FDA authorizes Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for first booster dose

FDA authorizes Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for first booster dose

Novavax on Wednesday received Food and Drug Administration authorization for a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine. Yet unlike the bivalent mRNA vaccines currently on the market, Novavax’s booster only targets the original strain of the virus, rather than the original strain and the omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants. The company is studying an omicron-specific vaccine, but executives have said they think […]

Elevance Health records $1.6B profit as it braces for recession

Listen to the article 2 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. As the U.S. heads toward a possible recession, Elevance Health CEO Gail Boudreaux said the insurer is preparing for a possible economic decline. “Certainly we’re mindful of an economic downturn. We’re planning for it in our businesses,” Boudreaux said on a Wednesday […]

Bright Health raises $175M to shore up shaky finances

Bright Health raises $175M to shore up shaky finances

Bright Health Group has closed a $175 million investment round as the health insurer works to stabilize its troubled finances.  The insurtech sold 175,000 shares of Series B stock to support its newly “focused business,” the company announced Wednesday. The capital raise follows a strategic pivot to focus solely on Medicare Advantage and on direct patient care through its NeueHealth provider arm. Bright Health […]

McCarthy tamps down concerns over linking Social Security, Medicare reforms to debt ceiling

McCarthy tamps down concerns over linking Social Security, Medicare reforms to debt ceiling

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) sought to tamp down worries that a GOP majority would use raising the federal debt ceiling as leverage to secure reforms on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare after a comment of his spurred Democratic attacks. “I never mentioned Social Security or Medicare. Actually, in the commitment to America, we say to strengthen […]

How Ochsner Health’s RPM pilot improved outcomes for patients with diabetes, hypertension – MedCity News

How Ochsner Health’s RPM pilot improved outcomes for patients with diabetes, hypertension – MedCity News

Ochsner Health, a 47-hospital health system based in Louisiana, recently released the results of its digital health pilot program for Medicaid patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes. The results showed that remote patient monitoring combined with personalized care teams did an efficient job at bringing down patients’ blood pressure and hemoglobin A1c levels. The pilot began in June 2020, […]

An Overview of the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit

An Overview of the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit

Medicare Part D is a voluntary outpatient prescription drug benefit for people with Medicare provided through private plans that contract with the federal government. Beneficiaries can choose to enroll in either a stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) to supplement traditional Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan, mainly HMOs and PPOs, that provides all Medicare-covered benefits, including prescription drugs (MA-PD). In […]

Hospital volumes under pressure as labor crisis persists, Kaufman Hall says

Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive Brief: The healthcare workforce crisis is pressuring hospital patient volumes, with two-thirds of executives in a new Kaufman Hall survey reporting that staffing shortages required their facilities to operate below full capacity over the past year, directly affecting revenue. Volume growth […]

2023 HCD Conference Seeks Session Speakers – HCD Magazine

2023 HCD Conference Seeks Session Speakers – HCD Magazine

The Healthcare Design Conference + Expo opened the call for presentations for the 2023 event, scheduled Nov. 4-7 in New Orleans. The annual conference, focused exclusively on the design of healthcare environments, is home to an educational program driven by industry experts who share case studies, research, best practices, and new approaches. All conference sessions must qualify for continuing education […]

Endpoint security: The medicine required to cure healthcare’s cybersecurity woes – MedCity News

Endpoint security: The medicine required to cure healthcare’s cybersecurity woes – MedCity News

The healthcare industry has been reported as the second most targeted industry from cyberattacks. Following the business sector, healthcare sees the largest number of threats designed to specifically target their data. Why? The answer blends target-rich opportunities, due to the sheer number of internet-connected devices in use, and a significant number of endpoints that remain inadequately secured. This combination provides fertile grounds for bad […]