For all the hype about AI “replacing therapists,” the more immediate and profound shift is happening somewhere far less glamorous: the intake process.
Across health systems, primary care physicians, insurers, and community providers are still funnelling patients into behavioural health through faxed referrals, phone tag, and unstructured web forms. Patients finally find the courage to ask for help, then hit voicemail, long waits, and confusing eligibility rules. In many organisations, no one
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Technology
Healthconnect Texas and PCIC Unify to Build the Ultimate Social Drivers of Health (SDoH) Infrastructure
What You Should Know
- Healthconnect Texas and the Patient Care Intervention Center (PCIC) have announced a strategic unification, merging statewide clinical connectivity with deep community-based data on non-medical drivers of health.
- The unified infrastructure aims to provide a "360-degree view" of patient wellness, enabling providers and policymakers to address the 80-90% of health outcomes driven by lifestyle and environmental factors that typically live outside the Electronic
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Who Made Your Medicine? How to Use ProPublica’s Rx Inspector to Audit Your Generics
What You Should Know
- ProPublica has released Rx Inspector, a first-of-its-kind database that allows Americans to identify the exact facility where their generic prescriptions were manufactured.
- By connecting disparate FDA databases and suing for factory location data, ProPublica has mapped more than 80% of generic products to their originating plants, revealing safety violations that the FDA has historically kept hidden from consumers.
The Shadow World of Generic
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AMA’s Strategic Push for Permanent Medicare Telehealth Reform
What You Should Know
- The AMA is urging Congress to pass permanent authorization of Medicare telehealth services before the current waiver expires on January 30, 2026.
- This advocacy follows a "tumultuous" 2025 in which a 43-day government shutdown caused a 24% national drop in fee-for-service telemedicine visits, demonstrating the extreme sensitivity of patient access to legislative lapses.
The Economic Battle: Challenging CBO Scoring
The crux of the AMA’s issue brief is a
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Avoiding the Telemedicine Cliff: Why the DEA Extended Prescribing Rules Through 2026
What You Should Know:
- In a significant move for the "tele-prescribing" landscape, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have announced a fourth temporary extension of telemedicine flexibilities.
- This extension allows practitioners to prescribe controlled medications—including Schedule II–V drugs—via audio-video encounters without a prior in-person medical evaluation through December 31, 2026.
A Transitional
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Beyond Reactivity: Integrating AI-Driven Home Safety for Aging in Place
Aging in America isn’t a niche issue—it’s a seismic shift. Within five years, one in five Americans will be 65 or older. By 2034, older adults will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history.1 This demographic flip is already reshaping households, businesses, and public policy.
One of the most urgent—and solvable—challenges is housing safety, particularly falls. Nearly 90% of older adults want to remain in their homes as they age.2 Yet, fewer than 10% of U.S. homes are
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The MAHA Paradox: How Medical Device Tariffs Undermine “Make America Healthy Again
The Trump Administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda recognizes a simple truth: the best way to improve our health is to empower people to understand and help manage their own care. Affordable medical devices make that possible.
Every day, Americans use this technology to check their blood pressure, track sleep, monitor heart rhythms, manage hearing loss, and more. These devices bring care into our homes, extend the reach of doctors, and help millions of people stay healthy
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CMS Launches $50B in Awards to Strengthen Rural Health in All 50 States
What You Should Know:
- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is deploying a massive $50 billion investment across all 50 states to overhaul the nation's rural healthcare infrastructure starting in 2026.
- Under the guidance of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, the program prioritizes not just workforce expansion, but a significant technological shift toward AI adoption, cybersecurity resilience, and "food-as-medicine"
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Surviving the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Technology Strategies for Safety-Net Providers Facing Medicaid Cuts
Financial challenges are not new to healthcare. A perfect storm of converging trends has left many organizations operating within razor-thin margins in recent years.
For safety-net providers, the latest financial uncertainties introduced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act present yet another hurdle. Many financial executives may fear making the wrong move and choose to “freeze” in response to Medicaid funding cuts that will equate to nearly $800 million.
Yet inaction is likely
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Top Affordable Telemedicine Solutions for Hospitals: Features and Pricing Compared
Telemedicine has become indispensable to hospital systems seeking to enhance patient care and operational efficiency. For providers, the challenge lies in recognizing the need for virtual care and navigating the market to find the best solutions. The right partner can unlock efficiencies and improve patient outcomes. Here are the best value telemedicine software platforms for hospital systems that help secure a competitive advantage.
What Are the Best Value Telemedicine Software
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