Anthony Wallace, Author at The Hertel Report

Anthony Wallace

Freelance Writer and student at Arizona State University - Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Master of Mass Communication - Health Journalism

Author's Posts

National Reports & Surveys

Hospitals, Chronic Diseases Drive $100 Billion Increase in Private Insurance Spending

The Partnership to Fight Chronic Diseases (PFCD) has released a study aimed at answering one important question: “What accounts for the growth in private health insurance spending?” The study reports that in the two short years between...

Arizona News

Supreme Court Considers Feds $12 Billion Risk Corridor Obligation to ACA Insurers

This week, the Supreme Court heard a case alleging the government owes $12 billion it promised, but never paid to Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurers. Back in 2010, Obamacare established a “risk-corridor” provision designed to encourage plans to take on risky, previously uninsurable enrollees. The program promised to...

Arizona News

ASU Poll: Rural Arizonans Worried About Healthcare

According to a poll conducted by Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute, healthcare is the foremost concern among the state’s rural population. Water quality and health insurance tied for first place with 79% of respondents rating the importance of the two issues as either an 8, 9, or 10, on a scale of 1-10. In light...

Arizona News

USC and Blue Cross Ask Arizonans About Digital Healthcare

A recently conducted survey probed Arizonans on their attitudes toward digital healthcare services. USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics worked with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) to conduct the survey. Its goal: evaluate consumers’ willingness to adopt digital solutions to reducing healthcare...

Arizona News

Feds Fight HIV in Phoenix and Nationwide

The Trump administration is taking on HIV, and the Phoenix-area will be one of its key battlegrounds. Maricopa County is one of 57 communities nationwide that will benefit from free access to a key HIV prevention protocol: pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The Department of Health and Human Services’ “Ready, Set, PrEP”...

Arizona News

Arizona Complete Health Gives $25k to Benson Hospital

Arizona Complete Health (ACH) awarded a $25,000 grant to Benson Hospital to renovate an outdated inpatient unit. According to San Pedro Valley News-Sun, the facility hasn’t been remodeled in “three decades.” Julia Strange, the hospital’s chief executive officer, commented on how the hospital will put the funds to...

Arizona Comings & Goings

James Murray Named New President, COO of Magellan Health

The company announced the appointment last week, specifying that Murray will lead the Magellan Behavioral and Specialty Health and Magellan Complete Care business segments. Magellan’s new CEO Ken Fasola said, Jim is the right person to lead the Magellan Behavioral and Specialty Health and Magellan Complete Care business...

Arizona News

Sinema Meets With IHS Official as Program Funding Hangs in Balance

Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ-9) met recently with Rear Admiral Michael Weahkee, the principal deputy director of Indian Health Services, to discuss IHS’s operations. According to a news release from her office, Sinema and Weahkee met “to discuss how his agency can better support Arizona’s tribal communities.” ...

Arizona News

AHCCCS Embraces SDOH With New Whole Person Care Initiative

AHCCCS has announced its new, social determinants of health (SDOH) focused Whole Person Care Initiative. The program is a collaboration with Arizona’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) to develop systems that screen for risk factors and refer beneficiaries to community resources equipped to address them. AHCCCS describes the...

Arizona News

Maricopa County Special Health Care District Board Elects its Leaders

The Maricopa County Special Health Care District Board of Directors has elected Mark Dewane and Mary Rose Wilcox to leadership positions. The board oversees Valleywise Health, the safety net health system with a 140 year history in the Phoenix area. Dewane, with nearly 35 years of experience in the finance field, was re-elected and...

Arizona News

GAO Prods CMS to Curb Nursing Home Abuse - Again

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report calls out the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for failing to comply with recommendations issued in another, recent GAO report on nursing home abuse. The original report, released in July 2019, stated that nursing home abuse cases had doubled between 2013 and...

National News

CDC Report Lays Out Disturbing Details of Antibiotic Resistant Threats

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control released a striking report on antibiotic resistant threats. It claims that nearly 3 million such infections occur yearly in the US causing 35,000 deaths. This represents a 52% increase from the death toll stated in their previous report, published in 2013. Almost half of those lives...

Arizona News

Phoenix Children’s Hospital Hires New Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon

Phoenix Children’s Hospital has added a highly touted heart surgeon to their staff. Roosevelt Bryant III, MD, will serve has the the surgical director for PCH’s Cardiac Transplantation and Mechanical Assist Device Program. According to the hospital’s press release, Dr. Bryant is “one of the country's foremost pediatric...

CMS Rules

Medicare's New Physician Fee Schedule Gives CRNAs Expanded Recognition

The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) is celebrating newly established rules, expanding the recognition and responsibilities of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA). On Nov. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the new Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) to take effect...

CMS Rules

Paying the Price for Hospital and Physician Practice Mergers

Hospitals are increasingly gobbling up physician practices and Medicare beneficiaries are paying the price. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offers providers better reimbursement rates for services performed at physician practices. To take advantage of this, hospitals are buying such practices and...

Arizona News

Planned Parenthood Responds to Challenging Political Climate With New App

Planned Parenthood is rolling out a new mobile app aimed at serving women in rural areas and those who may soon be affected by new abortion restrictions. The app, PP Direct, was introduced in April and is gradually expanding its features and service areas. The technology connects women with live clinicians and provides an easy...

Arizona News

AHCCCS Gets Involved with Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month and AHCCCS is celebrating by sponsoring a number of events across the state. Arizona's Medicaid agency, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) highlighted the organization’s ongoing cooperation with Arizona’s tribes. The agency stated in a press release, “Led...

Arizona News

Amazon, JP Morgan, Berkshire Hathaway to Roll Out Joint Healthcare Venture in Arizona

Haven Healthcare, the ambitious venture backed by Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway, will begin offering services in 2020 to employees of JPMorgan Chase in Arizona and Ohio. JP Morgan employees will have their pick of two plans, by Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc. respectively. Amazon employees in Connecticut, North Carolina,...

Arizona News

Arizona Gets $2.8M From Settlement With Johnson & Johnson

Ethicon, Inc. and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson will make the payout to Arizona as part of a multi-state settlement from a national lawsuit stemming from concerns about the companies’ transvaginal surgical mesh devices. The devices are designed to treat urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Arizona’s suit...

Arizona News

Study Finds Arizona Freestanding EDs Buck National Trend

Proponents hail freestanding emergency departments as an innovative way to provide convenient care at cheaper prices. A new study challenges these notions, and identifies Arizona as an outlier in how freestanding emergency departments impact emergency provider reimbursement and ED visit prices.The study analyzed the effects of new...

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