Practices and providers interested in participating in the CMS Primary Cares Initiative will have two options Primary Care First (PCF) and Direct Contracting (DC); both paths are focused on transforming primary care, allowing healthcare providers to...
Healthcare stocks took quite the beating last week and continue to decline into the third week of April. Even insurance giant United Healthcare cannot escape the downturn as it stays on track for its worst month in a decade. Analysts are already pointing the finger at 'Medicare for All,' claiming the political pressure is not good for...
Marcy Flanagan begins her term managing the office's $60 million annual budget June 10, 2019. She currently serves as the director of the Pima County Department of Health, a job she's held since June 2017.
Her duties as Maricopa County's Public Health Director will include:
Setting Public Health Policy
Responding to Public...
The insurer is engaging with physician groups across the country to launch a national, value-based care oncology program designed to provide more integrated cancer care for Humana Medicare Advantage and commercial members.
Humana is a major player in the Arizona MA market with 75,000 enrolled as of December 31, 2018, second only to...
A market perspectives report from Ponder & Co. said the first quarter of 2019 exhibited the lowest quarterly volume of announced acute care hospital transactions since the fourth quarter of 2009. Not exactly bad news for providers; a new working paper found wage growth slowed after large mergers.
Drivers of the Slow Down in...
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling on state survey agencies to up the level of oversight in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) after a report revealed a 15-year gap of abuse investigations across Oregon nursing homes that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) failed to address.
The same...
The nation's MA market leader will offer the value-based payment model to hospitals and physicians in 30 states, including Arizona.
UHC's Medicare Advantage enrollment in the state stands at 237,000 or nearly 45 percent of total MA enrollment, making the insurer hugely influential in this profitable market segment. Nationally,...
Arizona non-medical exemption rates have increased across all age categories three years in a row. Arizona Department of Health Services Director Cara Christ, MD sees more parents submitting vaccine exemption forms for childcare, pre-school age and K-12 age groups.
Dr. Christ called the trend alarming and is concerned about a measles...
The lawsuit alleges the state's laws are similar to others across the nation that have one purpose in mind: block women's access to the legal procedure.
Filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, April 11, the suit targets Arizona laws that stop anyone other than a physician from performing abortions, requires those seeking an...
Another step toward an integrated health system, insurers will begin providing both physical and behavioral health care services to those who qualify under the Arizona Department of Developmental Disabilities beginning Oct. 2019.
The new contract awarded March 21, 2019 allows Arizona Long Term Care Services (ALTCS) DDD members...
The agreement with Maricopa Integrated Health System applies to bundled payments for Maricopa County Medicaid members with the infectious liver disease. After the first year of the insurer's Hepatitis C Center of Excellence initiative, Care1st will measure quality and utilization outcomes for 100 members with the disease and then assess...
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized plans to allow Medicare Advantage plans to increase access to telehealth benefits, including the option for beneficiaries to receive care in their home through telemedicine instead of a healthcare facility.
The Friday announcement is a result of the Bipartisan Budget Act...
OSHA reports serious workplace violence is four times more common in healthcare than in private industry; Arizona HB2041 establishes procedures for a private hospital employee or volunteer who is assaulted while performing official duties to obtain a court-ordered blood test, and establishes reporting requirements for such...
Alexa can now book doctor appointments, check on the status of home delivery prescriptions, and ask about current blood sugar levels among a new suite of HIPAA-compliant health features. The virtual assistant has partnered with various players in the healthcare value chain to provide this service including Cigna, Express Scripts, and...
Judge Richard Leon seems to have a bone to pick with the decisions of the Justice Department’s antitrust division. On April 5, the federal judge scrutinized the Justice Department's green light for the sale of insurance giant Aetna to CVS Health said he wants to hold a hearing to listen to objections to the merger.
Prior to this...
Chandler Police released body cam footage last month showing a SWAT team kicking down a door to take an unvaccinated two-year-old with a high fever to the hospital. The hostile intrusion was made following concerns of an Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) caseworker who requested a welfare check on the Beck family.
Officers...
Maricopa Integrated Health System scooped up the property located at 51st and Campbell from Tenet in 2018 for nearly $8 million with plans to spend $52.5 million to re-open its emergency room and convert the facility into a behavioral health hospital.
Closed since December 2017, the hospital will now reopen its emergency department...
In this report from the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy, the landscape of payment reform in MA is surveyed, challenges detailed and recommendations discussed.
Key themes of the Report
MA plans are already implementing a range of payment and benefit reforms and are well positioned to lead new initiatives.
More needs to...
The practice of funding co-pays so members don’t feel the impact of price increases was alleged against Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck LLC and Alexion Pharmaceuticals. The so-called “patient assistance programs” were set up to funnel money to patient for co-pays.
Quote from U.S.
Attorney Andrew Lelling’s...
After years of GOP leaders efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney left the healthcare industry hanging in anticipation on Sunday; he said the Trump administration is planning to release a new plan before the election.
Administration officials such as Alex Azar, Health and Human Services...
Expected to open in spring of 2020, the new micro-hospital will look a lot like the health system's Mesa micro-hospital opening this summer in the East Valley.
Jeff Patterson, CEO of Abrazo Arrowhead Campus helped announce the news,
As the Valley continues to grow, we understand that consumers prefer to receive care closer to...
The $446M project features nine stories and $50M investment in patient care and technology
Nearly four years under construction, the tower features 228 private rooms, 20 new operating rooms, new diagnostic imaging and cardiac catheterization labs, a new cafeteria plus new patient-care equipment and computer technology...
The National Association of ACOs sent a letter April 2 to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services complaining that significant changes to the 2018 Medicare Shared Savings Program quality measure ACO-17 weren't communicated to ACOs in a timely fashion and could result in a loss of shared savings opportunities.
Although ACOs...
According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) March report to Congress, private health insurance remains concentrated among just a few insurers - HealthCare.gov is no exception as Arizonan's know; in 2015 a dozen insurers offered individual plans on the federal exchange, in 2016, eight insurers and in 2017 things really...
