Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2026 Medicare Advantage (MA) Rate Announcement, projecting a 5.06% average increase in payments to MA plans. That’s a notable jump from the 3.70% increase we saw in 2025. More than just a financial adjustment, this signals growing confidence in the Medicare Advantage model—and with it, growing expectations.
What does this mean simply? Insurance companies offering these plans will receive more government funding,
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Digital Health | News, Analysis, Insights - HIT Consultant
Teladoc Health Launches Wellbound Employee Assistance Program
What You Should Know:
- Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC), the global leader in virtual care, today announced the launch of Wellbound, a bold new employee assistance program (EAP) designed to empower a more engaged, healthier workforce.
- The new program, purpose-built for the company’s employer and health plan clients in the U.S., leverages Teladoc Health’s unmatched scale, clinical product portfolio and consumer engagement expertise to help organizations create a powerful “on-ramp” for
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Google Forms Consumer Health Advisory Panel: Elevating Health Tech with Expert Guidance and Responsible AI
What You Should Know:
- Google announced the formation of its Consumer Health Advisory Panel, a team of external experts who will provide clinical and scientific guidance to support the company's ongoing commitment to building helpful and reliable health technology.
- The creation of this formal panel underscores Google's dedication to developing new advancements like generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) responsibly and effectively. The panel will advise Google as it
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Eko Health’s Telehealth Platform Expands Across 800 Hospitals
What You Should Know:
- Eko Health, a leader in AI-powered cardiac and pulmonary care, announced today that its telehealth platform is now used by health systems that operate over 800 hospitals across the U.S.
- By enabling the real-time streaming of high-fidelity heart and lung sounds, Eko is helping virtual care teams deliver more confident frontline diagnostics from anywhere.
Eko Health Expands Remote Diagnostic Capabilities with Web-Based Telehealth Platform
Eko Health, a
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Elsevier’s Clinician of the Future 2025 Report: AI’s Rapid Ascent in Healthcare Amidst Clinician Pressures
What You Should Know:
- The 4th annual Elsevier Clinician of the Future report reveals a remarkable acceleration in the adoption and impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare.
- Based on a global survey of over 2,000 clinicians, the report highlights AI's growing role in addressing persistent challenges like clinician burnout, increasing patient demand, and fragmented care, while also shedding light on evolving perceptions and regional differences.
Current State
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Fruit Street Health Cleared: SEC Investigation Concludes with No Action
What You Should Know:
- Fruit Street Health announced that it has received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") confirming the conclusion of the SEC's investigation into the company. The letter states that the SEC enforcement staff does not intend to recommend any action by the SEC against Fruit Street Health.
- This announcement allows Fruit Street Health to continue its focus on its public benefit mission: serving the 1 in 3 Americans with prediabetes and
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Blood Pressure Monitoring in Pregnancy Is a Window into Long-Term Health
New research continues to affirm what maternal health advocates have long known: pregnancy is a powerful window into long-term health. One of the most promising areas of study is blood pressure monitoring, which is proving to be not just essential for a healthy pregnancy, but a potential predictor of future cardiovascular disease — the leading cause of death in the United States.
For many women, pregnancy may be the first meaningful interaction with the healthcare system in
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Zimmer Biomet to Acquire Monogram Technologies for $177M to Offer First Fully Autonomous Surgical Robot
What You Should Know:
- Zimmer Biomet Holdings, a global medical technology leader, and Monogram Technologies Inc., an orthopedic robotics company, announced a definitive agreement for Zimmer Biomet to acquire all outstanding shares of Monogram.
- The deal, valued at an upfront payment of $4.04 per share in cash (approximately $177M equity value, $168M enterprise value), will significantly expand Zimmer Biomet's surgical robotics portfolio and position it to become the first
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Validic Launches Sparks: Generative AI Solution Transforms Wearable Data into Actionable Healthcare Insights
What You Should Know:
- Validic, a platform for Connected Health Data and remote patient monitoring (RPM), announced the launch of Validic Sparks, a generative AI solution designed to help healthcare organizations transform raw health data from wearables and FDA-approved devices into actionable insights.
- Validic Sparks enables health systems, value-based care organizations, health plans, and digital health apps to combine their contextual data with Validic personal health data to
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FTC Penalizes NextMed $150k for Deceptive Weight-Loss Claims
What You Should Know:
- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached a settlement with Southern Health Solutions, Inc., operating as Next Medical and NextMed, and its founders Robert Epstein and CEO Frank Leonardo III.
- The FTC's charges allege the telemedicine company used deceptive cost and weight loss claims, fake reviews, and undisclosed terms to lure consumers into their weight-loss membership programs.
Deceptive Weight-Loss Claims and Hidden Fees
According
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