals, in The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital, a multi-specialty ambulatory care site that serves more than 2,000 patients a day in 35 specialties.
The solution is expected to go-live in July allowing UAB Medicine to ensure patients
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