Late last month, JAMA Network Open published a report on the effectiveness of the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine after the paper was rejected for publication by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report...
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ended its 2025-2026 session, a session that included several decisions that could impact the future of healthcare. The ruling on temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians and Syrians is likely to have severe effects on the nationwide healthcare workforce and another ruling limits the scope of...
On July 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued proposed payment rules, including a provision that would substantially alter rates for the 340B drug discount program and implement site-neutral payments for certain imaging services beginning in 2027. The agency also proposed payment increases for Home Health Systems...Arizona News
Medicaid work requirements were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA) as a means to offset the bill spending, meaning that the goal is for enrollees to lose coverage as a direct result of the program. In Arizona, up to 500,000 enrollees in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) will be...
Elevance Health is following the lead of other Medicare Advantage insurers by filing suit against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), alleging that they refused to allow the same star ratings boost given to Clover Health after a recent court ruling. Plaintiffs include Elevance's Medicare Advantage (MA) plan affiliate...
As Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment surpasses Original Medicare, a new Milliman white paper argues that life sciences companies should no longer view the two programs as interchangeable when developing market access strategies for physician-administered Part B drugs.
Researchers found that each program creates markedly different...Arizona News
A new Urban Institute report finds Arizona women are more likely than the national average to report barriers to reproductive healthcare, with one in three saying they needed but did not receive at least one reproductive health service during the past year.
The survey of more than 2,700 Arizona women ages 18 to 49 found 33% reported...
Under the partnership, Banner Health will serve as the regional partner for Arizona and the non-profit health system's physicians and specialists will provide eligible Olympic and Paralympic Team USA athletes with access to sports medicine, orthopedics, primary care, women's health and other specialty services as part of the USOPC...
The Trump administration is proposing a sweeping rewrite of how Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration waivers are financed, replacing decades of negotiated budget neutrality policy with new statutory requirements that will require certification by the CMS Chief Actuary before new waivers, renewals or amendments can be approved. While...Arizona News
Over 450,000 Arizonans have lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as the state was hit the hardest by rules implemented in accordance with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA). Further, Arizona was also hit with a $208 million penalty for food stamp overpayments that exceed the acceptable...National News
Elevance Health paid the government over $342 million to settle allegations of overpayments by the Medicare Advantage program, marking the first time in the program's history that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has successfully recouped as a result of audits for overbilling.
Medicare Advantage (MA) insurers are...Arizona News
Prior to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, which authorized the creation of national rules for Medicaid work requirements, Arizona was primed to implement a work requirement for eligibility on its own. In the finalized rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services suddenly altered the guidance for exemption...Arizona News
A new report says the No Surprises Act of 2020, which established consumer protections and billing rules for providers, isn't resulting in lower premiums as initially expected. But certain providers are netting a windfall through creative workarounds of the rule.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) can't say for sure if the No...
A broader vision for the future of home- and community-based services (HCBS) authorized under the Medicaid program is taking shape as the Trump administration expands its investigations into state-level programs and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issuing a memo undermining a landmark Supreme Court decision that provides critical...
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), in its June Report to Congress, concludes that Medicare Advantage's (MA) financial impact on hospitals and post-acute care providers is more nuanced than many stakeholders suggest.
The MedPAC Report to Congress - Medicare & the Health Care Delivery System - offers readers six full...
The Arizona Health Care Cost Control System (AHCCCS) the state's Medicaid agency, is rolling out a new analytics tool this summer designed to improve claims accuracy, strengthen program integrity and support providers through more efficient claims review.
The system, part of the agency's broader Alivia 360 platform, uses advanced...Arizona News
As Parkinson's disease becomes the world's fastest-growing neurological disorder, Arizona researchers are helping lead an international effort to help improve how Parkinson's disease is diagnosed, monitored and ultimately treated.
Banner Sun Health Research Institute has received a $6 million, three-year grant through Aligning Science...Arizona News
The Valleywise Health Board of Directors selected Michael White, MD as the system's next president and chief executive officer, succeeding Steve Purves following his retirement later this year. White, who joined Valleywise Health in 2019, currently serves as the health system's executive vice president and chief clinical officer and will...Available To All
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of 2025 made heavy cuts to the bottom line of state Medicaid programs through a number of small directives aimed at curbing federal spending. Most obvious is the implementation of work requirements for Medicaid eligibility, but state-directed payments and provider taxes are also under reform. A new...Arizona News
Artificial intelligence software is rapidly changing all aspects of the healthcare industry but some are advocating for caution in the face of insurmountable change. This week, people are increasingly turning to AI and social media for health information and House Democrats are turning up the scrutiny of a Medicare demonstration model...National News
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against an interdisciplinary nonprofit organization that promotes transgender healthcare, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), alleging that the organization has made false claims to sell pediatric medical services. A federal judge intervened against a...National News
Opposition is mounting against a rule proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that would make federal research grants subject to the approval of a political appointee.
House Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee wrote a letter to National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya on Tuesday...White Papers, E books, Reports and more
National health spending is accelerating according to a new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Office of the Actuary. The rate of growth is expected to propel total spending to $9 trillion and 20.6% of gross domestic product by 2034.
Health spending is estimated to have increased 7.3% to 5.7 trillion in...National News
As technological tools advance, patients struggle to keep up with the evolution of medical software required to monitor, communicate and secure their health information. International consultancy Milliman published a white paper on facilitating digital health literacy as a "meaningful determinant of health outcomes."
In short,...Arizona News
Banner Health has appointed healthcare strategist Mark Whalen as executive VP, chief enterprise growth officer, adding another senior executive focused on expansion, partnerships and value-based care as the Arizona-based system continues to invest in its next phase of growth.
Whalen joins Banner from Jefferson, one of the nation's...
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