It's an unfortunate reality of our times: Healthcare in the United States has become increasingly unaffordable, challenging patients, providers, and pharmacies alike. One in 5 adults reported they can’t afford quality care. Uncompensated care hovers around $40B annually. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to strain the resources of our healthcare system. What lies ahead?
Against a backdrop of growing financial burden, these three trends tell the story of where healthcare affordability is
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health insurance
Three Steps to a Successful Health Insurance Exchange
Since the launch of the Affordable Care Act, we have seen federal administrations come and go. Yet throughout the changes and enhancements to the law over time and across party lines, one thing has remained constant – and that is, exchanges or state-based marketplaces (SBMs) have and will continue to provide states with the autonomy and flexibility to address the unique needs of health insurance markets and consumers around the country in a way that HealthCare.gov cannot.
Jessica
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Wolters Kluwer Launches Telemedicine Value Sets for Health Insurance Claims
What You Should Know:
- Wolters KluwerHealth released telehealth-specific value sets for use in health insurance claims processing, coordination of care, and benefits systems.
- The company developed the value sets to meet the needs of payers and providers that are working to develop and refine long-term virtual care strategies. The timing for the value sets is crucial as payers and providers alike
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What Will It Take for Hospitals to Survive the Pandemic?
On New Years Eve, just as the Covid-19 outbreak in Los Angeles was at its worst, all 451 of Olympia Medical Center’s exhausted employees learned they would soon lose their jobs. After 74 years, the hospital closed for good on March 31st, leaving residents of the surrounding community — poor and mostly people of color — without a place to see a doctor.
And it isn’t the only hospital closing.
At least 47 hospitals have closed or filed for bankruptcy in the last year, and there will
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Vericred Nabs $23M for API Platform Exchange for Health Insurance & Employee Benefits
What You Should Know:
- Vericred, the data services platform powering digital quote-to-card experiences in health insurance and benefits, announced $23M in Series B funding led by Aquiline Technology Growth with participation from new investors Echo Health Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Guardian Strategic Ventures, and existing investors Riverside Acceleration Capital, FCA Venture Partners and First Health Capital Partners.
- The company plans to use the new capital to expand its teams in
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Q1 2021 Health IT/Digital Health PC/VE, M&A, IPOs/ SPACs Activity
The first quarter of 2021 has been one of investor optimism as the vaccine rollout continues ahead of expectations and economic activity begins to accelerate in response. Within the Health IT industry, the already strong investment and M&A trends seen in 2020 have only accelerated. Over the course of the quarter, we observed $7 billion in private equity and venture capital investment across 158 companies.
By comparison, Q1 of 2020 saw $3.2 billion and 127 investments. Health IT
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How NLP Can Uncover Social Determinants of Heart Disease
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Cardiovascular disease-related deaths—which occur every 36 seconds—cost our country about $219 billion each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). People with poor cardiovascular health are also at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19, so the time to act is now. There’s no time like the present to look at major risk factors—from obesity and
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Best Practices to Ensure Telehealth Security and Protect Patient Data
To support the sudden increase in test results and medical records being transmitted during the pandemic, hospitals, laboratories, and pharmacies implemented additional devices and remote connections into their networks. After the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) lifted penalties around telehealth to expand care options amid the crisis, new platforms were adopted that were not previously allowed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
This exercise of discretion
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Evaluating COVID-19’s Behavioral Health Impact on the Economy
We’re now in a new year and new presidential administration. At least three companies are producing effective COVID-19 vaccines, which are being administered to healthcare workers, teachers, and the elderly. By summer, hopefully a large majority of the population in most countries will be vaccinated. From where the world now stands, we can see an end to prolonged isolation, trauma, fear, grief, and economic torpor.
But out of the woods, we are not.
The virus mutates, perhaps
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A New System to Fit A New Economy: How Healthcare Can Recover From COVID-19
We are at a watershed moment. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to reevaluate our priorities both economically and with regard to public health. Living with a healthcare system that was created in response to an emergency measure during World War II, US consumers have struggled for more than a decade to control and understand the rising cost of healthcare. Unfortunately, employer-based health insurance and government-subsidized care continue to be the major drivers of cost and policy.
As
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