COVID-19 is on the upswing again due to the Delta variant's dominance nationwide. But skilled nursing facilities' vaccination rates among staff and healthcare professionals has plateaued. Organizations are taking action to encourage stronger...Arizona News
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) and Quartet Health (Quartet) announced they will join forces to help increase access to mental healthcare in Arizona, starting in Maricopa County. Quartet’s technology platform will make it easier for patients with BCBSAZ health insurance to quickly connect with mental healthcare services.
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The National Academy of Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation named the 2021-2022 class of Health Policy Fellows. The six health professionals joining the fellowship program will come to Washington, D.C. this September to spend a year working on health-related legislative and regulatory issues with members of Congress and the...
To protect patients, team members and the community, Banner Health notified its employees that being vaccinated for COVID-19 will be a condition of employment. All 52,000 team members have until November 1 to be fully vaccinated.
Peter Fine, president and CEO for Banner Health, said,
We care for some of the most vulnerable people in...
This week Banner Health announced the acquisition of Sonoran Hematology and Oncology - a well-established practice located in Peoria, Arizona.
As a result of the acquisition, Dr. Shelly Gandhok, a well-known hematologist-oncologist, will join Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center. Gandhok’s practice members will join as well, according...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposal for the 2022 Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program rules with a focus on addressing health disparities in vulnerable communities.
Significantly, the fee schedule proposes a 3.75% cut in reimbursements to physicians in order to maintain budget...
The U.S. District Court for the State of Arizona has ordered the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Recovery (ADC) to go to trial for failing to make agreed-upon progress toward prison healthcare reforms.
The case against ADC was initially filed in 2012 by 15 people incarcerated in Arizona facilities on behalf of...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed a new rule last week that would impose higher penalties for large hospitals that fail to comply with price transparency rules.
From U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra:
With today's proposed rule, we are simply showing hospitals through...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have recently taken steps to correct Stark Law, and released an advisory this week that applies to physician groups providing services through wholly owned subsidiary practices that are separately enrolled in Medicare.
The federal physician self-referral law, popularly known...News
A former DaVita employee claims in a new lawsuit that DaVita and its outpatient provider competitors allegedly colluded to skew the executive labor market and suppress wages. The lawsuit follows last week's criminal indictment of DaVita and its former CEO Kent Thiry, who was charged with two counts of conspiring with competing employers...National News
Last Friday, President Joe Biden issued a broad-sweeping executive order to address issues of corporate consolidation across U.S. industries. One of the industries cited was hospitals, drawing criticism for "misguided intentions" from industry stakeholders.
President Biden directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...CMS Rules
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) included provisions to expand reimbursement for telehealth services for mental and behavioral health care in the proposed 2022 Physician Fee Schedule released Tuesday. The proposal includes paying providers for audio-only services.
Telehealth use was widely expanded by CMS...Arizona News
VillageMD is expanding its primary care presence in partnership with Walgreens throughout Texas and has announced expansion of its Arizona venture in partnership with the Hatfield Medical Group of Arizona. Amazon has reportedly approached several potential insurance partners to expand its coverage of services.
VillageMD is continuing...Arizona News
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey released a few highlights of the Arizona State Budget following its passage on June 30th, including a number of "Health and Wellness" points. But many stakeholders are unhappy with holes in the budget that fail to address health concerns and interfere with COVID-19 recovery.
Protecting Arizonans' health and...Arizona News
At AHCCCS' quarterly Arizona State Medicaid Advisory Committee (SMAC) meeting, members discussed continued Public Health Emergency (PHE) funding and other funding priorities.
AHCCCS now serves 2.2 million Arizonans, and over the last 17 months enrollment has grown by 373,000 - which is due to a condition of the enhanced federal match...
Despite vaccinating most residents against COVID-19, the decline in cases and deaths in nursing homes, and the relaxation of some visitation restrictions, residents and families continue to face limitations on visitation.
In January, the Consumer Voice released a report detailing the horrific impact of lockdowns on nursing home...
As designated by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Valleywise Community Health Centers Governing Council is organized to provide governance and oversight of their Federally Qualified Health Center Clinics.
At Valleywise's meeting on July 7, the Governing Council went over HRSA COVID-19 relief funding items and...
On July 12, AHCCCS submitted a proposal to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) detailing its plan for reinvesting federal funding made available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
The spending plan includes strategies that aim to strengthen AHCCCS’ existing home and community based services (HCBS) program...
A multi-institution team led by University of Arizona electrical and computer engineering professor Janet Roveda is building a future in which wearable devices will allow clinicians to gather patient data remotely and provide care in place so patients don't need to leave their homes.
The wearable technology market is valued at $116.2...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provided $398 million in funding through the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) to 1,540 small rural hospitals for COVID-19 testing and mitigation; funding allocated by the American Rescue Plan.
State...
On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released new enrollment reports showing more than two million people, including 51,799 in Arizona who have signed up for health coverage during Marketplace Special Enrollment Period (SEP), which opened on February 15, 2021 and will conclude on the extended deadline...
The University of Arizona has been granted $4.4 million by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to improve health and wellness services in the state’s rural areas.
UofA said that Arizona is one of the largest states by area, which in turn has isolated many of its rural communities from human services and healthcare...
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